Our team continues to advance key initiatives aligned with Tourism Kelowna’s Strategic Plan, driving year-round appeal, responsible growth, and stakeholder value. Through the summer-to-fall transition, we focused on strengthening national visibility, deepening collaboration with key stakeholders, and supporting a steady visitor economy during one of the region’s busiest periods.

From managing major event activations to enhancing engagement with members, partners, clients, and media, Q3 was a season of momentum. The work completed throughout the quarter, highlighted below, reflects our commitment to thoughtful growth, aligned visitor experiences, and a resilient tourism sector that benefits both our community and our industry partners.

Collaborating for Country Music Week 2025

Throughout the third quarter, Tourism Kelowna’s entire team worked closely with numerous community partners and the Canadian Country Music Association to prepare for Country Music Week 2025, which brought the city to life in September, elevating Kelowna’s visibility across Canada, thanks in part to the live broadcast of the CCMA Awards presented by TD. 

The four-day event's success was years in the making, with Sara Correa Haslehurst leading Tourism Kelowna's efforts on the Local Host Committee, contributing to extensive planning, coordination, and engagement to ensure members and community stakeholders were informed and prepared for the event. Supporting these efforts were Tourism Kelowna's Marketing & Communications team, who assisted in preparing various communication pieces before and during the event. 

On the ground, the Community & Visitor Engagement team brought the week to life through community outreach and event activations, including the Boots N Beers event at the Kelowna Visitor Centre (KVC), featuring local craft beer and live music. The team also supported visiting delegates attending the industry conference; the mobile visitor centre was set up at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Grand Okanagan Resort, boosting visitor-facing engagement that also took place at the KVC. With economic impact data from the event forthcoming, Tourism Kelowna continues to collaborate with CCMA to capture the whole story of this vibrant, high-profile week.

Showcasing Kelowna through Marketing and Communications Initiatives

Third Quarter Achievements: 

Brand Roll-out & Paid Advertising

• The roll-out of Tourism Kelowna's refreshed brand continued through the third quarter. Read the first two installments of a blog series to learn more about how Partners & Hawes worked with Tourism Kelowna and various community partners to develop the brand. 
• Our 'Come Alive This Spring' advertising campaign wrapped up during the first part of the third quarter, generating over 44M impressions and nearly $30K in bonus advertising. 
• We launched our 'Falling for You' fall advertising campaign with an increased investment and have added marketing dollars to strengthen paid advertising during the winter season. 

Community Activations

• The 6th Annual Love for Kelowna Day activation took place on September 27, in conjunction with World Tourism Day. The 2025 event delivered meaningful awareness and interaction across multiple platforms, including:
  • 19 local offers were spotlighted, generating almost 1,000 views and 95 direct bookings.
  • Campaign ads delivered over 399,000 impressions and reached more than 126,000 people, generating 16,500 video plays and 5,459 landing-page clicks.
  • The Love for Kelowna Landing Page had over 13,200 views and nearly 39,000 interactions, while the Contest Page received more than 4,300 views with 1,105 contest entries.
  • An additional 1,082 contest entries were received through Instagram.
  • The “Love for Kelowna” video shared through social media reached over 22,600 people and was viewed more than 36,000 times, sparking 1,081 comments, 650 likes, 164 shares, and 42 saves. 

Earned and Shared Media

• Our Travel Media targets were met by the end of the third quarter, with Kelowna garnering more than 270 media placements nationally and internationally, for a total reach of 83 million. This targeted and timely coverage was the result of Tourism Kelowna-hosted familiarization (FAM) trips and press trips our team supported alongside partner organizations. 
  • You can find a selection of earned media highlights here, which includes a television feature about Kelowna on CTV's The Good Stuff with Mary Berg.
• We also hosted a wellness- and culture-focused content creator tour in October, with support from Destination BC and numerous local partners, that combined indulgence and inspiration. The trip, Glowing & Flowing: Fall in Kelowna, was designed to balance quintessential Okanagan experiences with moments of calm, connection, and flavour, while generating content that would showcase Kelowna to new audiences. 

Looking Ahead:

• In the fourth quarter, we will spend a good portion of time finalizing our 2026 Marketing & Advertising Plan, including honing in on target markets, determining the market split for paid advertising, finalizing tactics, and more.
  • Tourism Kelowna Members and local tourism businesses can share their thoughts as we plan out next year by emailing our Director of Marketing & Communication, Chris Shauf. 
• The team continues to streamline research and align data sources to provide Tourism Kelowna members with the most accurate information about the destination's performance. We've also aligned our visitor profiles to those created by Destination BC and Destination Canada. We will share more information on how the local tourism industry can use these profiles to plan for future marketing and advertising campaigns. 
• There will be more opportunities for members, local tourism businesses, and community members to participate in the roll-out of the refreshed destination brand. 

Executing Partner Programs & Bolstering Industry Development

Tourism Kelowna continues to strengthen industry development through its suite of collaborative partner programs, executed through joint efforts from our marketing and business development teams, that many members and community stakeholders may not see day to day, yet are essential to sector growth.

• The rollout of our refreshed brand earlier this year provided the perfect opportunity to revamp and recalibrate some of our Marketing Programs in the second and third quarters, transitioning our previous flavours and trail-themed programs into our new "Must-Visit Spots" Program. These programs helped build out year-round travel and sector-specific advertising opportunities.
  • By leveraging collective funding and aligning efforts, these partner programs help accelerate the growth of specific sectors, such as wine, food, arts and culture, and more.  
  • The programs exemplify how Tourism Kelowna can take a small investment from its members to generate coverage for program partners, make a significant impact for the wider industry, increase market reach, and drive long-term competitiveness across the destination. 

Attracting Meetings, Conferences, and Events

Third Quarter Achievements: 

• In the third quarter, Tourism Kelowna's Business Development team surpassed its annual targets for room nights, leads, and Estimated Economic Impact for both Meetings & Conferences and Sports & Events, thereby driving more opportunities to local tourism businesses.  
• The team paid particular attention to driving service requests—which continue to grow astronomically year-over-year, particularly for non-hotel members—to applicable partners, suppliers, and vendors. 
• They also partnered with Venue Series to host a client event in Calgary in September and are preparing to host a similar event in Montreal during the fourth quarter. This partnership has generated more B2B engagement for Tourism Kelowna's team and its Meetings & Conferences Program Partners, helping reduce attrition and reach new people who aren't already in the client database. 
• Tourism Kelowna made a significant investment in hosting familiarization (FAM) tours and site visits for clients this year, many of which were conducted during the third quarter.
  • Hosting these visits offers clients, including meeting and event planners and key decision-makers, the opportunity to experience why Kelowna is a destination of choice for hosting events.
  • Collaborating with our program partners and local businesses to host FAM tours and site visits has been essential to attracting more events to Kelowna.
  • Thanks to Destination Canada's flight reimbursement program, some costs of hosting international clients are covered, allowing the team to reallocate those savings to support more FAMs and site visits. 
• This year, we’ve supported several significant industry events, including the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) AGM & Summit and the BC Accelerator Program during the third quarter. 
  • As the presenting sponsor of the TOTA Summit Welcome Reception, Tourism Kelowna collaborated with several community partners to secure sponsorship and execute the event. 
• We also attended Incentive Canada for the first time; this niche event is an important and worthwhile investment, as we continue to see more incentive business come through.

Looking Ahead:

• We will continue the roll-out of our 2026 meetings and conferences program, which has been renamed "Meeting Spots" to align with our other partner programs. The Meeting Spots program was recently launched at our partner meeting in late November.  
• We will introduce a co-operative marketing opportunity for meetings and conferences, with the option for partners to participate. 
• In 2026, Tourism Kelowna will invest its most significant spend to date in business event-specific advertising.  
• Our team continues to follow up with clients on leads while keeping partners updated on decision-making timelines. 

Supporting the Community and Engaging Visitors

Third Quarter Achievements: 

• Our Community & Visitor Engagement team saw a significant increase in guests (an increase of 9% year-over-year (YOY)) to the Kelowna Visitor Centre (KVC) during the third quarter:
  • In September, traffic to the KVC increased by 25% YOY, largely due to higher visitation during Country Music Week and the decision to extend our summer operating hours by 2 weeks compared to past years. 
  • Year-to-date, traffic to the KVC has increased by 8% YOY. 
  • The team also noted many visitors returning after their initial visit to thank them for the recommendations. 
• Tourism Kelowna's mobile visitor centre, supporting the District of Lake Country, also operated for 2 weeks longer than usual this year, and our mobile visitor services team attended new events throughout the quarter, including the JumpStart move-in event at UBC Okanagan. 
• The retail program at the KVC was revamped to align with the refreshed Kelowna brand, adding new product options for visitors and locals to purchase.
  • In collaboration with the Marketing & Communications team, we have transitioned the 'Love for Kelowna' retail brand to OK+Co. This will include a forthcoming overhaul of the online shop.  
  • During the third quarter, retail sales revenue increased 17%, helping boost Tourism Kelowna's self-earned revenue. 
• Anecdotal data shows that the team at the KVC has welcomed many more guests travelling on tour buses, thereby helping to strengthen Kelowna and the Okanagan's brand on an international level through the service they provide and the experiences they recommend. 

Looking Ahead:

• The Tourism Kelowna kiosk at Kelowna International Airport is relaunching in the fourth quarter, having been moved temporarily while the airport expansion continues. The new kiosk will incorporate the refreshed brand, near YLW's departures area. 
• In December, the team will be attending a student appreciation event at Okanagan Collect, providing an opportunity to connect further with students who've moved to the region for school. 
• During the last quarter of the year, our mobile visitor services team will be attending numerous community events, and our retail program will ramp up for the holiday season. 
• Next year, we will be hosting more familiarization (FAM) tours leading into the summer, to bolster the experiences our team members have directly participated in. 
• Together with the marketing team, we will enhance the website's amenities, expanding what is displayed on individual vendor listings to provide more thorough information for guests.