Today, Saint-Hyacinthe Technopole presented the details of the new marketing offensive it will use over the coming months to promote Saint-Hyacinthe and its region as a tourism and business destination.
“In the context of our strategic planning, we set a series of very ambitious performance indicators. With regards to tourism development, these target a significant increase in the number of visitors, overnight stays and business events. As such, it was necessary to revise our approaches and increase our efforts to market Saint-Hyacinthe as a tourism destination”, noted the general manager of Saint-Hyacinthe Technopole, André Barnabé.
Saint-Hyacinthe Technopole chose to tighten up its targets in a way to maximise the spin-offs associated with its promotional operations in markets they see as promising and where the region does not perform well. Specifically, the organisation will increase its operations targeting day visitors and those staying for short periods of time in the Montérégie and in the surrounding tourism regions, including the Eastern Townships, the Centre-du-Québec, Chaudière-Appalaches and the Mauricie, generally a radius of 150 km.
“We have identified three types of products that characterise our region and which will interest day visitors, including a distinctive downtown with its cultural, entertainment and commercial offers, as well as thematic festivals and events, gourmet activities and outdoor activities”, stated the Tourism and Convention Manager, Nancy Lambert.
As such, the offensive will be deployed mainly using digital platforms. Saint-Hyacinthe Technopole expects to increase the referencing of its website and its presence on social media, which will allow it to multiply the contact points with visitors in an effective way. They will also be able to measure their actions and interventions and quickly modify their strategies based on obtained results.
They also expect to diversify their communications channels by targeting clients, whether through digital platforms, the use of radio as well as advertisements. To complement this approach, the official destination tourism guide will be once again published and distributed mainly outside the region in well-established distribution networks.
To increase the impact of the promotion of the destination, they will focus on an increased participation in Tourisme Montérégie’s campaigns. These campaigns are launched using digital and print tools. As such, “the collaboration of Saint-Hyacinthe Technopole with this organisation was increased to generate positive spin-offs for our region”, specified Mrs. Lambert.
Finally, Saint-Hyacinthe Technopole has revised the tourism partner concept and abolished membership fees which, were required over the past several years. It will be much easier to promote attractions and activities which offer an increased power of attraction for target clients. Additionally, the targeted partners will be asked to actively collaborate in the promotion of the destination, and will be sensitised to the importance of offering an authentic experience to visitors. All the tourism partners will now be presented for free on the tourismesaint-hyacinthe.qc.ca website.
Additional Efforts for Business Tourism
New resources will be used to position Saint-Hyacinthe as the largest regional destination for business tourism. This is directly in association with the opening of the Saint-Hyacinthe Convention Centre in the fall of 2017 and the Sheraton Hotel in early 2018. Advertisements in business tourism media, participation in industry shows, representation activities and the development of the Cercle des Ambassadeurs de Saint-Hyacinthe are just some of the actions that will be used. These will take place in close collaboration with the Convention Centre’s sales team.
The Quebec market will be prioritised, but certain actions will also take place in the Ontario market over the medium term. The associative sector, mainly actors that organise annual conventions of over 500 participants, is also targeted. Of course, clients that have held recurring business conventions and events in the past in Saint-Hyacinthe have been approached on an ongoing basis since last year.
“We are strongly committed to hosting, when the activities of the new convention centre start, about 80 conventions and events with 40 overnight stays or more on an annual basis. We are confident that the new strategies we have developed will allow us to reach this goal”, concluded Mrs. Lambert.
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