Canada, the place “more special than USA”

Taking a lead from their hip Prime Minister, Destination Canada’s man in the hot seat aims to woo Aussies with a new marketing direction amid skyrocketing international arrivals.

Speaking to Travel Weekly at the annual Canada Corroboree in Sydney yesterday, Destination Canada President & CEO, David Goldstein, who took over the reins last year, has set projections to overtake 2015 arrival’s record breaking year by “firing all pistons” ahead of its 150 birthday celebrations in 2017.

“Canada’s on a roll, there’s been a real turnaround,” Goldstein said.

David Goldstein

“Australia has been very strong and a consistent market for us. There’s a natural affinity between Australians and Canadians, and with increased air access and a diversity of products, Canada’s got its act together.”

Recent market research revealed consumers viewed Canada as a “cold” climate destination, which Goldstein said he wanted to change to become a “cool” destination with the roll out of a new digital marketing campaign targeting millennials.

“First time visitors are good, but we need them to come again and again, other than the VFR market. We need to start young to create a life cycle for Australian travellers to Canada,” Goldstein said.

According to Goldstein, youth travellers spend was “more than people think”, but had different spending habits to older generations.

“They may spend less on accommodation, but they spend on urban adventure, nature, action – millennials want to do cool stuff,” Goldstein remarked, but added there was still need to “make it a different destination every time you visit”.

“It’s when you’re trying to counter-market that’s the tough part. We’ve worked on the brand, now we need to refresh product and challenge the travel trade to put more diversity (into market).”

“We’ve oversold nature, we need to put more work into promoting culture and urban travel”

“You can play golf and ski in the same day, then enjoy dinner at a top rated restaurant. It’s the high end culture product people don’t see and it’s those types of things that are going to create urgency. Festivals are a good trigger to say yes, I’ll do it this year.”

“It’s a new direction for us.”

Destination Canada has also reaped the benefit of a C$30 million boost in funding last year, which Goldstein said would allow for greater investment in the Australian market which would result in a “material increase in presence” in particular with smaller Canadian suppliers marketing product in the region.

Canada is also expected to benefit from a falling Australian dollar, which is now on par with the CAD, to entice travellers away from the US.

“There’s big chatter on what the dollar does, or doesn’t do. We are on par with the AUD which also allows operators to price more competitively,” Goldstein said.

“We’re not afraid to compete with the USA, it’s not the same product. We’ve got better skiing than Aspen, and if you haven’t skied Canada, you haven’t skied”

“We’re not the US, we’re a little more special than that. A little more like home.”

Image: David Goldstein, Photographer Dennis Dreaver, Destination Canada

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canada Coroboree David Goldstein destination canada marketing