Travel writers from all over the world will be in Penticton from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1 for the 12th annual GoMedia Canada Marketplace.
GoMedia is produced annually by Destination Canada (formerly the Canadian Tourism Commission.)
This year’s event, hosted by Tourism Penticton, the City of Penticton, the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association and Destination British Columbia, will be staged at the Penticton Convention Centre, with events and tours scheduled throughout the region.
As the Summerland Chamber also manages Tourism Summerland, we will be participating for the first time in this event to market our community. In the GoMedia model, tourism marketers from across Canada have the opportunity to speak with top travel media from around the globe.
The event features a market place where pre-arranged 15-minute meetings take place between journalists and exhibitors.
Through these one-on-one meetings, networking events and tours in the local communities, we will have the opportunity to showcase Summerland and provide writers with a roster full of inspiring stories that they can tell in their publications and on-line.
Summerland is also responsible for hosting two tours during the conference.
These will be held the morning and afternoon of Sept. 28.
Summerland’s tours are designed to illustrate how the Okanagan region was originally opened up via the Kettle Valley Railway system and went on to become a fruit supplier to the rest of the country.
Our tours will include a ride on the KVSR, a stop at Summerland Sweets, an organic harvest lunch and an apple tasting demonstration provided by scientists from the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre.
According to their profiles, the journalists have a wide range of interests, media, audiences, demographics and clients that they write for.
Our job is to help the writers find stories they can sell to their editors and those editors want stories that are compelling and relevant. In order to make these writers’ work easier, a media section is being developed for our website.
This area will have story ideas, contact people and images all ready to go.
We always keep in mind that travellers may someday also become residents. Those of us who came here as visitors and then moved here know this is true.
Travel is an excellent funnel for residents and future investors in our communities so we wear our economic development hat for an event like this as well.
All in all, the GoMedia conference is no small undertaking.
The expectation is that we will see many exciting stories being written about the Okanagan in the year to come and these will entice new visitors to our region.
We always appreciate your feedback.
Please contact me at cpetkau@summerlandchamber.com or our chamber president, Kelly Marshall, at president@summerlandchamber.com.
Christine Petkau is the executive director of the Summerland Chamber of Commerce.
