Thompson Okanagan Tourism is pleased to provide various partnered programs throughout the year – including the latest seven, listed below. All these opportunities are brought to our stakeholders to market their individual businesses in collaboration with others in the region under the guidelines of Tourism British Columbia's Tourism Partners Program.

TOTA Market Experiences Specialist Ellen Walker-Matthews points out that the details, contracts, and contact information for the following four marketing opportunities is listed online at: www.totabc.org/corporateSite/marketing/tourism-partner-programs/. This site will be updated on a regular basis as new marketing opportunities are made available.

For each marketing opportunity, interested stakeholders should simply complete the online contract form and fax it to the desired publication. The stakeholder will subsequently be billed for the marketing by TOTA, which is then responsible for administering all payments to the publication. Co-op funds from the provincial government's Tourism Partners Program are available for these marketing opportunities on a first-come first-served basis. The deadlines vary for each of these publications.

"We encourage stakeholders to stretch their marketing dollars by participating in one of these excellent advertising opportunities now available through TOTA and the Tourism Partners Program," Walker-Matthews says.

Current marketing opportunities are:

• Edmonton Journal 'Wine Series' (publication dates May through September)

The Edmonton Journal is launching a special new Wine feature page in its popular Food Section, with the special page running on the six Wednesdays from May 23-June 27 and the six Wednesdays from Aug. 15-Sept. 19. The Journal's award-winning news team will focus on the wines and tourism in the Thompson Okanagan region, taking readers from grape to glass – meeting vintners and industry stakeholders along the way. This special Wine series will also be featured online on edmontonjournal.com in the Food section along with wine blogs, TOTA events, a Twitter feed and more. Don't miss the opportunity to talk to the 54 per cent of Edmonton-area adults who read the Edmonton Journal each week!

• British Columbia Magazine (publication date June 14)

Stakeholders have the opportunity to buy reduced-cost eighth-page ads in a featured Thompson Okanagan regional spread in the Summer edition of this prestigious magazine. For more than 50 years, British Columbia Magazine has been the scenic geographic and travel quarterly magazine of B.C. It strives to inform and entertain readers with in-depth and highly visual story packages that present the natural diversity of the province and the many opportunities for exploration and adventure. It covers parks and wilderness travel destinations, outdoor adventure and recreation, geography, ecology, conservation, science, and natural phenomena, remarkable people, First Nations culture, heritage places, and history. The magazine has an annual worldwide readership of 1.6 million.

• Corporate Meetings & Events (publication date June 1)

This magazine that reaches more than 20,000 Canadian corporate and independent professional meeting planners is including a special editorial feature on the Thompson Okanagan region in its June issue. TOTA stakeholders can purchase reduced-cost ads from one-sixth-page up to full-page. Advertisers will also get additional web exposure in the following ways: A final pdf of the Thompson Okanagan section will be supplied to each advertiser to post on their own website; exposure in the digital version of the CM &E magazine which will be posted on the www.corporatemeetingsnetwork.ca website; and, each advertiser will get exposure on a promotional Leader-board ad promoting the piece. CM&E magazine reaches readers who conceptualize, plan and run corporate meetings of all shapes and sizes across the country. Its readers turn to CM&E for the latest in industry news and developments. Meetings that these decision-makers conduct include: annual and general meetings, senior management/executive meetings, sales meetings, training and education seminars, award functions, client events, conferences, trade shows and expositions.

• Calgary Herald 'Discover Golf' Section (publication date May 5)

The Calgary Herald's upcoming special 'Discover Golf' section is a must for advertisers targeting the high-end market in the Calgary area, Western Canada and the northwestern U.S. Along with articles about golf getaways, skill improvement and more, Discover Golf will look at what's new in golf gear and gadgets. The extensive regional listing of golf courses and the excellent format make this broadsheet publication a must-read for golfers and the place to be for your business. The Discover Golf section will reach more than 245,000 Saturday print readers, as well as more than 676,000 unique visitors who go to calgaryherald.com monthly. Act now to take advantage of this rare niche advertising opportunity! As an additional opportunity, Discover Golf print advertisers are exclusively able to become Discover Golf microsite sponsors, further expanding their presence by having logo recognition on the site's sponsorship banner, as well as 55,555 run-of-site leaderboards (or 37,037 ROS big boxes) on calgaryherald.com PLUS a one-third share of the leaderboards and big boxes on the calgaryherald.com/discovergolf microsite. There are three sponsorships available on a first-come, first-served basis.

• NBC Television Advertising Opportunity – San Francisco & Bay Area (booking by May 30)

TOTA stakeholders now have a reduced-price opportunity to buy valuable exposure on the NBC Television Network in San Francisco and the Bay Area. 'QUICK GETAWAYS' is a special one-week NBC Bay Area TV marketing blitz designed for destination tourism products to highlight their unique offerings and services to a prime California audience!  Advertisers will get their 15-second or 30-second spot run multiple times on NBC San Francisco Bay Area Network Television and 120 times during the week on NBC San Francisco Bay Area Cable TV.  In addition, a 15-second video will run on the network's website homepage with a direct link to the advertiser's website on the following sites: www.CanadaScope.com, www.Tours.com, and www.SightSeeing.com. On top of all that, a press release will be distributed to all travel publications in North America!

• Thompson Okanagan Spring Campaign Landing Page

TOTA is excited to be launching the Spring campaign landing page in just a few days. The new look introduced in the 2012 Travel Experiences Guide has been continued onto the travelthompsonokanagan.com consumer-facing landing page. The landing page has been redesigned so that communities will have a more prominent presence and the visitor can learn more about the different experiences available throughout our region. The campaign has been averaging 3,000 unique visitors and 6,517 page visits per quarter – and this is continually growing. Many people are visiting the site from Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton and Victoria. If you would like to showcase your business as a featured experience in the package position, be sure to contact Meaghan Racine, Stakeholder Sales Specialist, at250-860-5999 ext 203 or sales@totabc.com. Spots are limited! We have pricing available for one or multiple seasons, and if you would like to bundle your seasonal campaign purchase with other marketing initiatives, we would be happy to discuss further. As an alternative to featuring your business as a package, be sure you are listed in the directory. For the low price of $500 annually you can include your business logo, name, phone number, address, URL, Facebook and Twitter links.

• Thompson Okanagan Mobile Visitors Guide

Be sure to register your business as a TOTA stakeholder if you have not already done so. Registration is FREE and, as part of your registration, TOTA is excited to provide your business with a complimentary bronze listing in the Thompson Okanagan Mobile Visitors Guide. This Guide is a great resource for anyone visiting your community or planning their vacation ahead and using a Smart Phone. We also have two great upgrading opportunities available, starting at $150 per year. This gives you the opportunity to customize and stand out from the other listings. For more information please contact Meaghan Racine, Stakeholder Sales Specialist, at 250-860-5999 ext 203 or sales@totabc.com.