Giving Canada's tourism industry a competitive edge

As Canada's national tourism marketing organization, the CTC leads the way in keeping Canada's tourism industry ahead of the pack, working with our partners to inspire visitors around the world to explore Canada.

We rely on Canada's small- and medium-size tourism enterprises (SMEs) to deliver on our brand promise. Our resources provide support to help transform their tourism products into the extraordinary experiences that will keep visitors coming back for more.

Doing business with CTC Read more > Close >

Looking to do business with the CTC? Before you pick up the phone, send an e-mail or DM us on Twitter, here’s some background:

·       Guidelines for media advertising sales: Prospective advertising partners should review our recent corporate reports prior to marketingandsales [at] ctc-cct [dot] ca (getting in touch with the CTC). When submitting your proposition, please include the following information:

o    Name of online property                           

o    Type of media                               

o    *Country/region

o    Nature of your proposition        

o    Brief description of offer   

o    Demonstrate its relevance to tourism and specifically to the CTC

o    Relevance to target Explorer Quotient^®(EQ^®)  types

o    Standard rate card                           

o    Deadline                                            

o    Contact details

If your proposition aligns with any of CTC’s communications’ needs, someone from our marketing team will contact you.

*Country/region

Note that the CTC is focused on 10 consumer markets: UK, France, Germany, Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, India, Brazil and Mexico. If you are contacting us about opportunities for the US or Canada, please be advised that the CTC is not actively targeting consumers in these markets.  However, the CTC is still investing in the US in the meetings, conventions and incentive travel program.

·       Procurement: The CTC has a centralized procurement department that oversees the purchasing and sourcing activities of the CTC. If you are a supplier or contractor who would like to work with the CTC, you may procurement [at] ctc-cct [dot] ca (e-mail the procurement department) to learn about current opportunities. As with other federal agencies, we post our competitions on MERX; they are all readily available to the public.  We encourage all suppliers to check MERX regularly for new opportunities.

·       Research: We choose our pre-qualified research suppliers through a standing-offer process. Here, we invite all eligible suppliers for each particular requested research service to submit a proposal. We then select suppliers following an evaluation process. There are four distinct research services categories: quantitative research, qualitative research, secondary research and specialized research.

Social media Read more > Close >

The emergence of the social web has meant a fundamental shift for the tourism industry. From traveller review sites and blogs to social networks and geo-location services, the voice of the traveller is playing a powerful role when travel planning, buying and on the ground/experiencing a destination.

Social media is an important element of CTC’s overall marketing and communications strategy. The main objective of CTC using social media is to stimulate more people to talk and share their stories and experiences about Canada, to encourage more people to come to Canada. These people are seen as advocates. 

The CTC has established strong and growing communities of advocates across key social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr.

On Instagram, we encourage travellers to post their Canada travel images using the hashtag #ExploreCanada. We then promote those travel experiences to potential new visitors via our @ExploreCanada Instagram account, as well as our other digital and social platforms.

Our global Facebook page, Canada Keep Exploring, receives regular photo submissions from fans and industry partners all around the world, including here in Canada.

Our various Twitter accounts provide us global reach with a solid following of both consumers and media & industry partners. The CTC encourages advocates to tag their tweets with the hash tag #ExploreCanada and we retweet our favourites as a way of extending the reach of advocate’s content.

Through our media relations and PR programs we work with bloggers and social influencers to leverage their authority and promote Canada within their own networks. We often integrate our Tumblr blog to host much of the content generated through these partnerships.

Read our Social Media Guidelines.

 

	Facebook - Become a fan
	YouTube - Subscribe to our channel
	Twitter - Follow us @ctccct
	Flickr - Check out new photos

Develop research and intelligence Read more > Close >

Our marketing and sales activities are built on the best tourism research and intelligence in the business.

Our reporting covers big-picture issues. Want to know which international markets are showing the greatest growth and why? We've got it covered. What are the long-term trends affecting Canadian tourism today? We've got the answers. What emerging markets show promise for Canadian tourism operators? We let you know.

In addition to global market research, we support SMEs in making better business, marketing and investment decisions. Our timely and relevant intelligence can help those businesses better target travellers, identify tourism business opportunities, take advantage of current travel trends and understand economic indicators that have a direct impact.

Define target audiences Read more > Close >

Travellers are being deluged with offers and deals from every corner of the globe. So how do we give Canada's tourism industry a competitive edge? The more we learn about travellers—their values, interests and motivations for travel—the better we can market travel experiences to them. 

That's why the CTC has gone beyond traditional market research to find out exactly why people travel and why different types of travellers seek out entirely different travel experiences. The result is the innovative Explorer Quotient^®(EQ^®). It defines traveller types based on their values and motivations. It's helping tourism-focused businesses, large and small, find and keep their best customers.

Differentiate travel experiences Read more > Close >

As Canada's national tourism marketing organization, we inspire visitors to explore the extraordinary travel experiences our country has to offer. So how does the CTC ensure Canada’s experiences can compete internationally?  

Our Experiences team works with partners large and small to identify travel experiences that bring Canada's tourism brand to life. We look for experiences that travellers dream about.

Our guiding principle is simple: A product is something you buy. An experience is something you remember.

It's not about simply paying for kayaking or visiting an attraction. We share travel experiences that engage all the senses, such as watching polar bears from the window of a tundra buggy in Manitoba, shucking oysters on Prince Edward Islandor whooping it up, Acadian-style, at a summer kitchen party.  

Another way we differentiate from our competitors is via the Canadian Signature Experiences(CSE) program, which highlights the travel experiences that exemplify Canada’s brand—experiences that are memorable, authentic and engage targeted international travellers with our people, geography and culture. The program helps to shift travellers’ perceptions about Canada so that they see us as a unique destination with more to offer than they imagined. CSE members form the priority pool from which the CTC chooses content for advertising campaigns. While CSE aims to improve Canada’s brand perceptions as a whole, there are spin-off benefits for members. Tourism business operators in Canada have good incentives—and support—to evolve their product, further improving the customer experience.

To learn how to turn your tourism product into a world-class experience that sells, download one of our toolkits or check out our criteria to join the CSE collection.

Market and drive demand in 11 geographic markets Read more > Close >

Our media and sales initiatives take Canada's most evocative travel experiences, animate them through Canada's tourism brand and share them with the world. 

We market to the media, travel trade and consumers in 11 countries. That might mean inviting German media on a cross-Canada tour, or directing Australian ski fanatics to a website devoted to their winter passion. One day we might be beaming images of "wow" experiences on the side of a London building, while in Japan we're selling Canada at a huge travel-trade show. It's all designed to give Canada a distinct and powerful global presence.

Bringing Canada's tourism brand to life also means harnessing the power of the Internet, wireless, web technologies and emerging media. Our global marketing platformis the destination for travellers looking for inspiration, travel experiences, events, videos, travel packages and more.

Our integrated global campaign blends the traditional with the new, using Bluetooth technology to beam willing consumers short video clips. We're also incorporating user-generated video content—15 seconds of "wow" experiences that give the world access to fascinating and funny video episodes, travel blogs and first-hand accounts of visits to Canadian destinations.

Social media plays a significant part in our work, too. We have strong and growing communities of advocates across key social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr. If people aren't posting on Facebook or YouTube, they're merrily tweeting or engaging others in some other way, and the CTC is part of that conversation.

The travel trade can also enjoy interactive sales tools as they become certified Canada Specialists. Meeting and convention planners can get expert advice online about world-class Canadian destinations at our Business Events Canada website.

Measure results Read more > Close >

We don't just market Canada—we measure and evaluate CTC programs, as well as the strength of the Canadian tourism industry, using sophisticated tools, indicators and performance measures.

Are visitor arrivals up or down in our 10 leisure markets? How much money did our partners contribute to CTC marketing programs in 2012? How much revenue did our marketing programs help to inject into Canada’s tourism economy?

2012 results
Industry results
Total tourism revenue: $82.4 billion, up 5 % over 2011
T ourism export revenue: $15.4 billion, up 2 % over 2011
Tourism's contribution to Canadian Gross Domestic Product (GDP): $32.4 billion, up 4% over 2011
Canadian jobs supported through tourism spending : 608,5 00
Government revenue generated by tourism: $22 .7 billion
Average trip expenditure by traveller from CTC market : $1,441

CTC results

• Overall, the CTC’s 2012 measured marketing activities :
• Generated an estimated $687 million in tourism export revenue
• Generated an estimated $212 million in government revenue
• Supported 5,073 Canadian jobs.

For every $1 invested in our 2012 consumer marketing campaigns, we generated $56 in tourism revenue for Canada’s economy.

You can also read our Annual Report, or consult the latest statistics and figures.