Community Development News

Summer is in full swing and everyone in the tourism industry in the Thompson Okanagan is busy, but TOTA Community Development Specialist Simone Carlysle-Smith is reminding people that if they want to take advantage of two high-quality tourism professional development workshops this summer, now is the time to book the workshops for their city or town.

Tourism BC offers professionally facilitated, tailored workshops on the two key topics of Online Reputation Management and Enhancing Governance – both free of charge – for communities wanting them.

"A growing number of communities, tourism businesses and organizations around our region recognize the importance of the proper use of social media and how to manage their online presence in a positive way in order to improve their reputation, build loyalty and increase sales," Carlysle-Smith says.

"And local Tourism Advisory Councils (TACs) and Destination Management & Marketing Organizations (DMOs) are also seeing that effective governance and Board operations is critical to their success."

Carlysle-Smith says that's why the two free workshops have been developed by Tourism BC – a part of the provincial Ministry of Jobs, Tourism & Innovation – and it is offering them to DMOs and communities across the province. Both have been offered in the Thompson Okanagan in recent months and have received rave reviews from participants.

The Online Reputation Management workshop – which has already been held in Oliver, West Kelowna and Shuswap – is led by Vancouver-based consultant Daniel Craig, a former hotel manager and now hospitality consultant who helps travel marketers adopt best practices in online marketing, social media and reputation management.

Tourism BC notes that many travellers now bypass traditional sources of trip information and consult social networks for sources they trust, such as other travellers and friends. This trend makes it important for tourism stakeholders to monitor, react to, and generate online content and encourage reviews.

Topics in the Online Reputation Management workshop include:

• Why it is essential to the tourism industry.
• Using customer satisfaction to build loyalty and advocacy, in turn driving reputation and demand.
• Time-saving tools for analysing reviews and feedback.
• Best practices for reacting and responding to reviews and feedback.
• Building awareness and shaping reputation by generating content and encouraging reviews.
• Examples and success stories from the travel industry in B.C. and beyond.

The Online Reputation Management workshop is part of Tourism BC's Tourism Business Essentials series.

For more information on the Online Reputation Management workshop see: www.jti.gov.bc.ca/industryprograms/TBE/index.htm.

Tourism BC says its workshop called 'Governing for Success – Enhancing Board Performance' offers tourism organizations a way to move to the next level. The full-day, professionally facilitated workshop offers advice on designing and implementing governance practices proven to help DMOs, TACs and tourism product sector organization flourish.

Topics covered during the workshop include:

• How boards and staff can best work together.
• The functions of good governance – including decision-making, finance and managing risk.
• The responsibilities of board members.
• Methods of analysing the performance of governance in your organization.
• A self-evaluation tool for annual review and continued improvement.
• Templates for creating, updating or enhancing your Board Manual.

The workshop is tailored to the specific needs of a the community or organization. It is developed based on a questionnaire completed by all prospective participants prior to the workshop.

For more information about the Governance workshop, see: www.jti.gov.bc.ca/industryprograms/BuildingAndGrowingYourBusiness/Community_Tourism_Programs/EnhancingBoardPerformance.htm.

Carlysle-Smith reminds communities and other tourism stakeholders throughout the region that Tourism BC has an extensive set of resources on its website, in its Industry Resources section, at: www.jti.gov.bc.ca/industryresources/index.htm.

Among other things, that area contains Tourism Business Essentials Guides – a series of nine free, practical resources for tourism operators to learn more about the tourism industry and how to build their businesses. The Guides are available HERE, including the Online Reputation Management guide that accompanies the workshop.