“I will return to Montreal,” sang Robert Charlebois. This is what the tourism industry wants in 2022, and not just for the city as we see unprecedented advertising campaigns appear in London, New York and elsewhere to lure tourists to Quebec.
“We are aiming for a full return of tourists for the next year. This year it will be around 60 to 70%,” said Martin Soucy, President and CEO of the Alliance de l’industrie touristique du Québec (AITQ).
The reference here is 2019-2020 and its $16.4 billion in tourism benefits for Quebec, including $4 billion for leisure tourism.
At the time we were talking about 35 million visitors, a quarter of whom were from outside Quebec. However, these 8.4 million foreigners accounted for 53% of tourism spending.
Targeted campaign
A pandemic later, the goal is to sail up the coast and perform a targeted magic operation to bring back those lavish tourists.
“We’re targeting Ontario, the Northeastern United States and France,” explains Mr. Soucy. As such, Quebec is not currently running a campaign in Asia, for example.
“Point-to-point services like Shanghai-Montreal and Tokyo-Montreal are being reactivated, so it’s not worth focusing on,” he continues.
Add flight connections
Quebec also announced 10 days ago a new amount of 10 million for the AITQ to encourage “the creation of new airlines”.
The aim is to attract more visitors by multiplying their arrival points in Quebec, among other things through advertising with airlines.
At the same time, Transat opened its direct flight between Quebec City and the English capital, London.
“We are developing this new route and with it tourism to Quebec,” believes Bernard Côté, the Quebec airline’s marketing director.
party lounger
To ensure that this new weekly flight does not go unnoticed, Transat has gone all out with “a big promotion”.
On the Tube, the London Underground, you can see giant billboards depicting a beautiful landscape that read (in English, of course) ‘Your connection to nature – Quebec City’.
With kind approval
Transat, which recently inaugurated a direct London-Quebec line, will notably be on display in the British capital’s subway system.
This is just one of many examples of how Quebec is sold internationally.
A great premiere
In the United States, starting May 2nd, New Yorkers will be able to see Montreal for the first time on the plaques of the mythical Times Square.
“We had never done that before. It must be said that it is an important and historic market, the entire Northeast United States. And this year is very promising,” said Manuela Goya, vice president of public affairs at Tourisme Montréal, during an interview with Le Journal.
With kind approval
This is the first time Tourisme Montréal has advertised in Times Square.
In this ad campaign, titled 1001 Moments to Share, 100 Montrealers filmed themselves simultaneously for a few seconds at 5 p.m. to “show everything there is to do in Montreal.”
The campaign that Americans will see will be the same as that of the French, Ontarians and even Montrealers.
Quebec to Quebecers
With COVID, Montreal’s tourism industry had served almost exclusively locals and Quebecers for the past two years.
“We want to maintain this habit of targeting Montrealers, so our campaign is aimed at them too,” says Ms. Goya.
At AITQ, the campaign is called Québec mon amour. We speak to Quebecers so they will appreciate our creative culture and legendary hospitality.
“We’re focused on reclaiming foreign markets and keeping Quebecers in Quebec,” says Martin Soucy.
Overall, explains the CEO of AITQ, 43 to 44 million dollars will be invested by the entire industry in 2022.
“Quebecians traveling to Quebec has allowed us to survive for the past two years. We will continue to build on that,” he says.
And we want to achieve that by focusing on culture, enjoyment and nature. Here as elsewhere.
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