also in this issue -  Destination Golf Marketing Campaign - Osoyoos on the Ice at Tournament of Hearts -
-  New CPR Training Courses -  New Business: Pocket Desert Photography-
- Tourism Trends - Events -

 
'Shop Local' Campaign launched to boost local Business

Destination Osoyoos (DO) has launched a 'Shop Local' campaign to give a major boost to retail businesses in Osoyoos over the next year and provide a stimulus to the town's economy. The campaign was announced March 9 at a kick-off ceremony at an Osoyoos department store.

DO has teamed up with Local Benefits, a company which recently began a discount shopping program in the region, to provide up to 1,500 Osoyoos households with one card for the new Osoyoos program, called 'Shop Local'. Everyone who signs up receives a card entitling them to a variety of discounts and special offers at participating Osoyoos stores and businesses. Already about 100 local stores have joined the Shop Local campaign, and more are expected to join in the coming weeks. The discount program ends on Jan. 31, 2010.

DO Chief Executive Officer Glenn Mandziuk says the participating stores receive advertising and promotion carried out by the Shop Local program at no cost except for the discounts they give their Shop Local customers - and the goal is that they will also see an increase in business.

Research suggests the Osoyoos retail durable-goods market potential is over $31 million annually, but estimates are that about 50 percent of this perchasing leaks out of the community and goes elsewhere. "Towns like Osoyoos, with 5,000 people, always face the challenge of competing for business with larger cities," Mandziuk says. "Yet Osoyoos has great businesses offering a huge range of goods and services. With 'Shop Local', we want to create a new level of awareness among local residents about what local businesses have to offer, and encourage everyone to increase their local shopping."

Nikki Inkster, owner of the Local Benefits discount shopping company which recently began serving the Oliver/Osoyoos region, says Shop Local will build goodwill and mutual appreciation between Osoyoos businesses and residents. "I am amazed at the wide range of products and services residents can get right here in their own backyard, that many people probably didn't even know existed," she says. "Shop Local gives businesses a way to advertise to the entire community without having to pay for it, and encourages Osoyoos people to spend their dollars in their own community."

Trish Callarec, co-owner of Stedman's V&S Department Store in downtown Osoyoos, says she is happy to participate in Shop Local, and thinks the program is one of a number of strategies that stores in small towns must use to compete for business. "It's a wonderful advertising concept for us, in that it costs nothing except for the discounts. This definitely seems like a win/win situation."

At least five Shop Local kiosks will be set up in Osoyoos between March 9 and April 30, where people can register their household for the program. Local Benefits will deliver the Shop Local program, and DO is subsidizing the card costs by providing one card per household to a maximum of 1,500 cardholders until April 30, at no charge to the card holder.

Shop Local members can find all participating Osoyoos businesses and their discounts listed under Shop Local on the Local Benefits website, www.localbenefits.ca. A wide range of businesses are taking part, including: restaurants, auto repair shops, confectionaries, ice cream shops, a golf course, the bowling alley, clothing stores, drug stores, furniture stores, and flower shops. Some of the discounts are for specific products, but most are straight dollars or percentages, such as 10 or 15 per cent.

Surveys and program evaluations will be conducted, and DO and Local Benefits may consider launching Shop Local again in 2010.

Osoyoos tees off 'Destination Golf' Marketing Campaign

Golf is wonderful in the warm, scenic landscape of Osoyoos - so Destination Osoyoos (DO) is building on that great golfing experience to continue its efforts to develop the lighter winter, spring and fall tourism seasons in this South Okanagan community.

DO has unveiled the second part of its major winter and spring 2009 tourism marketing package, with the recent launch of its new 'Destination Golf' campaign, being carried out in collaboration with the Osoyoos Golf & Country Club and 11 Osoyoos hotels, motels and resorts.

DO Chief Executive Officer Glenn Mandziuk says that, similar to the 'Ski Osoyoos' portion of the marketing package launched in mid-January jointly with Mt. Baldy Ski Area, this Destination Golf campaign is being promoted mainly in the Fraser Valley, the Kelowna region, and in the Wenatchee area of north-central Washington state.

"This is an aggressive program in our target markets to promote 'golf & stay' packages in our area," Mandziuk says. The campaign was kicked off by Osoyoos Golf & Country Club General Manager Randy LaRoche at the OG&CC booth at the Vancouver Golf Show in mid-February. It features a bright, colourful four-page supplement for newspapers in the Fraser Valley with circulations totalling 412,000 - as well as a bright rack-card going into tourism literature racks, radio advertising in Kelowna, online advertising on the Castanet Okanagan news website, and ads in Real Golf magazine and the BC Business electronic newsletter.

Similar to the skiing promotion, the Destination Golf campaign features three levels of discounted 'golf & stay' packages - with each featuring two 18-hole rounds of golf and two nights' accommodation - for $95, $125, or $145 per-person per-day depending on which level of hotel is chosen. The campaign includes an informative website - www.golfosoyoos.ca - which includes online booking, as well as a telephone hot-line at 1-866-894-1550.

The participating Osoyoos accommodations are: the Boundary Motel, Destiny Beach Resort, Lakeview Motel, Best Western Sunrise Inn, Coast Osoyoos Beach Hotel, Holiday Inn, Safari Beach Resort, Westridge Motor Inn, Casa Del Mila Oro Resort & Spa, Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort & Spa, and Walnut Beach Resort.

Mandziuk said the campaign is designed not only to significantly boost visitor numbers for the Osoyoos Golf & Country Club and Osoyoos hotels, but also for all businesses in town including restaurants, gas stations, clothing stores, spas, and others. He says while the Ski Osoyoos marketing campaign will wind down by mid-April, the Destination Golf campaign will continue until mid-May.

Osoyoos promotion goes 'On the Ice' at Curling Championship

Osoyoos was on the ice with Canada's best women curlers at the national women's curling championship, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, held in Victoria from Feb. 21-March 1.

Destination Osoyoos continued its bold ongoing marketing program - promoting the Osoyoos brand as Canada's Warmest Welcome and awareness of the town as an all-season destination - by putting the community's logo right in the ice, visible to hundreds of thousands of curling fans from coast to coast.

Chief Executive Officer Glenn Mandziuk says Destination Osoyoos introduced the Osoyoos brand in early 2008 through TV commercials during broadcasts of curling championships. "This year we graduated to major sponsorship status and included the Osoyoos brand logo embedded in the ice sheets at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts," he says. All week, as the television cameras captured each rock delivered down the ice by the curlers, they panned over the colourful Osoyoos logo.

"The brand got great exposure live at the event in Victoria and through the national television coverage on TSN - with a viewership of 978,000 people watching the finals alone." Mandziuk says. He credits Destination Osoyoos' partnerships with the Osoyoos hotel industry and the regional marketing body, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, with helping to make the curling sponsorship happen.

"We strongly believe in the market that watches curling across Canada, and in their interest in Osoyoos products," Mandziuk says. "We are currently working with the Canadian Curling Association to establish a long-term relationship with curling for the years to come."

He says that in addition to this premium on-ice exposure, Osoyoos has arranged for official event website recognition at the 2008 Continental Cup of Curling, the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier, and the 2009 Ford World Women's Curling Championship. Osoyoos has also arranged for the right to provide informational materials at the 2008 Continental Cup of Curling, the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and the 2009 Tim Hortons Brier.

First Course presented in new Osoyoos CPR Training series

The first of the new series of community CPR training sessions recently announced for Osoyoos by Destination Osoyoos and St. John Ambulance has now been held in town.

Last November, DO & St. John Ambulance launched a major new joint pilot initiative for Osoyoos to provide cardio-pulmonary resuscitation training to the most citizens per capita of any community in Canada within the next three years. The Town of Osoyoos, the Osoyoos Indian Band, the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, and other organizations are supporting the goal to deliver First Aid and CPR courses, ranging from WorkSafe BC Level 1 to Basic LifeSaver - including use of an Automatic External Defibrillator.

The CPR training is being offered through Destination Osoyoos' regional delivery of B.C.'s renowned WorldHost Training Services - the recently rebranded SuperHost program - which provides tourism, hospitality and customer-service training courses. Destination Osoyoos says it wants Osoyoos not only to be, as its brand states: 'Canada's Warmest Welcome,' but also Canada's safest welcome by having thousands of citizens trained in techniques to save lives threatened by heart attacks, choking, and other emergencies.

The first Osoyoos CPR/First Aid course - The WorldHost CPR Workshop with Automatic Electronic Defibrillator - was held Jan. 31 and was attended by two Destination Osoyoos staff - Tourism & Visitor Experience Director Jo Knight and Visitor Experience Counsellor Millie Jarrett - along with four staff from the Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort & Spa and one local high school student. More workshops will be held regularly. See destinationosoyoos.com for more information on training programs.

New Business Profile - Pocket Desert Photography

Christobelle Patrick says that as a child growing up in England, she was fascinated by her father's love of photography, and she spent the next several years learning all about the craft. Since she and her husband, Michael, moved to Osoyoos four years ago and she is now 'semi-retired,' she has reignited her passion for photography - and last year the couple started their business, Pocket Desert Photography. Christobelle is the primary photographer, since Michael works as assistant manager at the Osoyoos Liquor Store. In another venture, Christobelle leads meditation and psychic sessions through the Holistic Desert Connections store in downtown Osoyoos.

With her new Pocket Desert Photography business, Christobelle loves pursuing the artistic aspects of photography in what she calls 'peaceful, rural and magical Osoyoos.' She has already amassed hundreds of scenic photos of the landscape, flora and fauna of the area, and she is available to take custom photos for events, businesses, postcards, weddings and other activities in and around Osoyoos. At the Showcase Osoyoos exhibition in late January, Christobelle and Michael displayed some of their already-prepared photo products, including a calendar, coasters, and framed prints. Christobelle and Michael can be contacted at 250-495-7141 or PDP@christobelle.ca. You can see some of her photography portfolio on her website at www.christobelle.ca.

Tourism Trends

• The City of Kelowna has announced it has launched an interactive feature on its website, giving residents a big-picture view of construction projects. 'What's in the Works for 2009', a report giving an overview of construction for the year, is displayed on Google Maps. A city official says the Google Map service is a user-friendly tool to help keep residents informed of projects in their community. Users of Google Maps can see which new roads, parks, utilities, sidewalks and bike lanes will be constructed each year - including location, descriptions, costs, and estimated start and completion dates. For more information see City Projects on kelowna.ca.
  
• The Victoria Times-Colonist reports that the economic downturn failed to take a bite out of the B.C. restaurant business in January. Year-over-year sales for the month rose by 4.2 per cent, according to a survey of 150 outlets for the B.C. Restaurants and Foodservice Association. The increase follows a sales decline of 3.5 per cent in December. The association monitors sales changes through point-of-sales data. The research shows year-over-year sales gains in every month in 2008 except January and December.
  
• The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has offered to give Chambers of Commerce a presentation on the U.S. Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The no-cost presentation takes 30 minutes to one hour and is given by a CBSA member. WHTI is an American law that requires all travellers, including Canadian citizens, to present a valid passport or other secure document when travelling to the United States. On June 1, 2009 a final phase of document requirements for travel by land and water to the U.S. will be implemented. There are no changes to the entry or re-entry requirements into Canada. The presentation gives a brief history of the WHTI, an outline of current document requirements for all travel modes into the U.S. by Canadians, and information regarding proposed document requirements for travel by land and water into the U.S. For more information, contact Neil Richardson at 613-957-1579or neil.richardson@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.
  
• An important planning forum will be held March 31 at the NK'MIP Desert Cultural Centre in Osoyoos. ' Natural By Design: Sustainable Development for Rural Areas' will be a day-long conference offering keynote speeches and topical workshops aimed at elected officials, planners, planning committees, economic development officers, First Nations developers, environmental consultants, and interested members of the public. District of Ucluelet Planner Felice Mazzoni will deliver the keynote address on Ucluelet's award-winning sustainability policies. Workshop topics will include Smart Planning, Green Bylaws, Conservation Covenants, and Protecting Sensitive Habitats. Pre-register at osca.org. The $30 fee includes lunch and refreshments. For further information call 250-496-4019. or email: margaretholm@shaw.ca.
  

Events around Osoyoos

• March 13-27, a variety of Spring Break events at Mt. Baldy Ski Area, just northeast of Osoyoos.
  
• March 17, Osoyoos Desert Centre lecture on 'Spotlight on Snakes', at the Osoyoos Mini-Theatre at the Osoyoos Secondary School. Call 250-495-2470 or toll-free 1-877-899-0897 for information.
  
• March 22, the Oliver-Osoyoos Naturalists will hold a hike on the Osoyoos Indian Band reserve. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Oliver CPR Station. For information call 250-498-2743.
  
• March 23, the annual Pioneer Walkway Spring Cleanup will be held from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. For information call 250-495-6107.