Press release - Quebec City Tourism

A New Appointment at Québec City Tourism

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2011/09/15

Québec City, September 15, 2011–Québec City Tourism (QCT) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Michèle Drouin as Director of its Strategy, Planning, and Development Division.

Until recently, Ms. Drouin served as Director of Regional Development and Communication at Bureau de la Capitale-Nationale, where she spent eleven years. “She will make a dynamic addition to the Québec City Tourism team, with vast regional development experience that runs from fostering partnerships to coming up with innovative strategies to promote projects with greater added value for Québec City and area”, commented Gabriel Savard, General Manager of Québec City Tourism.

Ms. Drouin has also worked in international consulting and in communications for various government ministries. She has sat on a number of boards, both as member and president, and is currently a member of the Laval University Council and Régie des rentes du Québec. Ms. Drouin holds a Bachelor of French Studies.

The management of Québec City Tourism welcomes Michèle Drouin and wishes her all the best in her new position. She will begin work on Monday, September 26.

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Source : Éric Bilodeau
Directeur des communications
418-641-6654, poste 5422
Eric.bilodeau@quebecregion.com

Québec City best culture and sightseeing destination in Canada

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2011/02/02

Untitled Document

Québec City, January 27, 2011 - Québec City Tourism is pleased that the Québec City area has been named best destination for culture and sightseeing in Canada by travelers who consult the website Trip Advisor.

What's more, according to travelers who use Trip Advisor, Québec City is the 7th most romantic destination in the world and the 4th best destination in Canada (2010 data).

Québec City's Auberge Le Vincent also received a great honor in Trip Advisor, ranking as the 22nd best hotel in the world.

The Québec City area draws 4.7 million tourists a year and is the 4th biggest tourist destination in Canada after Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver.

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Source:
Sylvie Walter
Communications Advisor, Edimaster
418-641-6654, ext. 5482
Sylvie.walter@quebecregion.com

Québec City given its highest rating to date by Condé Nast Traveler readers

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2010/11/02

Québec City, October 22, 2010 – In the list of top 100 cities appearing in the November 2010 issue of Condé Nast Traveler, Québec City is ranked 2nd out of the ten best cities in the Americas (excluding American cities), 5th including cities in the U.S. and 10th among international destinations (from all continents).

“We really appreciate this show of support by the readers of the prestigious American magazine Condé Nast Traveler. It appears that we successfully promoted the Québec City tourist offer,” said Mr. Alain April, chairman of the board for Québec City Tourism. “And the quality of local attractions and infrastructure obviously meets international tourism standards.”

Québec City went from being 3rd to 2nd favourite destination in the Americas (excluding the U.S.), 6th to 5th favourite destination in the Americas (including the U.S.) and 12th to 10th favourite international destination. These are the highest rankings Québec City has ever obtained since the magazine began publishing its top-100 list.

“We can accept that San Francisco, Florence and Rome obtained a higher ranking than we did, but I have to say we are thrilled that we placed higher than New York City, Victoria and Paris! These results underscore the efforts made by the city, Québec City Tourism and regional tourism businesses,” said Mr. April.

The list is based on a survey Condé Nast Traveler conducts among its 3 million readers, who were asked to rate the top 100 destinations in the world in the following categories: cities, resorts, islands, hotels, carriers and cruises. Cities were rated according to their atmosphere/ambience, culture/sites, friendliness, lodging, restaurants and shopping. Since 1988, this magazine has been promoting the most beautiful destinations to its readers, who are seasoned, well-informed and sophisticated travellers with a sizable travel budget.

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Contact: Sylvie Walter, Communications Advisor
Sylvie.walter@quebecregion.com
418 641-6654, ext. 5482

Cruise Ships: New Record Expected in 2010!

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2010/04/23

Québec City, April 23, 2010 – Like spring itself, Québec City’s international cruise ship season began earlier than usual this year with the arrival of the Costa Atlantica. The ship will be in port until Sunday, April 25 at 5 p.m.

The Costa Atlantica out of Fort Lauderdale sailed into the Port of Québec this morning. Captain Francesco Schettino received a sculpture of a bird by artist Marc Martel as a gift from the Québec Port Authority. This QPA tradition congratulates the captain of the first cruise ship to arrive in the port in spring. Like the return of the snow geese, the arrival of cruise ships is a sign of the season. It is the second time since 1998 that the QPA has welcomed a cruise ship as early as April.

The Québec Port Authority is expecting another bumper year. “The 2010 cruise ship season will be a year of firsts, such as the inaugural visit of Italy’s MSC Cruises with its MSC Poesia,” said Ross Gaudreault, president and CEO of the Port of Québec. In all, over 100,000 passengers and 35,000 crew will visit the Old Capital in the coming months. A record number of passengers—55,000—have chosen to begin or end their cruise in Québec City. “More than ever, people from the area and the province have various choices of interesting itineraries to start from here. A variety of packages are available from Québec City to Boston, New York City, and even Fort Lauderdale,” added Gaudreault. Five different cruise lines offer 22 departures or arrivals in Quebec City: Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Costa Cruises.

Among the highlights of 2010 will be the return to Québec City of the Cunard Line’s imposing Queen Mary II on September 9, the inaugural arrival of six ships including the Celebrity Summit (1,950 passengers), the AidaLuna (2,500 passengers), and the Arcadia (2,556 passengers), and the arrival of the 600,000th passenger in Québec City since the cruise terminal inauguration in 2002.

The Costa Atlantica will depart for La Baie on Monday, April 26, before continuing its journey toward New York City. After the summer season in Europe, it will return to Québec City on October 1, where it will wind up the 2010 season on October 25.

Gabriel Savard, Québec City Tourism General Manager, is especially proud to be associated with the development of international cruises through targeted marketing efforts. Québec City is a true tourist friendly destination with an authentic experience for passengers who will choose to embark or disembark in Quebec City as 11 turnaround operations are planned in 2010.

The Québec Port Authority is an independent federal agency created under the Canada Marine Act. The Port of Québec is one of Canada’s main ports. Its principal activities include bulk goods transhipment, cruise ships, and a host of recreational and urban activities.

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Sources
Patrick Robitaille
Vice President
Marketing and Development
Québec Port Authority
Tél. : (418) 648-4956

Daniel Gagnon
Director, Communications and Advertising
Québec City Tourism
Tel: (418) 641-6654

A new direct flight has been added from Marseilles to the Québec region.

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2010/02/02

A whole new world of discovery has been opened up to Marseillais with Air Transat’s announcement of the addition of direct flights from Marseilles to Québec City starting in June 2010. « Following the United States, France represents the second largest foreign market for the region of Québec», states Mr. Martin Lachance, Director, Leisure and Media and Representative for Québec City Tourism and its partners, during the announcement of Air Transat’s new outbound Marseilles flights, starting in June 2010, which took place at the Aéroport de Marseille Provence.

Québec is the gateway for Eastern Québec and several vacation packages are offered in the city and its surrounding regions as well as in Charlevoix, Chaudière-Appalaches, the Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean and in Québec’s maritime region. For additional information, please visit www.quebecregion.com.

This new service from the regional capital of the South of France meets the existing demand considering that a large number of French travellers to Eastern Québec hail from regions outside the Parisian region. There were 150,000 French tourists in the Québec region in 2007, an increase of 12% over 2004. According to Statistics Canada, in 2007, 52.7% of these tourists visited during the summer season. We can then presume that better non-stop flight service beginning in June 2010 will encourage travel to Québec City and the regions of Eastern Québec. Data from 2008 has confirmed this trend, showing that the border-crossing of French tourists into Québec increased by 15% when compared to 2007.

A cultural and urban destination boasting a multitude of major events in the heart of the city and outdoor activities found less than 30 minutes from the downtown core, Québec City is easily accessible through Air Transat’s many direct flights.

« What makes this market even more interesting is the fact that the length of stay of French visitors is longer than that of the overall average for tourists. Furthermore, they tend to stay in hotels and spend more than the average tourist », added the President of Québec City Tourism. In fact, the length of stay of French tourists in Québec for 2007 was 4.93 days, a significant increase considering that it was at 4.11 days in 2004. Their spending follows the same trend. In 2007, the average spending of a French tourist totalled $573 which represents a 42% increase over 2004, for a total of 85,950,000 in tourist spending for 2007. It is important to note that the increase of length of stays and spending were two of the Office’s objectives, as set forth in its 2008-2012 Marketing Development Plan.

Just as the Cap sur l’Est campaign promotes winter tourism in the eastern regions of Québec, Québec City Tourism is proud to continue its work with its partners, the ministère du Tourisme du Québec, the Canadian Tourism Commission, and the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, Charlevoix, de la Chaudière-Appalaches and maritime Québec (Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspésie, Côte-Nord, Manicouagan, Duplessis and Îles-de-la-Madeleine) tourism regions for the marketing campaign that will take place over the summer of 2010. For additional information, please visit www.bonjourquebec.com/capsurlest.

According to Mr. Lachance of Québec City Tourism, particular emphasis will be placed on online marketing since more and more French consumers use the Internet to plan their Québec vacations. Québec City Tourism also counts on press relations and the wholesaler network and travel agents to help position the Québec City region for the summer 2010 season.

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Source :
Daniel Gagnon
Director, Communications and Advertizing
Québec City Tourism
418-641-6654, ext. 5480
www.quebecregion.com