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City wins award for tourism initiative

City of Cranbrook, in partnership with a few businesses, is the recipient of a tourism award during an AGM with Kootenay Rockies Tourism.

The city of Cranbrook, in partnership with a a few business, is the recipient of a tourism award during an annual general meeting with Kootenay Rockies Tourism.

The city, along with the Canadian Rockies International Airport, Pacific Coastal Airlines and Seekers media, received the award, which was presented to the community that developed and implemented the most innovative tourism marketing campaign.

The city, CRIA, and Pacific Coastal Airlines continue to develop strategies to attract tourism to the region. The three organizations partnered with Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo and contracting Seekers Media to produce a multi-media campaign.

"Our goals with the campaign were to increase tourism to the region and promote the Kootenay Rockies Gran Fondo as a means to showcase Cranbrook as an active tourism destination," said Kevin Weaver, the economic development manager for the city.

A collection of editorial and video content was created for the campaign, which focused not just on the Gran Fondo, but also promoted travel to the region year-round. Once finished, the content was then posted on www.festivalseekers.com—an award-winning multi-media platform with a large audience of active travellers.

"We were excited to be a part of this campaign," said Kevin Boothroyd, director of sales and marketing with Pacific Coastal Airlines. "It allowed us to showcase our airline and our continued partnership with the city of Cranbrook and Canadian Rockies International Airport through the use of social media, a significant part of our overall marketing strategy."

As a result of the campaign, there was a 40 per cent increase in registration from the year before and a 77 per cent increase in out of town registrations, some from as far away as England.

"From this campaign, the region's tourism staekholders have gained a new appreciation for the power of social media, partnership campaigns and the value in content marketing," said Cranbrook Mayor Wayne Stetski. "The timing of this award is perfect, considering that the city's tourism interests continue to expand with ongoing work to establish a tourism Destination Marketing Organization and development of a 2015 media and marketing plan.

"This plan will help ensure Cranbrook and it's residents continue to welcome people from around the world to enjoy it's historical, cultural and active travel experiences, bringing with them additional economic prosperity to the community."



Trevor Crawley

About the Author: Trevor Crawley

Trevor Crawley has been a reporter with the Cranbrook Townsman and Black Press in various roles since 2011.
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