Vacation memories
Group unveils new 2017 marketing strategy for Tourism Cavendish Beach
Tourism Cavendish Beach group unveils a new 2017 marketing strategy involving re-connecting with past visitors to create new memories.
Tourism Cavendish Beach (TCB) is hoping to re-connect with its past visitors to create new memories.
The idea of re-connecting is at the forefront of the group’s new “Cavendish Forever” branding revealed in its 2017 marketing strategy during a spring general meeting at Cavendish Destination Centre on Tuesday. Posters and visuals showed recent pictures of families embracing on Cavendish beaches and golf courses next to vintage photos of tourists at the municipality decades ago.
Kevin Champion, marketing committee chairman of TCB, said the group hopes the brand resonates with those who visited the municipality years ago and entices them to bring their family back.
“At its heart, Cavendish Beach is where people reconnect. This is the brand promise, it’s the memories people have who visited here 20 years ago. They remember building a sandcastle on the beach, they remember visiting Anne of Green Gables house, maybe a round of golf, walking down the beach,” said Champion. “It’s going to hit the hearts of those people again.” The group’s research showed one of the fastest growing travel trends is with multigenerational families vacationing together. They hope the phrase “Cavendish Forever” will evoke memories from past visitors and encourage them to bring their family to the region.
However, it’s not just former visitors and their families that the group is hoping to attract.
“For people who haven’t visited here before, it’s going to make them say, ‘this is a magical spot, I want to see what’s so amazing about it’,” said Champion.
The brand unveiling was one phase of a multi-year tactical plan to take advantage of the predicted growth in P.E.I. tourism, with next year involving more of a “co-op marketing strategy.”
The group is aiming to have an annual growth of 2.5 per cent in occupancy and group expenditures.
TCB represents operators from Malpeque to Tracadie Bay. Sandi Lowther, president of TCB, said the growth in tourism numbers over the past three years has led to a renewed sense of optimism in the region.
She said the amount of investment in the region by businesses in the past year was at least $15 to $20 million. “We may be a seasonal region, but we’re supporting investment year-round and we’re creating new jobs in our sectors and the tourism industry,” said Lowther.
Matthew Jelley, chairman of the Resort Municipality of Stanley Bridge, Hope River, Bayview, Cavendish and North Rustico, said he felt the group did an excellent job in capturing the essential elements of Cavendish in the brand.
“And focusing on the family feel but also the nature of forever. Cavendish is a place where whether you’re young or old there are different things here that will appeal to you,” said Jelley.
“This brand covers that and will help support the industry going forward.”