2011 HelloBC® Listings Program

Friday, November 5, 2010

Attraction, Activity and Transportation Tourism Businesses

Through its powerful marketing channels and programs, the HelloBC Listings Program provides tourism businesses throughout British Columbia with exposure to millions of consumers in the planning and purchasing phases of their BC vacation.

Early Bird Incentive Offer

Go to http://www.tourismbc.net to enroll your business for 2011 or to find out more information. Complete your enrollment by 4 pm on December 15, 2010 and you will also receive a FREE colour logo and 20 FREE photos (new this year). Don’t miss out on this limited time offer!

Featured Benefit for 2011

·         Upload your business’s special offers for FREE through our Special Offers Program. Only HelloBC Listings Program participants are able to feature their special offers. Because of the prominent position of the Special Offers Program, it receives the most consumer visits in the Listings program; 35% of all industry clicks are from this area. See http://www.tourismbc.net for more information. 

What exposure do HelloBC Listings participants receive?

Enroll in the 2011 HelloBC Listings Program and your information will be available to consumers through the following marketing programs and distribution channels:

1.    The HelloBC.com Website Network

·         Exposure on 8 websites

            Tourism BC operates an integrated worldwide website platform with eight consumer websites including specialized sites for North America, the UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and the French-language website.

·         Exposure to millions of consumers

During the period January through September 2010 there were over 5,000 tourism businesses and activities listed on HelloBC.com.  These businesses received a combined 5.7 million page views.  ‘Things to Do’ travel information and HelloBC listings received 4 million pages views, making it the second most popular content area on HelloBC.com, after accommodation information.

·         Easy consumer access

With Tourism BC’s iPhone application, Near Me BC, consumers have easy access to business listings at all times. 

·         Connecting consumers directly to your website

Activities, Attractions, Golf, Ski, Transportation and Event Listings saw a combined 2.1 million page views. Tourism businesses with weblinks received a combined 868,000 click throughs to their business websites.

·         FREE access to unlimited  Festival and Events listings

As a HelloBC Listings Program participant, you can extend your exposure to consumers by enrolling in as many festival and events as take place at your business.

·         Upload your video for FREE

Also included in your base listing is the ability to embed one video into your online listing for FREE.  Adding this feature allows you to really showcase the experience you offer! Detailed instructions for embedding video are available at http://www.tourismbc.net.

All for only $95.00/year plus HST.

2.    Marketing Programs

In 2011, Tourism BC, now part of the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Investment, will spend millions of dollars on consumer marketing activities to drive awareness and interest in BC vacations.  This includes the 2010/2011 Ski campaign, the Spring/Summer destination campaign and ongoing electronic direct marketing activities to our consumer database. All of our marketing efforts encourage potential visitors to seek out travel information through our distribution channels (web, publications, Call Centre, Visitor Centres) as outlined below.

3.    Publications       

In addition to providing valuable travel planning content, our three flagship guides – Vacation Planner, Outdoor Adventure Guide, Approved Accommodation Guide – provide consumers with web pointers to direct them to more detailed information available on our websites, driving more traffic to Activities, Attractions and Transportation information.

4.    1-800 HelloBC Call Centre

During the period January through September 2010 the Call Centre received over 24,600 consumer inquiries and generated over 1,500 reservation bookings.

5.    Visitor Centres

Tourism BC operates six Visitor Centres at strategic border-entry points in Osoyoos, Golden, Merritt (Coquihalla), Peace Arch Border Crossing, Vancouver International Airport and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In addition to these there are 110 community-based Visitor Centres throughout the province. These Visitor Centres welcomed 2.8 million visitors during the period January through September 2010 and 31,000 transactions (Accommodation bookings or Attractions and Transportation ticketing) have been processed.

What is included in a HelloBC Listing?

The base listing ($95.00 + HST) includes a 100-word description of your business giving you enough space to describe your tourism experience in detail and use key words for which consumers are likely to search. Your listing also includes one weblink, two free photos, access to the Special Offers Program, unlimited event listings, one free video embed and more!

What is the deadline for Activities, Attractions, Golf, Ski and Transportation Businesses to enroll?

Enrollment in the 2011 HelloBC Listing Program for Activities, Attractions, Golf, Ski and Transportation is now underway. You must enroll by December 31, 2010 to ensure your listing continues in 2011. Complete your enrollment transaction by “checking out” your online shopping cart on http://www.tourismbc.net. Enroll by 4 pm on December 15, 2010 to take advantage of our early bird offer of a FREE colour logo and 20 FREE photos.