Over the past several months, an important task for our business development team has been to stay in touch with planners, recognizing and fostering these vital relationships, and keeping Kelowna top of mind. Knowing that we would see devastating cancellations for all of 2020 and into 2021, it was, and remains, important for us to stay positive and keep connected. We continue to reach out to provide assistance and to offer updated information about meetings, conferences, and events in Kelowna for when they are ready to plan again—now, it looks like they are ready.
We're excited to see a recent uptake in leads and RFP distribution for future meetings and conferences:
- June 2021: 3,600 lead room nights*
- May 2022: 500 lead room nights
- June 2024: 1,000 lead room nights
Conversations continue to take place; of particular note, planners are seeking information about destination and stakeholder health and safety protocols, and guidance to better inform their clients when looking ahead to a time when meetings and conferences will take place. To facilitate these conversations, we have been working closely with our program partners to update our collateral and website listings, and to encourage our partners to capture video and images that show the measures they are taking to keep everyone safe. It is critical that we are collecting and effectively communicating relevant information in our conversations with planners to garner bookings, which are integral to the recovery of our meeting and conference industry.
Contact me at julia@tourismkelowna.com for more information about our program or to discuss planning your next meeting.
*Lead room nights is the projected number of room nights that will be booked by the meeting or conference.