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Objective 2

Attract, Grow and Retain, leveraging our mix of urban and rural assets (2/2)

What has PKED been doing to support tourism?

1919
Visitors were served by Peterborough & the Kawarthas Tourism (PKT) between July and December 2022.

Visitor inquiry trends:

  • Walk-ins to the Visitor Centre were heavy in summer
  • Mobile tourism saw more visitors than Visitor Centre during summer months
  • Fall saw an increase in walk-in visitors to Visitor Centre
  • Live chat used frequently on weekends
  • Musicfest Diner’s Cards sales driving visits in Nov/Dec
three people standing at table under pop up tent in front of lift lock
Mobile Visitor Services at the Peterborough Lift Lock

Mobile Tourism Services & Tourism in Motion Program

Due to challenges with the Visitor Centre building location, PKT could not open on weekends. To maintain visitor services for both residents and visitors, PKT conducted Mobile Visitor Services from the Peterborough Lift Lock. Trained Travel Counsellors were available to help visitors at a branded pop-up booth, Thursday through Sunday, 9 am to 5 pm, from the first weekend of June until Labour Day. 

PKT also conducted ‘Tourism in Motion,’ where Travel Counsellors were sent out to explore smaller towns & locks along the Trent-Severn Waterway with a wagon of information and PKT swag to interact with those experiencing the destination firsthand. Along the way, they stopped at tourism-related businesses to discover new tourism products and updated safety protocols and to share PKT services and publications. Some locations included Riverview Park & Zoo, Peterborough Museum & Archives, Lakefield Jazz Festival, Buckhorn Lock 31, and the Shamrock Festival in Ennismore. 

Visitor Health Score

Building on the best practices demonstrated by Destination Ontario’s Ontario Travel Information Services team to maintain a unified approach with other provinces and destinations, PKT developed a Visitor Health Score for the Peterborough & the Kawarthas Visitor Centre.

In the past, PKT collected in-person visitor surveys and reported overall customer service ratings based on results – anywhere from 97%-99% satisfaction. With the Visitor Health Score, PKT measures quality over quantity. Value: Gather data to help inform future operations and marketing and gives insight into whether visitors would recommend the centre as a place to visit again, based on the Net Promotor Score.

Visitor Health Score =   CSAT + NPS + SLS   

  • Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) – How satisfied a customer was with the service received  
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS) – How likely a customer is to recommend your service  
  • Service Level Standard (SLS) – How quickly did they receive a response  
2022 Target Visitor Health Score 80% 
2022 Target Number of Completed Surveys/Number of Completed Surveys100/100
2022 Visitor Health Score 99.7% 

In the second half of the year, the top-requested information by visitors included:

Summer

  • July: Peterborough Lift Lock, Attractions, Other, Directions, Food & Drink, Canadian Canoe Museum  
  • August: Peterborough Lift Lock, Directions, Attractions, Warsaw Caves, Other, Cruises 
  • September: Other, Attractions, Warsaw Caves, Peterborough Lift Lock, Directions, Driving Tours 

Fall

  • October: Other, Driving Tours, Attractions, Warsaw Caves, Directions, Food & Drink 
  • November: Other, Warsaw Caves, Attractions, Food & Drink, Shopping, Culture & Heritage 
  • December: Other (Musicfest Diner’s Book), Festivals & Events, Shopping, Parks & Trails, Attractions, Directions  

What is PKED doing to Attract and Support Meetings, Conferences & Sporting Events?

There are currently 4 hosting opportunities in progress 

Tournaments, conferences, and sporting events are typically planned several years in advance and can be broken down into several key components: 

  1. Pitching Peterborough & the Kawarthas as an ideal location to host tournaments, conferences, and events; 
  1. Preparation, organizing, and planning to host the event through coordination with partners, businesses, etc.  
  1. Hosting the actual event 
  1. Debriefing and aftercare 

Throughout the second half of 2022, PKT supported a number of organizations:

  • Supported organizers of the Ontario Association of Committees of Adjustment conference with local activities, knowledge and product offerings for 140+ participants
  • Provided assistance to Trent University Athletics hosting the Baggataway Cup provincial university field lacrosse championships as well as the provincial university curling championships
  • Liaison support for local league events with accommodation providers and third-party event management/planning

Ongoing Event Attraction Efforts

Ignite Destination Hub

PKT continued its long-standing investment with the renewal of a destination hub promoting the region to event planners in Ignite Magazine’s inspiration room

Sport Tourism Research Hub Project

PKT maintains an active membership with Sport Tourism Canada, and attended the annual Sport Event Congress, which included a speed dating event between host cities and national/provincial sporting events rights holders.

PKT has also been working with local accommodation businesses as well as sports and event venues to develop a Peterborough hub on the International Sport Research Portal for 2023

MPI 2023 Canadian Membership Directory

Working in partnership with the Canadian Canoe Museum, which is set to open its doors to a new museum and stunning new event spaces, PKT secured a high-value double-page spread to promote the new space to prospective meeting and event planners in the 2023 Directory for Meeting Planners International. The issue also included an outsert featuring some of the region’s most unique and notable attractions.

Finally! The 55+ Ontario Summer Games

PKED followed our 3+ years of involvement in the bid and organizing committee for the 2020/21/22  55+ Summer Games by leading the accommodation committee and arranging local rooms/beds for 800+ participants. This resulted in more than 2000 room-nights before, during, and after the 3-day Games period in both games hotels, Trent & Fleming, and all other regional accommodations (100% occupancy in all hotels, motels & nearby resorts on Day 1 of the games)