With its beautiful weather, landscape and attractions, Osoyoos has long been ‘on the map’ as a busy summer tourism hot-spot. Winter has been a slow season in this South Okanagan resort town. But that’s about to change.

Destination Osoyoos (DO) has, together with Mt. Baldy Ski Area and Osoyoos hotels and resorts, launched a major, first-ever awareness campaign promoting Osoyoos as a great destination for visitors in the winter.

At a Jan. 14 kickoff ceremony, Destination Osoyoos CEO Glenn Mandziuk announced the community is beginning an aggressive $60,000 “Ski Osoyoos” advertising campaign in three targeted locations for the next three months with a series of newspaper flyers, radio spots, TV commercials, and internet ads promoting “ski-and-stay” packages. The value-priced packages include lift tickets at nearby Mt. Baldy Ski Area paired with accommodation at 11 Osoyoos hotels, motels and resorts. And the campaign includes an informative website that includes online booking.

Mandziuk said the campaign is designed not only to significantly boost winter visitor numbers for Mt. Baldy and Osoyoos hotels, but also for all businesses in town including restaurants, gas stations, clothing stores, spas, and others.

He said the campaign is aimed at people in three key markets – B.C.’s Fraser Valley (including Langley, Abbotsford and Chilliwack), the Kelowna area, and the Wenatchee area of north-central Washington state. A different mix of advertising will be used in each location.

“We are working hard to create a four-season tourism industry for Osoyoos,” Mandziuk said. “Osoyoos offers an incredible experience for visitors not only in the summer, but also in the fall, winter and spring – and we have to educate people about that.” He added, “This is one of the few places where from February to April you can ski, golf and visit a winery all on the same day – and we have to let more people know what a wonderful destination we have here,” he said.

Jo Knight, DO’s Director of Tourism and Visitor Experience, said, “We want Osoyoos to be hot in the summer and hot in the winter!” She added the new campaign promotes not just the ski-and-stay packages, but also the “whole community experience that visitors enjoy in Osoyoos.”

Mandziuk said this is the first winter tourism campaign Osoyoos has ever undertaken. He said the Mt. Baldy Ski Area – a scenic, powder-snow mountain 45-minutes from Osoyoos – is a major Osoyoos winter attraction, and Osoyoos has the large number of hotel beds that will help Mt. Baldy attract more skiers. DO’s close partnership with local hotels and Mt. Baldy led to this “innovative, competitively priced package program that offers very good value for consumers.”

That program is the foundation for this new “Ski Osoyoos” initiative and the advertising campaign. It offers two-day, two-night stay-and-ski rates ranging from $55 to $105 per-person per-day. There are also five-day, five-night packages from $52 to $91 per-person per-day. Participating hotels 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.

The focused marketing plan will see full-colour four-page flyers inserted once a month for the next three months in a number of Fraser Valley newspapers, with a total circulation of 116,000. There will also be a radio ad campaign in the area, and ads placed on Vancouver’s Global TV station.

In the Kelowna market, Destination Osoyoos will run ads on the Castanet news website and on CHBC-TV, placed around the on-air ski report. Radio ads will also be placed in Wenatchee.

In addition, the new “Ski Osoyoos” packages will be promoted at the major Abbotsford Outdoors Show, in March. Mandziuk said the advertising campaign will be broadened in March to include Osoyoos golf packages.

Mandziuk added that the “Ski Osoyoos” winter advertising campaign will be conducted again next year and beyond. “We know this isn’t going to change the world in one year, but it will begin to let people know that there is a lot to see and do here in the winter. It’s all part of promoting our friendly people, our welcoming businesses, and our great attractions – and it reflects our Osoyoos brand as Canada’s Warmest Welcome.”

At the ceremony Mandziuk also unveiled the new “bigger and better” 2009 Osoyoos Visitor’s Guide – a glossy full-colour booklet containing a wealth of information for visitors and potential visitors. Its cover features a dozen local people who, as ‘the Faces of Osoyoos’, serve as ambassadors for the community. The Guide’s contents include features on Osoyoos’ location, history, unique desert ecosystem, attractions, golf courses, spas, wineries, tours, local shopping, agri-tourism, First Nations culture, and accommodations.

Mandziuk said at 72 pages this year’s Guide is the biggest ever, and the print-run of 100,000 is the also the largest Osoyoos has ever produced. Quantities will be placed in all BC Visitor Centres and some Centres in Alberta and northern Washington State; at the Vancouver, Kelowna and Penticton Airports; at the Vancouver Visitor & Convention Centre; on the BC Ferry on Kootenay Lake; at BCAA offices; Osoyoos-area businesses; at the region’s wineries; in most Osoyoos hotel and motel rooms; and 2,400 will be mailed to every mailbox in Osoyoos and immediate area. Thousands of copies of the Guide are also distributed each year in response to requests coming in to the BC Visitor Centre @ Osoyoos.

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ATTACHED PHOTOS CUTLINES:

(Photo: ski osoyoos-jan14-09) Osoyoos officials launch the Osoyoos 2009 Visitor Guide and a major $60,000 “Ski Osoyoos” campaign promoting the town and nearby Mt. Baldy Ski Area as a winter tourism destination. From left are: Brent Martin (member, Osoyoos Tourism Advisory Committee), Ron Stephens (president, Osoyoos Hotel & Motel Association and Osoyoos Tourism Advisory Committee); Michael Ryan (Osoyoos Town Councillor); Tim Foster (general manager, Mt. Baldy Ski Area); Ted Cronmiller (Osoyoos Town Councillor); and Derek Noske (vice-chair, Destination Osoyoos Board of Directors). (Photo courtesy Destination Osoyoos)

(Photo: visitor guide-jan14-09) The 2009 Osoyoos Visitor’s Guide. (Photo courtesy Destination Osoyoos)

For More Information, Contact:

Glenn Mandziuk, CEO
Destination Osoyoos
Tel: 250-495-3366
Email: glenn@osoyoos.ca

“SKI OSOYOOS” website: www.skiosoyoos.com

The Destination Osoyoos Development Society is a non-profit grassroots organization committed to strengthening economic, physical, social and cultural conditions in the Osoyoos area. The goal of its Community Economic Development Strategy is to promote enhanced quality of life and a sustainable, diversified economy. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors representing diverse interests in the community.