Canadian Web Site Targets U.S. Market

By Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 5/17/2004

The Canadian Tourism Commission has launched a meetings and conventions Web site that offers access to the country's meeting experts and features for planners.

Canadameetings.com was designed with the hope of attracting the corporate and association meetings market to Canada.

Heather Phelps, director of sales and marketing development, said CTC markets itself differently in the United States than it does in other countries, with offices in 10 U.S. cities. But the commission recognized a strong need to go after this market using the latest technology.

Nearly three months after its late-February launch, Canada-meetings.com had received over 7,000 visitors, with more than 40 percent of them originating in the United States, followed by Western Europe and Asia. Phelps said that in June the CTC would have enough data to translate that into exactly how much business the site has generated.

Phelps said the site features tools for creating RFPs and finding site and familiarization tour information, opportunities to compare different conference and convention facilities, and incentives and prizes.

"We had to have this type of tool in order to market effectively," Phelps said.