South Shore Lobster Crawl recognized
Tourism Nova Scotia wins national travel award
Tourism Nova Scotia has taken home the 2019 Explore Canada Industry Award of Excellence for its Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl media campaign.
Each year, Destination Canada celebrates the storytelling of the travel media and tourism industry that inspires travellers to discover Canada. Its Explore Canada Awards of Excellence were presented Tuesday, Aug. 13, at the organization’s annual Gomedia conference in Ottawa.
As part of its strategy to lead the tourism industry to reach the $4-billion revenue goal, Tourism Nova Scotia identified six strategic game changers to spur continued growth. Expanding the tourism season is one of these key growth opportunities.
Recognizing the potential of the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl to motivate travel outside of the peak tourism season, Tourism Nova Scotia partnered with the South Shore Tourism Cooperative to host small groups of media during the crawl.
For the past two years, travel writers and social media influencers from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom went lobster fishing, visited lobster pounds, sampled lobster-infused beer, helped crown the best lobster roll, explored art shows and met Lucy the Groundhog Day shadow-seeking lobster.
According to officials with Tourism Nova Scotia, the campaign generated extensive media coverage and some of the highest levels of engagement on the Visit Nova Scotia social media channels.
“These nominations prove that Nova Scotia’s story and the hard work of our media relations team is resonating on the national stage,” said Michele Saran, CEO of Tourism Nova Scotia. “It’s a true honour, and one we’re thrilled to share with our partners at the South Shore Tourism Co-operative.”
Pamela Wamback, media relations advisor, was also nominated for being a tireless ambassador for Nova Scotia, hosting hundreds of media and travel influencer visits and raising the profile of the world-class experiences on offer.
“The relationships we develop with our media partners are vital to sharing the story of Nova Scotia’s incredible travel experiences. Receiving a nomination from a media partner is both meaningful and humbling,” Wamback said.
Donna Hatt, Chair of South Shore Tourism Co-operative (SSTC), said they are thrilled, ecstatic and honoured that Destination Canada awarded Tourism Nova Scotia the 2019 Keep Exploring Industry campaign Award of Excellence for their Lobster Crawl Media Campaign.
“Working with Pam Wamback
on the media relations program gave us the chance to showcase and celebrate our lobster fishing heritage and industry in a unique and meaningful way,” Hatt said. “To be at the awards luncheon, hearing Tourism Nova Scotia named the winner alongside my friend and colleague Pam, surrounded by 300 industry colleagues among them some 175 Travel Media Writers was one of the most incredible moments of my career.”
Hatt said the SSTC team created Lobster Crawl to change how the region approaches winter tourism for our industry and communities. She pointed out this award reaffirms they are on the right track.
“Having members of the media approach us at the event saying the idea was ‘brilliant’ was so encouraging,” she said. “They were sincerely excited to learn more about our unique winter season experiences for their readers, especially since it involved lobster. We’re looking forward to leveraging this exposure and continue building on our partnership with Tourism Nova Scotia especially through their media relations program to grow winter tourism and its economic impact in our communities.”
Having members of the media approach us at the event saying the idea was ‘brilliant’ was so encouraging.
Donna Hatt Chair of SSTC