(Originally published in TOURISM)
Pierre Germain will be the first to admit Yukon benefits from an unusual set of circumstances when it comes to the impact of the Canada's strong dollar on US visitation. Germain, director of tourism for the Yukon government, says there is a fairly reliable flow of rubber tire traffic which must come through Yukon in order to get to Alaska, but that does not make Canadian domestic travellers any less important for his jurisdiction.
“The domestic market is the second largest market in terms of visitation to Yukon, second only to the US,” says Germain, and he points out that marketing efforts have focused primarily on four key market areas: “We consider three gateway markets to be our priority – Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. They are markets with which we have direct air access. More importantly perhaps, there is a higher level of awareness of Yukon as a travel destination at these locations than there is in other parts of Canada.” Germain says the 4th key area on which Yukon focuses is Toronto. “With its strong population base and high concentration of affluent consumers, it offers a great opportunity for us to position Yukon as an adventure destination.”
Three product offering types are of particular interest, according to Germain. “One is adventure product, where your primary motivator is to participate in an outdoor adventure experience whether it would be canoeing, going to a fishing lodge, hiking or river rafting. The second key market is what we call our touring market, made up of people who want to come up, rent a vehicle and travel around the territory. There is some overlap between the adventure and the touring segments only in that some people who come up to tour feel that driving on the Alaska Highway is an adventure in itself. But we break it down for simplicity’s sake into touring, adventure, and our meetings, conventions and incentive travel (MC&IT) market.”
Germain notes that the touring market is the largest just in shear numbers, followed by adventure and MC&IT in terms of return on investment and market potential. “We consider all three of them to be significant. We have a series of other niche product offerings and experiences which are important to us, such as First Nations aboriginal product. We also have a cultural product, which is growing in size, but adventure, touring and MC&IT are our mainstays.”
And the current performance is encouraging, Germain points out. “As of the end of August, visitation to the Yukon for the year has been up 5%, which is significant compared to what other jurisdictions are experiencing. There has been a significant shift in Yukon benefiting from the tremendous cruise industry growth in Alaska. We have been benefiting through increased numbers of cruise tour visitors on trips up the Inside Passage who get on a motorcoach and travel through the Yukon.”
“We have also seen a significant increase in the number of visitors who are coming to Alaska on a cruise, taking a shore excursion into Yukon for a day and then going back. This has been followed by a trend where an increased number of visitors fly into the Yukon and then travel around the territory. So the fly‑drive opportunities are increasing significantly, and that was borne through by some of the statistics obtained from Whitehorse International Airport.”
In July, Yukon’s largest visitation month, the number of individuals boarding and de‑planing at the airport was up 19%, compared to July 2006. “It set a record for the number of people in and out of our airport. So there is significant opportunity for us, as we see the long‑haul independent rubber tire traveller continuing to decline a little bit. We are seeing new growth opportunities for fly‑drives, in air arrivals and in the motorcoach and cruise tour product.”
Germain attributes also some of Yukon’s visitation success to one strategy: “working with our northern territorial partners (the Northwest Territories and Nunavut) to position the north as a viable tourism destination for southern Canadians. The Canada Games campaign is a prime example of this. As a result of our partnership, more Canadians in southern Canada are aware of the positive aspects of travel in the north than they ever were before.”
"The innovation here," he continues, "is not rocket science. It is actually collaborating with our sister territories to position the north so we can generate some economies of scale. We know from our research that if Nunavut and the Northwest Territories are able to generate a visitor through our program, there is an increased likelihood they will come to the Yukon in the future and vice‑versa. There are people who view competition as a barrier to working together, and quite frankly, we are not competing against one another. We are working more toward market growth for us all.”
Pierre Germain will be the first to admit Yukon benefits from an unusual set of circumstances when it comes to the impact of the Canada's strong dollar on US visitation. Germain, director of tourism for the Yukon government, says there is a fairly reliable flow of rubber tire traffic which must come through Yukon in order to get to Alaska, but that does not make Canadian domestic travellers any less important for his jurisdiction.
“The domestic market is the second largest market in terms of visitation to Yukon, second only to the US,” says Germain, and he points out that marketing efforts have focused primarily on four key market areas: “We consider three gateway markets to be our priority – Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. They are markets with which we have direct air access. More importantly perhaps, there is a higher level of awareness of Yukon as a travel destination at these locations than there is in other parts of Canada.” Germain says the 4th key area on which Yukon focuses is Toronto. “With its strong population base and high concentration of affluent consumers, it offers a great opportunity for us to position Yukon as an adventure destination.”
Three product offering types are of particular interest, according to Germain. “One is adventure product, where your primary motivator is to participate in an outdoor adventure experience whether it would be canoeing, going to a fishing lodge, hiking or river rafting. The second key market is what we call our touring market, made up of people who want to come up, rent a vehicle and travel around the territory. There is some overlap between the adventure and the touring segments only in that some people who come up to tour feel that driving on the Alaska Highway is an adventure in itself. But we break it down for simplicity’s sake into touring, adventure, and our meetings, conventions and incentive travel (MC&IT) market.”
Germain notes that the touring market is the largest just in shear numbers, followed by adventure and MC&IT in terms of return on investment and market potential. “We consider all three of them to be significant. We have a series of other niche product offerings and experiences which are important to us, such as First Nations aboriginal product. We also have a cultural product, which is growing in size, but adventure, touring and MC&IT are our mainstays.”
And the current performance is encouraging, Germain points out. “As of the end of August, visitation to the Yukon for the year has been up 5%, which is significant compared to what other jurisdictions are experiencing. There has been a significant shift in Yukon benefiting from the tremendous cruise industry growth in Alaska. We have been benefiting through increased numbers of cruise tour visitors on trips up the Inside Passage who get on a motorcoach and travel through the Yukon.”
“We have also seen a significant increase in the number of visitors who are coming to Alaska on a cruise, taking a shore excursion into Yukon for a day and then going back. This has been followed by a trend where an increased number of visitors fly into the Yukon and then travel around the territory. So the fly‑drive opportunities are increasing significantly, and that was borne through by some of the statistics obtained from Whitehorse International Airport.”
In July, Yukon’s largest visitation month, the number of individuals boarding and de‑planing at the airport was up 19%, compared to July 2006. “It set a record for the number of people in and out of our airport. So there is significant opportunity for us, as we see the long‑haul independent rubber tire traveller continuing to decline a little bit. We are seeing new growth opportunities for fly‑drives, in air arrivals and in the motorcoach and cruise tour product.”
Germain attributes also some of Yukon’s visitation success to one strategy: “working with our northern territorial partners (the Northwest Territories and Nunavut) to position the north as a viable tourism destination for southern Canadians. The Canada Games campaign is a prime example of this. As a result of our partnership, more Canadians in southern Canada are aware of the positive aspects of travel in the north than they ever were before.”
"The innovation here," he continues, "is not rocket science. It is actually collaborating with our sister territories to position the north so we can generate some economies of scale. We know from our research that if Nunavut and the Northwest Territories are able to generate a visitor through our program, there is an increased likelihood they will come to the Yukon in the future and vice‑versa. There are people who view competition as a barrier to working together, and quite frankly, we are not competing against one another. We are working more toward market growth for us all.”
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