south shore tourism cooperative annual report · spanning a geography that reaches from peggy’s...

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South Shore Tourism Cooperative Annual Report


2018-19

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Contents

Presidents Message 2

Board of Directors 3

Investing Partners 4

Year in Review - Progress & Highlights

Winter Tourism Plan 5

South Shore Region 2018 Analysis 7

Operations 11

Marketing 12

Partnerships 18

Capacity Building 18

Implementation and Monitoring 19

Financial Statements 20

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President’s Message

Spanning a geography that reaches from Peggy’s Cove to Barrington and all ports in between, I am

honoured to be a part of the South Shore Tourism Cooperative team over the past number of years and

again humbled to be a member of the Board of Directors. Serving in the capacity of Chair, I’m incredibly

proud of the work we have accomplished and more importantly the vision we share.

Focused and even more deliberate in our actions to support industry and partners aspiring to grow the

viability and sustainability of year-round tourism, 2018-19 has seen significant strides achieved. Our

expansion of the Lobster Crawl and its success confirms our belief that the November – May Lobster

Season offers tremendous potential in filling rooms and seats in restaurants.

One of the most significant undertakings of the Cooperative since incorporation is the 3 Year Winter

Tourism Plan being revealed at the May AGM. Aspiring to undertake this plan required investment of

time and resources by many, which was rewarded with the investment of ACOA and the ensuing journey

of plan development with the team from Redpoint.

Dedicated, diligently focused on the greater good and growth of the tourism industry on the South

Shore, on behalf of and in collaboration with our partners, we have been clear in our position that to

achieve the revenue target of $4 billion set out within the One Nova Scotia report and embraced by

Tourism Nova Scotia, it must be approached from a year-round perspective. The South Shore is open for

business year-round; we have demonstrated that Lobster Crawl can and will deliver incremental travel

and revenues to the region and province in February.

Operationally and fiscally we are small but mighty force. Efforts of the Board of Directors and Advisors

have been complimented by those of committee members, partners offering assistance throughout the

year each and every time they are asked.

In September 2018 we welcomed our Part-time Coordinator Stephanie Swain to our team. With her

assistance we tackled many of the initiatives set forth in our 2018-19 plan. As her term comes to an end

with us, on behalf of our Board and Partners, I extend our sincere appreciation for her enthusiasm and

dedication enabling us to fulfil and reach beyond our goals.

As we reflect on what we have achieved on the following pages of this report, it is important that we

acknowledge that there is so much more being done by our partners and businesses throughout the

region that positively impact on all of our success. Our role as a regional organization is not to duplicate

or replace, rather seek initiatives that are best tackled cooperatively, in the spirit of co-opetition with a

goal to strengthening our businesses and communities.

2018-19 was an exciting year filled with many milestones and achievements. I invite you to roll up your

sleeves and crawl aboard for an even more robust 2019-20 as we chart a course to implement a ‘game-

changing’ 3 year-winter tourism plan.

Donna Hatt, Chair South Shore Tourism Cooperative

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2018-19 Board of Directors and Advisors

Donna Hatt, Chair, White Point Beach Resort

Stephen Workman, Vice Chair, Ross Farm Museum

Angela Steeves, Treasurer, Oak Island Resort

Joanne Cooper, Secretary, Best Western Plus Bridgewater

Suzy Atwood, Municipality of Barrington

Advisors

Richard Lane, Region of Queens

Chris Abbot/Debora Lewis/Darren Shupe, Town of Shelburne

Chasidy Veinotte-Dorey, Municipality of the District of Lunenburg

Val Kean, Municipality of Shelburne

Stephanie Beaumont, Municipality of Chester

Stephanie Swain, Marketing Coordinator, SSTC

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Investing Partners

Industry Partners

Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic Best Western Plus Liverpool Lanes Privateer Inn Wild Axe Productions Parks Canada-Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site Chester Merchants Association Ross Farm Museum Bay Ferries Sipuke'l Gallery Mahone Bay & Area Chamber of Commerce White Point Beach Resort Best Western Plus Bridgewater Oak Island Resort and Conference Centre Sea Star Seafoods Ltd Barrington Area Chamber of Commerce Anchors Away Family Restaurant Saltbox Brewing Company The Coopers Inn B&B Port Medway Amos Pewter St. Margaret's Bay Tourism Association Roseway Cottages Boxing Rock Brewing Company Sable River View Cottages Cape Sable Historical Society South Queens Chamber of Commerce Wilson's Home Hardware Aspotogan Heritage Trust Lunenburg Arms Quarterdeck Beachside Villas Petite Riviere Vineyards Wileville Farm Market Astor Theatre Becky's Knit and Yarn Shop Riverhills golf course NSCC Shag Harbour Incident Interpretive Centre Oceanstone Resort

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Year in Review – Progress & Highlights

Winter Tourism Plan

2018-19 was another year of significant achievements for South Shore Tourism Cooperative. Armed with

the approved 2018-19 Marketing and Operations Plan, the Board charted a course to implement the

goals and objectives of our investing partners.

Contained within this Annual Report is the acknowledgement of achievements however particular

attention and recognition much be given to the organizations ability to deliver on the key ‘game-

changing’ deliverables.

Building on the success of 2017-18 South Shore Tourism Cooperatives main objectives in creating two

signature events that would drive business and revenue to the area during non-peak season. 2018-19

again saw the hosting of the ‘Christmas Crawl’ and February’s ‘Lobster Crawl’. Both benefited from the

insights and assistance of members of the winter tourism sub-committee who joined those of the Board

of Directors and the Marketing Coordinator.

The “Christmas Crawl” (formally “Tis the Season) ran from November 16, 2018 to January 6, 2019. This

year the event grew from 80 events to over 144. The consistent brand throughout the festival was once

again demonstrated through the display of wreaths with a wooden logo lighthouse designed and

produced by ARK Enterprises. This year Christmas Crawl made use of the ShowMe maps platform to

create christmascrawl.ca which was used to promote the individual events. The budget for this event

was $1000.00 however the cooperative advertising, promotions and public relations efforts far

exceeded this nominal investment. The ‘buzz’ that the South Shore was open for business and offering

exciting festivals and experiences was well received within the regional market place.

Building on the tremendously successful inaugural year for the South Shore Lobster Crawl, year two ran

from February 1 – 18, 2019. This event grew from 60 to over 100 events attracting more partners and

media attention. All reporting partners confirmed significant increases in numbers of customers during

the event. The budget for this event was $1000.00 within the SSTC budget, however; again the

cooperative and collaborative approach to marketing and leveraging opportunities for marketing and

promotions far exceeded this investment. From full page coop ads within the Saltwire Newspaper

network, within Saltscapes Magazine and partnerships with Taste of Nova Scotia’s Lobster Trail, we

combined efforts to do interviews with TV, radio and social media. The Lobster Crawl has given our

region a fresh and authentic opportunity to appeal to travellers seeing a culinary experience, in

February. Our partners have also clearly demonstrated their appetite to work collaboratively to achieve

growth in our region, in winter.

Aspiring to be strategic in our approach to growing winter occupancy and revenues, the Board of

Directors invested significant time and energy into achieving the goal of securing resources and

undertaking a 3 Year Winter Tourism Strategy.

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Having spent the first half of the fiscal year preparing an application and documentation, in November we received confirmation that we had been successful in securing an investment of $64,075 from ACOA’s Innovative Communities Fund. This investment leveraged and put in motion a $94,000 3 Year Winter Tourism Strategy. Immediately the Board issued a Request for Proposals, awarding the contract to Redpoint hosting the start-up meeting in December. In the last quarter of the year, the Board has worked diligently to deliver the Plan which is being presented at the AGM on May 14th. This initiative also includes the Accelerated Market Readiness Program in which four businesses are enrolled currently and a financial allocation for a contracted resource to implement the Plan.

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South Shore Region 2018 Analysis

2017 was one of the strongest years for growth; data provided by Tourism Nova Scotia suggest that 2018 held its own in the region.

Fixed roof accommodations and campground reporting room nights sold remain virtually unchanged as illustrated in this table.

An occupancy rate of 41% within reporting and licenced accommodations is hovering at 174,300 room nights sold, approximately -0.1% over 2017. While reporting accommodations report very little change, inventory continues to decline while room night sold through sharing economy platforms has risen dramatically with Tourism Nova Scotia indicating it is up by 85% over 2017 in Nova Scotia, representing some 426,000 room nights.

With more than 70% of the reporting accommodations on the South Shore open year-round, a 41% occupancy rate clearly demonstrates capacity for growth particularly in the non-summer months as demonstrated in the following table:

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South Shore Room Nights Sold (Reporting/Licensed) Overall room nights sold compared to 2017, 2018 reported a decline by 1,754 room nights. Interestingly growth was realized in the non-peak season months of January, March, June, November and December. Summer of 2017, Canada’s 150th year was one of the strongest on record.

As illustrated, there is a substantial volume of accommodations open and available throughout the year; South Shore is OPEN for business. However the inventory available again in 2018 has declined. In 2016 there were 407,530, in 2017 this dropped to 399,000 and again in 2018 it has dropped again to a total of

available rooms to 397,141. At the same time, Tourism Nova Scotia has reported that Room Nights Sold through the sharing economy across the province has risen in 2018 over 2017 by 85% representing some 426,000 room nights.

South Shore Room Nights Sold(reporting)

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Short-term stays at campgrounds have remained steady in 2018 compared to 2017 as well.

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Reaching the One Nova Scotia Report challenge of $4 billion in revenues from the Tourism Sector by 2024 requires a province-wide approach. Based on data provided by Tourism Nova Scotia, our region continues to capture approximately 8% of visitation to the province. Economically speaking this translates into an overall growth pattern for the region. Provincially speaking, tourism generated $2.61 billion of which the following was realized within the South Shore:

Year Revenues Estimate % of Province 2014 $185 million 8% 2015 $181 million 8% 2016 $193 million 8% 2017 $208 million 8% 2018 $206 million 8%

Here on the South Shore, while summers are reaching capacity, our greatest contribution to this goal will come from what has been historically known as the ‘shoulder’ season. For the South Shore, this season has become known as the ‘opportunity’ season that will be tackled based on our philosophy of co-opetition.

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Operational

The Board of Directors consists of 5 elected members and advisory members. Meeting no less than monthly, the board maintains and upholds the by-laws of the Co-operative. Following the AGM, the Chair and Executive will be elected by the Board of Directors from the 2019- 2020 new Board of Directors.

In preparation for the 2019 AGM members of the board of directors (Stephen Workman and Richard Lane) reviewed the bylaws to bring forth recommendations to better serve the mandate of the Co-operative and the objectives.

To support the achievement of the Co-operative Marketing Plan, South Shore Tourism Co-operative began a contract with Stephanie Swain for 20-25 hrs/wk for a term of September 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019 at a maximum cost of $20,000.

The Executive Committee and Nominating Committee of the Board met as per required throughout the year. These efforts were enhanced with the formation and insights provided by partners through the Lobster Crawl, Christmas Crawl and Guide committees.

Human Resources Much of the level of effort igniting the implementation of the annual plan has been provided by the Board of Directors members. In 2018-19 this was supported by Stephanie Swain, our Marketing Coordinator serving with the Cooperative from September 2018– March 2019 on a 20-25 hrs per week contract.

Annually the Cooperative has struggled to retain a coordinator for more than one year at a time. Committed to fulfilling the goals of the annual plan, while the lack of human resources could compromise the Board’s capacity to deliver on the plan, they consistently rise to the occasion, investing significant time, energy and resources to the organization.

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Marketing & Development

Building on the momentum of 2017-2018, many of the initiatives established and undertaken over the past few years were maintained, with adjustments made based on financial and human resources and opportunities.

Tourism and related businesses, organizations and municipalities are all actively working towards growing year-round business. South Shore Tourism Co-operative has focused on maximizing presence of the South Shore within existing channels to communicate with and attract guests.

The following is a status update on the initiatives set out in the 2018-19 plan:

1) 3 Year Shoulder Season Strategic Business Action Plan/Winter Season DevelopmentAfter several months in development, the SSTC’s application to ACOA’s InnovativeCommunities Fund, SSTC received approval. Issuing a Terms of Reference and awarding thecontract to Redpoint, the plan is well underway and will be presented at the May 14 AGM.

With the assistance of the Winter Festival Committee, Christmas Crawl and Lobster Crawl again facilitated heighted awareness of the region as a destination generating reported increases in promotion and specifically during Lobster Crawl, visitation and revenues. Surveys of partners reflect an overall acknowledgement of success and commitment to continue further developing these initiatives.

The Lobster Crawl benefited from support from the Travel Media FAM into the region to experience the event, and the Kilted Chef, Alain Bosse who added a Lobster 101 element to the Roll-Off and having hosted the Roll-Off which resulted in 27 South at Best Western Bridgewater being named Best Lobster Roll 2018.

Lucy the Lobster offered her prediction under sunny skies on Groundhog Day surrounded by an even larger crowd in her second appearance in Barrington, the Lobster Capital of Canada.

Collectively, the winter season events are generating interest and inspiring product development, extended hours of operation and in some cases ‘opening’ of businesses during February.

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Digital Initiatives

In 2018-19, SSTC has maintained and strengthened the digital footprint and impacts of the South Shore through the use of many channels. The co-operative has continued to use novascotia.com to represent the region instead of creating a separate website. Through the work of the marketing coordinator SSTC has continued to monitor the content listings to ensure they are seasonally reflective and relevant.

SSTC continues to strongly encourage partners and all businesses; organizations, etc. take full advantage of the complimentary listing for businesses and their packages as well as events to optimize the presence of South Shore operations.

Social Media Social Media has continued to play an important role in leveraging engagement and strengthening communications to promote year round traffic and industry promotions. South Shore Tourism Cooperative continues to use Facebook and Instagram on a continuous basis while engaging “NSLucyLobster” on twitter during Lobster Crawl.

Newsletters Facilitating open communication and engaging partners and industry, newsletters continued to be issued containing relevant and timely information. This is distributed to partners as well as any others asking to be on the contact list. During 2018, our goal of issuing at least one communication to partners each month was achieved with no less than 17 touch points issued via MailChimp. Our database exceeds 200 contacts is always being added to, it is not limited to investing Partners, instead it is open to all interested.

Consumer Newsletters It was our goal to leverage contacts acquired in previous years, creating and deploying newsletters to entice visitors to travel to our community however this goal has not been fully realized due to capacity of the cooperative. It will remain a priority going forward.

YouTube We have established a ‘hive’ or channel on Youtube (Nova Scotia South Shore Tourism) as a place to link and share videos produced for SSTC and those of partners. As repository of these assets, the goal is to create a central location that we can pull links for promotional purposes for SSTC as well as for partners for sharing within their channels.

South Shore Tourism Blog We continue to maintain and post communications and materials to our Blog, https://wordpress.com/view/nssouthshoretourismcoop.wordpress.com . We had intended to reformat this resource and purchase the site to offer more flexibility; however that has since been carried forward for the next year.

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Digital Ad Campaign

As outlined in the marketing plan for 2018/19, SSTC invested $5000.00 which was matched by Tourism Nova Scotia for a total of $10,000.00 towards the digital marketing program. The objectives of the project were to increase brand awareness for South Shore, drive interested visitors to the South Shore content on novascotia.com and to grow shoulder season interest in South Shore. In all targeted areas the results surpassed the targeted goals:

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ShowMe Maps

Having tested this platform for South Shore Lobster Crawl under the URL www.lobstercrawl.ca, this platform was used to create www.christmascrawl.ca and will be further explored and developed to provide an interactive customizable digital solution to continue to promote these events. Through their use, ongoing efforts to enhance guest experience and role of the tool have been noted.

http://www.christmascrawl.ca/

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Travel Media

South Shore Tourism Co-operative continued to work with the Travel Media division of Tourism Nova Scotia and partners along the South Shore to attract and host relevant travel media.

South Shore Tourism Co-operative recognizes that businesses and organizations are seeking, securing and hosting a variety of influencers throughout the year. South Shore Tourism works with visiting media, supporting the efforts underway and providing supporting materials as needed. Travel Media was also integrated strategically into the lobster crawl event.

While many operators are engaged in this effort independent of SSTC and TNS, we do work with Travel Media Manager Pam Wamback to welcome and host writers. Again for the Lobster Crawl we created and delivered an itinerary for 5 travel media which has resulted in significant coverage (report to be provided at AGM by TNS)

Public Relations and Promotions

South Shore Tourism Cooperative continued to communicate what our region has to offer by issuing media releases throughout the year. The two winter festivals helped to leverage TV and radio in the promotion of the event. Christmas Crawl and Lobster Crawl both had a presence on several radio stations including News 95.7 and Sea & Be Scene and TV morning shows at CTV and Global.

Additionally there were several articles in newspapers and magazines throughout the year including the follow up article in Saltscapes Magazine in Spring 2018 by Alain Bosse showcasing the Lobster Roll –Off Winners, Capt. Kat’s.

Trade Shows Saltscapes Expo April 20 -22 2018 The South Shore again collaborated to create a ‘South Shore’ regional approach to this show. Independently each business/organisation paid for their booths and staffing, however we ensure that we come together within the same area to present a destination area. The South Shore Guide 2018 was prepared in time to be released at the show.

South Shore Expo May 4 – 6 2018 SSTC hosted a cooperatively funded and staffed booth at the show hosted in Liverpool at Queens Place Emera Centre.

Saltscapes Harvest Meets the Holidays November 2018 Through White Point Beach Resort, the SSCT promotional banners for each Christmas Crawl, Lobster Crawl along with the South Shore Guide were promoted and championed.

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South Shore Guide

Annually the South Shore Tourism Co-operative has undertaken working collaboratively with the producers of the South Shore Guide to produce some 40,000 copies and now a flipbook. With the increasing use of digital platforms and production of a number of resources by partnering agencies along the South Shore, SSTC worked to create a new layout for the guide in 2019/2020 to focus on year round attractions and accent the highlights in the area for visitors. The guide was distributed at Saltscapes with additional copies distributed to industry at the Annual General Meeting and sent to Visitor Information Centers.

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Partnerships In addition to the investing partners of SSTC, efforts are undertaken to explore and leverage partnerships within organizations and businesses that align with and further our goals.

- Taste of Nova Scotia has extended complimentary full page ads in their Lobster trailGuide and Culinary Guide along with cross promotion within their social media channelsand newsletters. Furthermore, their support of Lobster Crawl resulted in a media visitthat has since resulted in a Lobster Crawl promotional video and a variety of images forour use.

- South Shore Regional Enterprise Network has partner of the SSTC and when theiroperation was wrapping up, they reaffirmed their confidence in our efforts by investing$4000 into the 3 year Winter Tourism Strategy.

- Tourism Nova Scotia has been a partner in a number of capacities, while not investingdirectly financially in our initiatives, we have co-oped with the Digital Marketingprogram. The Travel Media visits facilitated have resulted in a variety of media storiesand coverage. China FAM in September, Lobster Crawl FAM in February are two ofseveral hosted and appreciated. The ongoing communication for NovaScotia.comupdates, Research Division etc. are all part of our ongoing relationship.

- Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia serving as a touch point and capacitybuilder for our region continues to be an ongoing partner for us.

Capacity Building

Growing the capacity of our partners to achieve success and address challenges is important. The Co-operative will continues to leverage, facilitate and communicate existing training and development opportunities to Co-op partners and related operators/businesses on the South Shore. This is primarily done in partnership with TIANS and NSTHRC.

At the SSTC Semi Annual Meeting in December, presentations from TNS and related ensured our partners were aware of and able to take advantage of various initiatives, including the Excellorator Program.

The Experience Development Workshop hosted by the Region of Queens at Queens Place Emera Centre and facilitated by Tourism Nova Scotia was very well received.

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Implementation and Monitoring:

The SSTC continues to work as a co-operative under the Registry of Joint Stock Companies. As an organization the board continued working on initiatives outlined in the 2 year marketing plan.

Under the organization the Board of Directors meets monthly on the first Thursday of the month for regular business and meets on other occasions as required throughout the year and additional ongoing communication is conducted via email.

Secured 38 investing partners including 8 of 11 South Shore municipalities

Partnerships have been and are being cultivated with Taste of Nova Scotia, the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia, the South Shore Regional Enterprise Network and South Shore Chambers of Commerce, Lobster Council of Canada, Acadia First Nations

Submitted application to ACOA for funding for a 3 year strategic Winter Tourism plan and continues to work with Redpoint marketing to see the implementation of the plan.

Hosted Semi-Annual Meeting and Winter Tourism Information Session

Attended Black Cultural Round Table discussions hosted by BBI

Attended and presented at the South Shore Corporate Tour hosted by Saint Mary's with the International Students Sept

Presented to TNS Board and Management Team

Attended ACOA Announcement at the New Ross Christmas Tree Festival with MP Bernadette Jordan

Attended TIANS Winter Tourism Working Group discussion

Facilitated and hosted site visits from Redpoint for strategy

Attended Tourism Advisory Committee for St. Margaret's bay

Various presentations to Chambers of Commerce and Councils

Invited current members to renew their investment in the SSTC for 2019/20.

Undertook surveys of our partners over the course of the year to gauge impact of travel trends and business performance

Ongoing monitoring of analytics and reports is undertaken based on availability to assess the impact of the industry within the region. This includes but is not limited to Google Analytics for

Online initiatives, openings of emails and Tourism Nova Scotia highlights.

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Financial Statements

south shore tourism cooperative annual report · spanning a geography that reaches from peggy’s...

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