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Try Something New
By: Bryan Plumstead
This past long week-end I did something I have never done before. My wife and I flew to Vancouver…. for the week-end. Last summer we drove across Canada, and I promised my sister it would not be 10 years until our next visit, but never imagined it would be less than 12 months. What changed? Our daughter is now a flight attendant, and orchestrated our stand-by flight to Vancouver, and thankfully back.
While stand-by flights have been around for a long time, the idea of selling unused tourism capacity at a discount has been growing in the background for some time (vacation sell-offs, last minute time-share discounts, third party cottage-rentals, etc. ) and has now exploded into the mainstream “sharing economy” through companies like AirBnB, Uber and many others. While this trend is concerning to many of us in traditional tourism industries, it is also inevitable, and we need to adapt, and find new ways to provide value through our customer service, experiences and infrastructure. As a Destination Marketing (or Management) Organization (DMO), Grey County needs to try some new things, as we are challenged with the rapidly changing way that our visitors research, plan, book, travel to and through Grey County, and then return home.
This spring we launched our new website, which is largely experience-driven. This summer we have radically shifted our “traditional” marketing to a social media campaign based upon our top activities, with mostly great success to date. This fall we will be embarking on an update of our Destination Development Action Plan, and are looking at some new approaches to better engage our industry and destinations across Grey, as well as embrace the new digital marketplace. We hope you’ll have some time to talk with us then, and share your insights, challenges and tactics on our very dynamic, challenging and competitive tourism marketplace. Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of summer and hoping it is a Grey’t one!
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Summer Bucket List
There are four more weeks of summer and we recommend your guests use our Bucket List to enjoy them! Download a PDF copy for visitors or share our Summer Bucket List video for a complete list and teaser for what awaits you!. 
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Grey County Waterfall Tour Brochure
Hot off the press is our 2015 waterfalls brochure which showcases two new additions. Holstein Dam in Southgate and Webwood Falls in The Blue Mountains are on debut in our new edition of the brochure plus featured are food stops in close proximity to each of the falls. Be sure to order some for visitors to your business location.
If you haven't checked it out yet, watch and share our four season waterfalls video.
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Summer Campaigns on Facebook
By: Allison Davies
In recent weeks, Grey County Tourism has partnered with BC Hughes to launch a large-scale Facebook advertising campaign. With a focus on our market-ready experiences, BC Hughes has been targeting a broad swath of Southern Ontario and positioning our ads in front of Facebook users with an interest in the great outdoors. Our first campaign prompted potential visitors to order the Grey County Waterfall Tour brochure, the second focused on the Grey Bruce Paddling brochure and the third targeted avid cyclists and the Grey County Cycling brochure. The results have been impressive, with huge increases in traffic to the visitgrey.ca site and an expanding fan base on our Grey County Tourism Facebook page. As a result, we’ve mailed out nearly 2000 brochures and seen users downloading copies to the tune of nearly 7,000 PDFs. We are now gearing up for our fall Facebook campaign that will promote Grey County’s amazing fall offerings. Stay tuned for the fall changeover of visitgrey.ca and the launch of our upcoming Fall getaway Facebook contest.
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Tourism Summer Student Event Attendance
By: Erin Stewart
So far we have attended 27 events (with 6 outside of the count in the Barrie, St. Jacob’s and Kitchener areas). We have had great success at almost all of our events, especially the ones further away. We have heard nothing but positive comments and reviews of our area (especially about the map!). We have distributed 4393 brochures including 1115 maps and 545 waterfalls. There has been an increasing interest in paddling in Grey County which is great. With the warm weather, we’re expecting the rest of the summer to be a good one!
Book us to be at your event summerstudent@visitgrey.ca or watch for us as we travel throughout the region this summer season.
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Saints & Sinners Map
By: Philly Markowitz
The all-new Saints & Sinners pocket map helps visitors discover 17 craft breweries, wineries and cideries across Grey, Bruce and Simcoe counties. Once a hotbed for bootleggers during Prohibition, the area now boasts several thriving drink producers. Local VQA wineries, craft breweries and heritage cideries are using locally-grown grapes, hops and apples to produce some of the best beverages in North America.
The map was created collectively by the beverage producers featured on the map and with the support and input of municipal tourism and economic development staff and other partners as a way to cross-promote local businesses, destinations and events. 70,000 copies were produced.
Visitors can use the Saints & Sinners map to tour farms and facilities, enjoy tastings, pairings or full meals, and pick up a variety of beverages to bring home. Maps are available from all participating producers and at tourism information centers across the region. Order a copy or find out more here: https://www.visitgrey.ca/travel-tools/travel-stories/saints-sinners-local-craft-beer-wine-cider
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Business Listings on Visitgrey.ca
We will be updating our website to a fall look and feel in the coming weeks so now is a great time to login and edit your free listing on visitgrey.ca. You can upload new photos, map your location and provide seasonal descriptions. To begin updating your listing now click here. If you have forgotten your password you can retrieve it or email us at industry@visitgrey.ca.
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