Press release - Quebec City Tourism

Québec Winter Carnival inspires Winter Wonderland!, the new novel by Belinda Jones

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2012/12/12

The details of this release can be read in this file: Details (PDF).

Holland America boosts its presence on the St.Lawrence

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2012/09/28

The details of this release can be read in this file: Details (PDF).

Readers of Travel + Leisure magazine again recognize Québec City’s popularity

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2012/07/09

The details of this release can be read in this file: Details (PDF).

The Québec : Destination internationale 2020 Event

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2012/04/03

Québec, April 3, 2012 – Today, Québec City Tourism (QCT) hosted a day of strategic thinking on the future of tourism in Québec between now and 2020. This event was attended by over 350 people from the tourism and business communities.

QCT’s goal for this event was to establish a strong consensus on the priorities and development projects that will help the Québec City area become a must among international tourist destinations by 2020. As Alain April, Chairman of the QCT Board, pointed out at the beginning of the meeting: “The issue is clear, but the challenge is demanding—we have to be ready to compete with the world. To do so, we will need to be able to expend the effort required; make choices, sometimes decisive and strategic; and take into account our current investment of over one billion dollars, which will shape the new image of Québec’s tourism offer. And we will need to stay focused on our binding priorities.”

In fact, this procedure was first undertaken in summer 2011. Meetings in this regard took place with some 40 regional leaders who play a significant role in the industry. These meetings helped draw up a list of development projects that will have a lasting effect.

Making choices
To achieve the status of international destination, this day of exchange helped determine that the Québec tourism industry needs to build on its established assets and clearly reposition itself, promoting what will be its development priorities to achieve this status of international destination. “What we want to propose at the end of this day is a structured and well-considered approach that will help us achieve our goals,” added Mr. April.

In May 2011, a task group established by the Minister of Tourism, Nicole Ménard, tabled its report. This committee, of which Mr. April was a member, was composed of Québec corporate executives and tourism industry leaders. The committee recommended that efforts to reposition Québec as a destination on foreign markets and those aimed at renewing Québec’s tourism offer from now on be centred on three solid and real focus areas:

The two gateways, Montréal and Québec
The icon that is the St. Lawrence River
Strong tourist centres with all of the assets or the potential required to attract clients from outside Quebec.

Québec City Tourism consulted regional leaders to provide Minister Ménard with a vision of the tourist product of the Greater Québec Area beyond 2020. Five integrating and other major projects came out of this consultation.

To begin, we call attention to nine projects planned, underway or completed that are already touristic assets for the area: the expansion of Expo Cité’s Centre de foires, the Massif de Charlevoix project with tourist train from Québec, Robert Lepage’s Diamant theatre project, the expansion of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the addition of departure gates and service areas at the Jean Lesage International Airport, the expansion of the PEPS, the extension of Promenade Samuel-De Champlain, the expansion of the Centre des congrès and, finally, the high-end amphitheatre capable of attracting major sports and cultural events. More than 1.2 billion dollars that will downright change Québec as a tourist destination by 2017.

The mutual brainstorming undertaken today by the regional tourism industry led to priorities for the future of tourism in the Québec area. Five key areas stood out:

Accessibility—circulating easily TO and WITHIN the destination

To take advantage of a modern, mobile and connected city. Bridgeheads need to be reconfigured, the airport will become a city within the city, an airport shuttle will be established to better serve hotels in the Sainte-Foy and downtown areas, and the Montréal–Québec express connection needs to be improved and accelerated, but designed based on the tourism industry.

Québec, winter capital of the world

Because of its ability to host a longer winter season, Québec will appear on the world stage thanks to a world-class signature. As the capital of the joys of winter, the city will become an even stronger winter cultural product with, among others, the Carnaval, Ice Hotel, QuébecAdabra! during the Holidays and other winter events like Red Bull Crashed Ice.

Québec, connected to the river

The Promenade Samuel-De Champlain must become an experiential circuit of services with shops, terraces and cafés, and will be extended from the bridgehead to the Île d’Orléans bridge. The Louise Basin will be the site of a multi-purpose urban and marine development project. International and river cruises will enjoy increased support. Major marine gatherings will be renewed. The Aquarium du Québec will be enhanced to create an exclusive emotional experience.

Québec, dynamic year-round cultural capital

A city that moves to the rhythm of its cultural assets and history. Following a themed approach, several tours must be proposed that include museums—both big and small—and galleries. Québec needs to host renowned exhibits that will attract tourists. Robert Lepage’s Diamant theatre project is a good example of this. Wendake, an outstanding product of Native heritage, will also become a high-end experience.

Québec, close to nature and the great outdoors

The Parc de la Chute-Montmorency will become a natural and even more connected starting point. Together, Mont-Sainte-Anne and the Massif offer a world-class ski destination. The facilities at these centers need to be further improved for use in all four seasons. A high-end mountain bike course will provide a corridor of valleys to hurtle down between Vallée Bras-du-Nord, Vallée de la Jacques-Cartier and Mont-Sainte-Anne. In addition, a Québec cycling tour will propose a unique, high-level Québec / Charlevoix / Saguenay route for cyclists looking for performance.

“Even the best marketing campaign could never replace the product,” concluded Mr. April. The projects tabled today will lead to increased tourism revenue and visibility and a better strategic positioning of the destination. A good tourism performance will follow for all industry players, as well as economic growth in the tourism industry throughout the year.

The tourism industry is the second-largest industry in the Québec area. More than 4.5 million tourists travel to Québec every year, generating around 1.5 billion dollars in income and creating close to 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.

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Source :
Daniel Gagnon
Marketing Director
418-933-2986
418-641-6654, ext. 5480, cell. 418-933-2986
daniel.gagnon@quebecregion.com

Information:
Eric Bilodeau
Directeur des communications
Communications Director
418-641-6654, ext. 5422, cell. 418-655-1864
Eric.bilodeau@quebecregion.com

Québec City Tourism’s 2012 Action Plan

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2011/12/19

Focusing on developing our tourism offer

Québec City, December 14, 2011 – With 2012 just around the corner, Québec City Tourism (QCT) is making plans to keep Québec City one of North America’s top destinations. That’s why we are drawing on the region’s most compelling events and attractions to bolster Québec City’s already strong market positioning.

Alain April, chairman of the QCT board, wants the Québec City Region come together around a strong, unified brand to deliver a better, more exciting overall visitor experience. “We have to make sure marketing actions translate into actual visitors. In business tourism, we have to keep convincing conference organizers that the Québec City area is a competitive and appealing place to hold their events,” April added.

2011: Taking Stock

The latest forecasts call for the number of business tourism room rentals in the area to grow close to 4% in 2011. Numbers for October already show gains of nearly 13%. Forecasts are drawn from the dynamic “reservation book” produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers, a tool that aggregates room reservations for hotels with a high percentage of business tourism guests.

However, the latest numbers also show overall tourism numbers in the region for 2011 dropping slightly from 2010 (2.9% lower as of October 31, 2011). For the same time period, the hotel industry saw a 1.6% drop in room rentals. These numbers do not reflect performance discrepancies throughout the area: hotels located in the downtown Québec City generally fare better.

Other tourism sectors also attracted lower numbers of visitors. As of the end of October, sites and attractions were down 6%, stores and retail fell 8%, and restaurants slipped 2%.

The losses observed are believed to come mainly from leisure tourism. August, normally a strong month for vacationers, saw numbers fall 4–5% almost everywhere across the province of Québec, as favorable exchange rates and lower gas prices in the U.S. lured many Quebecers south of the border. On the bright side, the number of border crossings by overseas tourists has risen by close to 5% since the beginning of the year. For U.S. tourists, this number held steady, equaling 2010 rates.

In other news, Québec City Tourism created an advisory committee in 2011 to ensure that players in the tourism industry make sound decisions with a view to developing the regions tourism offer in the medium to long term.

In March 2011 QCT and the Québec Region Hotel Association launched Québec Région Réservations, an online reservation center built into the Québec City Tourism website. In the site’s first nine months, visitors from Québec, Ontario, the United States, France, Switzerland, and Germany made over 2,000 reservations. The Québec City Tourism website (quebecregion.com) saw traffic jump by 64% compared to 2010, with over two million visits between January and October.

Objectives and strategies for 2012

2012 will be a pivotal year in our 2011–13 Strategic Plan. “Québec City has to get its name out as a dynamic, one-of-a-kind destination, while continuing to promote its historic charm. We have to take advantage of our magnificent location on the banks the St. Lawrence. And we also have to sell the region as a four-season destination,” said QCT director Gabriel Savard.

Québec City Tourism’s chief objectives for 2012 are to

Make our destination more accessible and introduce a shuttle service between the airport and the city
Strengthen our “winter destination” product by developing a strong cluster of attractions around the Ice Hotel and reinforcing the position of the Québec Winter Carnival
Enhance our business tourism offer by working to bring major recurring conferences
Make the Québec City area more attractive as an urban/cultural destination by hosting world-class museum exhibitions and a gourmet food and wine event, the Bordeaux Wine Festival in Québec City
Organize the history and heritage tourism offer by setting up tours and circuits catering to the military and religious tourism markets

Industry partners including Québec’s tourism ministry, Bureau de la Capitale-Nationale, Conférence régionale des élus, and local development centers (CLDs) also acknowledge the need to boost the region’s tourism offer, and have agreed to join QTC in investing a total of $1.2 million per year under a regional agreement (Entente de partenariat régional en tourisme).

“QCT is increasingly acting as an umbrella organization, bringing together various regional tourism industry players to develop our destination. Our role includes providing strategic, technical, and financial support,” added QCT board chairman Alain April.

In terms of marketing, after honing in even further on its target clienteles in 2011, QCT will work harder going forward to time its advertising efforts to coincide with periods of the year when our clients typically plan and book their vacations. Major campaigns will be rolled out to target U.S. and French leisure tourists, two promising markets likely to help us meet our objective of increasing visitor traffic and spending. All leisure tourism campaigns will again be built around the “This is Québec City” (“Ça, c’est Québec”) theme.

QCT’s marketing plan calls for the organization to earmark 25% of funding for launching new business tourism initiatives. Focus groups held recently with conference planners from Québec and English Canada registered a very positive response to QCT’s marketing strategies. Québec City Tourism and its partners will stay the course, while fine-tuning the tools and creative platforms used for business tourism campaigns.

Two distinct promotional campaigns will be launched in 2012—one promoting the urban tourism product, the other focusing on the nature /adventure tourism product available less than 30 minutes from the city.

In conjunction with members, promotional strategies will be deployed to boost numbers at both indoor and outdoor tourist attractions, which have been falling over the past few years. A major promotional campaign will also target U.S. travel agents and cruise ship tourists to promote Québec City as a premier port to start and end cruises.

QCT is also harnessing the power of new technologies with a new app for mobile devices (iPhone and Android) slated for a winter 2012 release. The app, a tourist guide for visitors once they have arrived in Québec City, takes full advantage of GPS technology.

And lastly, QTC is organizing Forum Vision Québec 2020, to discuss and present tourisme development outlooks and objectives for the rest of the decade. This initiative is associated with the industry performance committee’s provincial government report, to be submitted to Québec tourism minister Nicole Ménard next spring. Influential figures from politics, business, and the tourism industry will be in attendance to discuss issues and draw up a list of priorities to act on.

Québec City Tourism is both a regional tourism association (ATR, for Association Touristique Régionale) and a department of the City of Québec. It boasts nearly 1,000 members and serves an area spanning Québec City, Île d’Orléans, Côte-de-Beaupré, and the Jacques-Cartier and Portneuf regions. QCT’s mission is to guide and lead tourism industry growth and contribute actively to the industry's prosperity through integrated and coordinated initiatives in marketing, promotion, development, hospitality services, and community information.

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Source :
Daniel Gagnon
Director of Marketing
418-641-6654, extension 5480
Cell. 418-933-2986
daniel.gagnon@quebecregion.com

Information:
Eric Bilodeau
Director of Communications
418-641-6654, extension 5422
Cell. 418-655-1864
eric.bilodeau@quebecregion.com

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

Grands Prix du tourisme québécois 2010

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2010/06/14

Québec City Area Winners

Québec, March 30, 2010 – Québec City Tourism is proud to announce the names of the Grands Prix du tourisme québécois 2010 winners for the Québec City Area. The awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, March 30, at Espaces Dalhousie in front of over 300 people.

See the detailed press release at www.quebecregion.com, in the Media section.

TOURISM PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

Québec City Tourism
Robert Lepage

ACCOMMODATIONS

Bell Canada / bonjourquebec.com
Fédération des Caisses populaires Desjardins du Québec

Hôtel Château Bellevue – 1–3-star establishments
www.hotelchateaubellevue.com
Loews Hôtel Le Concorde – 4- and 5-star establishments
www.loewshotels.com
Le Moulin de St-Laurent, Restaurant-Chalets – Tourism residences
www.moulinstlaurent.qc.ca
Dans les bras de Morphée Bed and Breakfast – Bed and breakfasts
www.danslesbrasdemorphee.com

TOURISM DEVELOPMENT – RESTAURANTS

Fédération des producteurs de lait du Québec

Le Moulin de St-Laurent, Restaurants-Chalets
www.moulinstlaurent.qc.ca

FARM TOURISM AND REGIONAL PRODUCTS

Fédération des producteurs de lait du Québec

Domaine de la source à Marguerite Vineyard
www.domainemarguerite.com

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Société des Attractions Touristiques du Québec

La Vallée Secrète – < 100,000 visitors
www.valleesecrete.com
Village Vacances Valcartier - 100 000+ visitors
www.valcartier.com

FESTIVALS AND TOURISM EVENTS

Festivals et Événements Québec

Envol et Macadam – Operating budget under $1 M
www.envoletmacadam.com
Festival d’été international de Québec – Operating budget of $1 M or more
www.infofestival.com

TOURISM SERVICES

Hydro-Québec

Tours Voir Québec inc.
www.toursvoirquebec.com

OUTDOOR AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Hydro-Québec

Canots Légaré
www.canotslegare.com

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

HD Marketing

Château Mont-Sainte-Anne
www.chateaumontsainteanne.com

ECOTOURISM AND ADVENTURE TOURISM

Hydro-Québec

Canyoning-Québec
www.canyoning-quebec.com

HUMAN RESOURCES

Fédération des Caisses populaires Desjardins du Québec

Pierre Houle, Ice Hotel – Tourism employee
www.icehotel-canada.com
Gilles Roy, Ice Hotel – Tourism supervisor
www.icehotel-canada.com
Philippe Dupont, AVW-TELAV Audio Visual Solutions – Tourism succession
www.avwtelav.com

AMBASSADORS’ CIRCLE

Centre des congrès de Québec

Robert M. Tanguay – 2009 ambassador of the year
Hani Antoun – 2009 event of the year – XIV International Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

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Source : Sylvie Walter/ Catherine Cimon-Fradet
Communications Advisor
418 641-6654, ext. 5482
sylvie.walter@quebecregion.com / catherine.cimon-fradet@quebecregion.com

2009: Overview of Québec City Tourism Activities

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2010/06/14

Québec, June 14, 2010 – “Despite several limiting factors for the tourism industry, among other things the outbreak of [AH1N1] flu and the recession, the 2009 tourism season was on par with 2007, our benchmark year,” observed Gabriel Savard, Director of Québec City Tourism (QCT). In the presence of the Mayor of Québec City, Régis Labeaume, and some 250 members of the industry gathered together at a general assembly today, Mr. Savard drew a portrait of 2009.

2009 overview

Given the exceptional year for tourism in the area in 2008 and to better reflect the reality, the results for 2009 were compared against those obtained in 2007.

Like the global recession that hit all markets, the 2009 tourism year showed mixed results. Even with a 2.6% drop in the tourism composite index compared to 2007, i.e., the weighted sum of the four indicators of the regional tourist activity, 2009 was still within the average for the past few years.

Except for the months of July and August, which saw respective increases in traffic of 1% and 5.3% over those of 2007, all the other months of the year saw a 1% to 5% drop in activity. The rain at the start of the summer partially explains the poor performance observed in the second quarter and, in particular, the 7.6% drop in the month of June compared to 2007, the biggest drop of the year. Despite these results, the Québec City area recorded between 2007 and 2009 the best tourism performance of all major metropolitan areas in Canada.
The hotel occupancy index for the area ended down 2.1% (1.7% for Québec City and 10.5 % for RCMs) compared to 2007, with some 52,500 fewer rooms rented. With a 7.3% drop, the month of June was the worst. The gains were essentially achieved in the summer period.
The Vieux-Québec boutiques and shops patronage index reached 101.8, a 1.8% increase over 2007. The gains were mostly achieved at the beginning and at the end of the year. Here, again, the month of June was the most unfavourable, with a 10.7% drop.
The sites and attractions attendance index recorded the worst performance, with a 10.1% drop. Every month of the year saw results below 2007 levels, with December ( 16.6%) showing the biggest drop. Outdoor attractions ( 15.2%) were particularly affected by the erratic weather throughout the year. The indoor attractions index saw a 5.7% drop compared to 2007.
The restaurant occupancy index was 97.9, down 2.1% from 2007. Except for the months of January, July and August, every month of the year showed results below 2007 levels.

In conclusion, except for the boutiques and retail shops sector, the various sectoral indices show results below 2007 levels.

Highlights regarding QCT

Below is an outline of noteworthy facts for Québec City Tourism for 2009.

Administration of a $1714.8 M operating budget in 2009, down 14.5% from 2008
Note: This drop is in large part attributable to a drop in revenues from the accommodation tax and special revenues attributable to the promotion of celebrations associated with Québec City’s 400th anniversary
Arrival of the new director on April 27 (Gabriel Savard).
Signing and renewal of agreements with Canada Economic Development and the Bureau de la Capitale-Nationale.

Summary of activities carried out in 2009

A number of development, promotional, advertising, communication and hosting activities were carried out throughout the year ending on December 31, 2009. Here are a few examples:

In total, QCT, Ville de Québec, the Canadian Tourism Commission, QCT’s members, the Government of Quebec, the ministère du Tourisme du Québec and Canada Economic Development invested some $8.15 M in marketing communications activities in 2009. Overall, this is a significant decrease, as QCT devoted $10.9 M to this aspect in 2008.
QCT completed a major online marketing project with a complete overhaul of its website.
The area hosted 467 journalists and 623 tourism generators.
In business tourism, a stronger focus was placed on local markets and the international market. 44 activities were carried out and 236 special visitors were received.
Tourist information offices provided some 66,000 pieces of information to the visitors who frequented the offices in 2009, a 6.5% increase over 2007.

Tourism attendance

The 2007 data from Statistics Canada associated with the most recent forecasts of the Conference Board, which seem to indicate a 2% drop in tourism attendance for 2009 over 2007, made it possible to extrapolate that at least 4.4 million tourists came to the area in 2009. Despite this drop, the Québec City area recorded the best performance of all major cities in Canada between 2007 and 2009.

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Source :Sylvie Walter, Communications Advisor
Québec City Tourism
sylvie.walter@quebecregion.com
418-641-6654, ext. 5482

Regional Consensus on a New Start for Québec City Tourism

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2010/06/14

Québec, June 14, 2010 – “The measures announced today regarding Québec City Tourism’s governance framework will enable the latter to more effectively meet the needs of Québec City and its surrounding area in terms of tourism development and marketing.” It was with these words that Québec Mayor Régis Labeaume introduced the recommendations recently adopted by the Ville de Québec Executive Committee. The governance framework for Québec City Tourism (QCT) is a telling example of regional coordination. Indeed, aside from Ville de Québec, the Québec City Tourism board of directors, the Association hôtelière de la région de Québec and the four local development centres (centres locaux de développement, or CLD) responsible for development in Québec City and the surrounding area approved the procedure and the recommendations of the working group on governance.

“By adopting this new governance framework, we want to improve the organization’s performance by building on its successes and the positive impacts it has had on the tourism industry over the past few years,” stated Alain April on behalf of Québec City Tourism’s Board of Directors. According to him, the Québec City area managed to get out while the going was good in a most competitive environment, which is in keeping with the collaboration climate prevailing in the regional tourism industry and the strategies put forward by QCT and its partners over the past few years.

A more powerful board of directors

One of the key measures put forward starting today is a revision of the powers and composition of QCT’s Board of Directors. Indeed, the board will go from a 21-member advisory board to an 11-member decision-making management board. Composed of both old and new members, this new version of the board is certain to breathe new life and bring a whole new dimension to the various discussions. Furthermore, from now on the board will include a complete delegation on the administration of QCT’s financial resources not obtained from Ville de Québec, which account for close to 85% of its total budget.

According to Alain April, QCT’s new Chairman of the Board, “Chairing a 21-person council of representatives made regional coordination and the attainment of overall benefits for the destination difficult. With an 11-person board composed of experienced managers, we will be better able to administer QCT’s resources and strategic orientations effectively.” The new board will have the support of a marketing committee composed of regional tourism marketing leaders and sub-committees designated to propose strategies to meet specific issues.

A substantial amount devoted to supply development

“Using a portion of the accommodation tax to develop the tourist supply is a first in the region and I think that the hotel industry has been visionary in making this move. In fact, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Association hôtelière de la région de Québec and its president, Renée Gosselin.” This is how the Mayor of Québec City marked the fulfilment of one of the recommendations contained in the report on governance. With this investment of 10% of the revenues from the accommodation tax, QCT will contribute more actively to the development of the tourist supply. As such, a sum of around one million dollars per year will be available for the development and renewal of the regional offer. This budget dedicated to supply development is additional to the support program for the promotion of tourism vents (Programme de soutien à la promotion des événements touristiques, or PSPET), which totalled 15% of the revenues from the accommodation tax, i.e., close to 1.4 million dollars per year.

“Québec City and its surrounding area can certainly rely on major assets that make it a premium destination because, historically speaking, the city has always performed well in terms of tourism. It is now up to us to further accentuate the development of the business market and make it a whole new destination. But what we want the most is to develop the current offer to keep enticing loyal visitors who love our destination and stimulate the interest of all other travellers. By continually improving this offer, we will stay in a class of our own,” added Mr. Labeaume in support of this measure. Ville de Québec is quite intent on showing its support for QCT by making a commitment to maintain its current financial contribution over the next three years.

The choice of projects and their selection criteria will remain QCT’s prerogative. This investment would take place as part of a program to be implemented in early 2011 for a minimum duration of three years.

Reorganization to increase the organization’s efficiency

QCT’s Director, Gabriel Savard, wanted to add that “To make this new start, we felt it was essential to revise our organizational structure. When the latter is implemented in a few months, our actions will be more integrated and we will be able to respond more effectively to the digital revolution significantly affecting tourism marketing.” Indeed, all of QCT’s marketing operations, from sales to advertising and including online marketing, media relations and the production of promotional tools will soon be grouped together within the same department. Information technologies will increasingly be used in all associated mandates and tasks.

Québec City Tourism is both a department of Ville de Québec and a regional tourism association bringing together over 1,050 members. Its territory includes Québec City, Île d’Orléans, Côte-de-Beaupré, Jacques-Cartier and Portneuf. Its mission is to guide and facilitate the growth of the tourism industry and contribute to its economic prosperity through its marketing and development and by welcoming tourists and informing industry players.

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Source : Daniel Gagnon, Director of Communications and Advertising
daniel.gagnon@quebecregion.com
418-641-6654, ext. 5480

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

New Direct Flight Between Washington, DC and Québec City Québec City Now More Accessible to American

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2010/02/18

Québec City, February 18, 2010 – “By launching this new daily direct service from Washington, United Airlines will as of June 10 be providing new access to Québec City for both business and recreational tourism clients,” remarked Dany Thibault, President of Québec City Tourism.

Québec City Tourism is pleased with the dynamism shown by senior management at United Airlines, who is looking to work in partnership with Québec area tourism stakeholders. The arrival of this new player offering daily roundtrip non-stop service increases the visibility and accessibility of the Québec City area from the US capital, which serves as a hub for the American east coast. “This is great news for people planning their summer travels. Québec City proudly welcomes this new regular flight that will contribute to keeping the Jean-Lesage International Airport moving forward,” added Mr. Thibault.

According to a Cities survey (2007), close to 15% of American tourists who come to Québec City come from Washington and its surrounding states. This new direct flight will serve as a strong incentive for business people to maintain operations in Québec City.

Remember that extending the length of stay and increasing tourism spending are two objectives sought by Québec City Tourism in its 2008-2012 Marketing Development Plan. Following the recent announcement of direct flights from Bordeaux and Marseille as part of partnerships with eastern Quebec areas, Québec City Tourism is pleased to continue working with its partners—including the Jean-Lesage International Airport, the ministère du Tourisme du Québec and the Canadian Tourism Commission—to develop air service to Québec City.

It is important to remember that a safe environment, the price-quality ratio as well as the originality and seasonal diversification of the tourism offer are all sure values for visitors. Québec City, a UNESCO world heritage treasure, has all the warmth and noble spirit needed to make it a simply unique place. Surrounded by nature, Québec City stands apart thanks to the richness of its brilliant urban life and outdoor activities only minutes away!

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

2010 Marketing development plan strategies and activities - Québec City Tourism

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2009/11/26

Winning the race in 2010!

Québec, November 26, 2009 – « 2010 will be a critical year where many defining shifts will take place in order to meet the ambitious objectives we’ve set for ourselves », said Mr. Gabriel Savard, Director of Québec City Tourism (QCT), before 250 participants gathered at the Centre des congrès de Québec for the presentation of QCT’s tourism marketing plan for 2010.

Mr. Alain April, President of the QCT marketing committee, unveiled the strategies for pleasure and business tourism alike. He emphasized the importance of nearby markets, particularly Canada and Québec. In fact, 60% of the budget’s $12.8 million will be invested in these markets and the chosen approaches will involve the Internet, destination positioning in line with our new brand image, and developing closer relationships with wholesalers, travel agencies and reporters in specialized client niches such as cruises. Local industry has also been asked to make a stronger commitment to attracting conferences and business meetings to the region.

2009 was difficult but Québec succeeded in retaining its market shares
At the end of 2008, a reduction in tourism activities was already being seen, with overall decreases, including over 10% respectively in February, May and June. Fortunately, July and August were less affected and growth was seen over 2007, our benchmark year for the plan. By the end of September 2009, there was only a 2.5% gap between the year to date and 2007 and 10.5% compared to 2008.

The information currently available seems to indicate that the pleasure tourism segment fared well in 2009 and that the losses observed were due mostly to a decrease in business tourism, which was to be expected considering the economic downturn that is still affecting financial circles and the business world at large.

Business tourism aside, the tourist attractions sector had the most difficulty in 2009. At September 31, the negative gap with 2008 neared 15% for indoor attractions and about 6% for outdoor attractions. The comparison to 2007 was not much better, as the negative gaps were at some 10% (indoor attractions) and 13% (outdoor attractions).

Boutiques and retailers had a year comparable to 2007 but were down 20% when compared to 2008. A 5% decrease was also seen in the restaurant industry compared to 2008 and 2.5% when compared to 2007. These numbers may also be hiding more significant losses experienced by certain regional businesses, owing to the decrease of American tourists. Furthermore, these averages do not reflect important performance gaps between different parts of the territory.

If 2009 was difficult for Québec, it also was for the rest of Canada. Data from HVS-Canada (lodging in banner establishments) to September 31 2009 indicate that, when compared to other Canadian destinations, Québec suffered the least disappointing results (measured in room sales) for the same period in 2008.

Objectives and strategies for 2010
In 2010, we plan to exceed the Conference Board’s 1.4% growth previsions and are looking for a 2% increase in the number of tourists. This growth, in conjunction with an increase in the length of stays, could represent a 4% hike in the number of rooms sold in comparison to 2009.

Here are the main strategies we will be using:

Take advantage of the 25th anniversary of Québec City being named a UNESCO Heritage Site to encourage tourists to visit and revisit Québec.
Invite our clienteles to see the Les Chemins invisibles™ and Le Moulin à Images^MC shows, but also to participate in 2010’s new sporting events including the Grand prix cycliste Pro-Tour Québec-Montréal and the 2010 World Mountain Bike Championship/Trials.
Speed up the development of cruise line embarkation/debarkation with our regional partners, the Administration portuaire de Québec, the Jean-Lesage International Airport and the ATR de Charlevoix.
Sign the agreement between Horizon Culture and the MCCCF for cultural tourism.
Develop the offers and notoriety of our territory’s RCMs.
Take advantage of our 27 tourist events and exhibitions, as well as our impressive number of attractions, activities and services geared to increasingly specialized and interested clienteles.

In terms of commercialization:

Follow through on the actions undertaken through the development of our Web platform.
Intensify our destination positioning efforts (« drive to web »).
Put aside certain specialized exhibitions and bursaries in order to concentrate fully on establishing continuous contact with our clienteles (social media).
Propose work modes that will require more and more support from our affiliated members.
Continue with our co-developmental, cooperative, and involved approach with regional businesses to improve Québec’s outreach.
In business and pleasure tourism, concentrate our efforts on selling to nearby markets, considering the current economic context.
Work on optimizing the participation of convention delegates in confirmed events.

In our markets:

Québec and Canada will be our priority markets for business and pleasure tourism, particularly for the winter season (2010-2011)
In the United States, our marketing efforts will be rolled out mainly in the summer on the East Coast (New York) but certain timed interventions in promising sub-markets will also take place.
Our work in francophone European countries will be maintained considering the progress we’ve made and our obvious competitive advantages.
In Mexico, only media relations will be maintained because, despite the current hardships, this market holds true potential over the medium and long terms and our competitive advantages are quite significant.

All of these strategies will require us to review our priorities and to realign our staff’s efforts.

Budgetary context for 2010
In 2010, we expect to have a marketing budget of approximately $12.8 M, which is $1 M less than the budget tabled in June 2009.

This budget will come from the following sources:

45%: revenues from the lodging tax
22%: fees collected from members for participation in QCT marketing activities
18%: QCT’s regular budget, allocated by the City of Québec
5%: federal government
4%: provincial government
3%: innovation fund (to be confirmed)
3%: joint activities with the territory’s RCMs and partners (ATR, transporters…).

It must be noted that the Québec region was ranked the 5th best Canadian tourism destination in 2007, in terms of tourist traffic (Statistics Canada). The 4,482,000 tourists who visited the region in 2007 spent $1.38 B in the region and helped maintain over 30,000 jobs. Québec keeps gaining recognition, including being ranked the 3rd best destination in the Americas by the readers of Condé Nast Traveler (November 2009) and is also ranked the 3^rd best destination in North America, according to Travel & Leisure (July 2009).

« 2009 will not be easy but we are confident that we are well equipped to win the race and to maintain our position at the front of the pack of the most sought-after destinations in North America » said Mr. Dany Thibault, QCT President.

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Source:
Sylvie Walter, communication counselor
641-6654, ext. 5482
sylvie.walter@quebecregion.com

Québec City Tourism is launching its brand new web site

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2009/11/26

Québec, November 26, 2009 – « Today, it’s with much pride and joy that we launch our brand new web site. This launch marks the first phase of the rollout of an online marketing platform for Québec City Tourism ». This is how QCT Director, Mr. Gabriel Savard, began the press conference that was called to announce the launch of the new version of the www.quebecregion.com web site. Mr. Daniel Gagnon, the organization’s Communications and Marketing Director, was also on hand.

Mr. Gagnon had this to say about the new web site: « This site was developed first and foremost to meet the needs of tourists who are interested in the region of Québec. It will allow them to fully experience Québec before, during and after their visit. We have put emphasis on the quality, relevance and quantity of readily available information and were obsessed throughout the process with making the site as user-friendly as possible ». Pictures, videos, texts and maps are all richly designed and quite useful to the visitor. Furthermore, the architecture of the site was developed with QCT’s marketing objectives in mind, particularly its concern with increasing the length of visits and tourist spending.

The new www.quebecregion.com web site will allow visitors to devise a plan for their visit, share it, get informed and inspired by comments posted by other visitors, and to comment themselves on their experience in Québec. As a matter of fact, comments from the Tripadvisor web site will be added to the files of several of QCT’s affiliated members, as will those left on the site by visitors. This site is not only geared to individual travelers: there will also be detailed sections for convention organizers, travel professionals, travel publications and QCT members.

This site is the cornerstone of an integrated online marketing strategy that will allow QCT to offer, before the end of 2010, several online services to visitors, such as the ability to make reservations, content and applications for their mobile devices, message boards and tools that will allow them to share their experiences, photos and videos of the Québec region with other visitors. QCT will also develop an extranet site to communicate and manage all its communications with affiliated members.

The launch of the QCT web site is the culminating point of a year filled with analysis, reflection, design and production. This work required the help of many QCT employees as well as outside firms, who together formed a consortium, all under the direction of Amalgame, our ad agency. This agency was hired to handle all mandates relating to QCT pleasure tourism marketing campaigns. Amalgame collaborated with Nofolo, a young web site development company. Zengo provided content architecture and Web writing throughout the development process while REP Solution was responsible for the implementation of customer relationship management software (CRM). « QCT wanted to call on mainly Québec companies and creators for the development of its web site and we can now say that it was entirely created, developed and produced in the region ofQuébec », added Mr. Savard.

In the same breath, QCT’s Director voiced his satisfaction with the respect of the total budget allocated by the organization and the timely delivery of the project. As per projections, total spending stayed below $500,000. As for the deadline, despite adding on and developing site functions that were not part of the original plan, delivery was delayed by only one month.

The QCT web site was presented today to its members and the media during the 2010 Québec City Tourism marketing day held at the Centre des congrès de Québec.

Québec City Tourism is at once a regional tourism association and department of the City of Québec. It has over 1,050 members. Its mission is to actively contribute to the industry’s economic growth through combined and coordinated efforts in promotion, development hospitably and information.

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Source :
Sylvie Walter
Communication counselor
Québec City Tourism
Phone: 418-641-6654, ext. 5482
sylvie.walter@quebecregion.com

Québec ranked third among top tourist destinations...

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2009/10/19

Québec, October 19, 2009 – Results shown in the November 2009 issue of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine confirm that Québec City remains a highly popular travel destination in the hearts and minds of its readers. Merits of the Québec City and region were once again confirmed, and Québec City got its best rankings ever from this publication, ranking 3^rd among top tourist travel destinations in the Americas (outside the USA), 6^th including the USA, and 12^th among the world’s top travel destinations.

Québec City thus continues to be considered an exceptional travel destination by readers of this prestigious American publication, and it improves its scores compared to U.S. and world destinations, respectively climbing from 9^th to 6^th, and from 19^th to 12^th. The cities that ranked higher than Québec are high-status destinations an international level.

This survey was taken in spring 2009. The visits from media people, the many articles and reports published for Québec City’s 400^th anniversary positively contributed to Québec’s reputation. From the compiling of the 25,000 answers to the survey, Québec City clearly stands out.

The Chairman of the Board of Québec City Tourism, Dany Thibault commented, “I am proud to say that year after year Québec remains at the head of the pack of popular world tourist destinations. Having received this honour, Québec must be known and visited, thus the need to increase our promotional efforts. If Québec is overlooked as a travel destination because we did not promote ourselves sufficiently, other destinations will take our place.”

Survey results led Bureau CEO Gabriel Savard to make the following comments, “We are indeed very proud of achievements providing Québec City with prestigious Reader’s Choice standings comparable to Sydney, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Florence, Rome and Vancouver, and to be ahead of such international destination icons as Barcelona, Chicago and Paris. The Bureau shares responsibility for these highly satisfactory results with all of its stakeholders. Congratulations to everyone, and a very special thanks to each and every person in the Québec City region tourist industry community for their dedication.”

The survey conducted by Condé Nast Traveler (boasting 3 million readers) ranks the top “100 world travel destinations” in the following categories: cities, holiday resort areas, islands, hotels, and cruise ship packages. Readers selected for the poll were required to rate cities on the following criteria: ambiance, cultural expression, site quality, lodging, population empathy, restaurants and shopping. The magazine, whose readers are experienced, knowledgeable, affluent, and sophisticated travellers, is dedicated to the promotion of highly commendable travel destinations since 1988.

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Source: Sylvie Walter

Communication Officer

sylvie.walter@quebecregion.com

418-641-6654, ext. 5482

Québec City named 3rd top nop north american destination by readers of the prestigious travel...

Office du tourisme de Québec — 2009/07/28

Québec City, July 28, 2009. Québec City always holds a special place in the hearts and travel memories of readers of the prestigious American Travel + Leisure magazine. The city and its surrounding area was once again praised for its qualities as a tourist destination, ranked the 3^rd top tourist destination in North America and the 19^th top destination in the world.

In fact, the magazine’s readers continue to rate Québec City as an exceptional destination. The only two cities that outranked it, San Francisco and New York, are of international calibre. In short, classics that are still as coveted as ever. Québec City’s Auberge St-Antoine was also lauded, ranking 3^rd in the hotel category.

The city has gained ground since 2008, when it was the 6^th top destination. Chicago dropped three spots compared to last year, from 3^rd place to 6^th. Québec City therefore switched places with the Windy City, one of the trendiest urban destinations in the U.S. According to Dany Thibault, chairman of the Québec City Tourism: “This acknowledgement is undoubtedly related to the city’s 400^th anniversary celebrations and the unprecedented promotional efforts we made on the American market in 2008.”

Gabriel Savard, director of Québec City Tourism, also commented on the results: “We should be proud to be on the same level as cities like San Francisco and New York and to beat renowned destinations like Chicago, Paris, Barcelona, Vienna and Prague. It is thanks to a joint effort that we climbed to a top spot in this prestigious list. Hats off to the people involved in the Québec City’s tourism industry!”

The far-reaching study was conducted from January to March 2009 in partnership with the American firm Harris Interactive. In the February and March issues, all of the magazine’s readers were invited to participate and some even received an invitation by e-mail. Cities all around the world were evaluated for their scenery, culture, way of life, dining, cuisine, friendliness, values and shopping.

The Québec City Tourism is both a regional tourism association and an administrative service of the City of Québec. It has over 1 050 members. The Québec City Tourism’s mission is to guide and animate the expansion of the tourism industry and contribute to its economic prosperity through marketing, development, tourist hospitality and information.

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Source: Daniel Gagnon Anne Douville,

Director of Communcations Public Relations

Office du tourisme de Québec