Visitor Surveys and Tourism Data

Community Visitor Surveys are underway in Carcross and Dawson City

Throughout the summer Tourism Yukon is piloting community visitor surveys in Dawson and Carcross. These two communities have unique visitor populations, good infrastructure, active local associations, and are strategically invested in tourism – which makes them ideal locations to pilot this project. The main goal of the surveys is to find out more about travellers and how they spent their time in these two communities.
Tourism Yukon has contracted the Carcross/Tagish First Nation and the Chief Isaac Group of Companies (the Development Corporation for Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in) to manage the survey teams.

Please encourage your visitors to complete surveys in these two communities!

For more information please contact Colleen Madore, Research Analyst at (867) 667- 8408 or colleen.madore@gov.yk.ca

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New survey at Yukon’s Visitor Information Centers is helping us learn more about visitors.

Starting in late May, when users log onto the free wi-fi in all of the six Yukon Visitor Information Centers a short survey appears to tell us where they’re from. Over the eight weeks this optional survey has been running, more than two-thirds of all users of the Wi-Fi have provided the three clicks it takes to complete. So far there has been similar uptake by visitors from Canada, the US and Overseas.

Please encourage your visitors to complete this survey when in our Visitor Information Centres. 

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Monthly indicator reports for January to May now available online

Did you know,  border crossing numbers from January to May are up 3% over the same period in 2015 (and this excludes Yukoners!)
Learn more by checking out the monthly indicator reports for January to May 2016 on our  website.  To read the full reports please visit our website 

Industry Services Workshop Update

         Successful Social Media Workshops!

The Tourism Social Media Workshops held in Dawson City and Whitehorse in May this year were well received and attended by  tourism businesses, attractions and event organizers.  Approximately 30 participants learned how to strategically plan for their own social media marketing activities, and equally as important how to 'listen' and measure the results of their efforts. 

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I. Understanding Yukon's Visitors - Explorer Quotient (EQ)

 On July 19, 2016 at the Beringia Interpretive Centre, 23 participants attended a workshop to learn more about the types of visitors coming to Canada and Yukon and what they like and like to avoid. Using psychographic research, along with traditional demographic information, tour operators and other  tourism providers learned how to gain an edge on their competition by using EQ in their business. 
This introductory workshop is the first  in a series of  three workshops, that when taken together provide tourism operators with instructions on developing and marketing experiences to their best customers and potential new customers. 

II. Developing Experiences using EQ 

• Dates and Locations: TBA

III. Marketing Experiences using EQ 

• Dates and Locations: TBA

Industry Engagement

From time to time Tourism Yukon may reach out to our industry through a short survey to find out what types of workshops and training may be of interest to you and your staff or members. We do this to ensure we are providing what is needed and relevant to our industry in order to grow the tourism sector in Yukon.

We welcome all feedback and appreciate your support in helping us deliver what matters to you. We'll be in touch soon!

If you have any questions or comments please contact Shannon McNevin, Product Development Officer, Industry Services Unit, Tourism Yukon at (867) 667-8723 or shannon.mcnevin@gov.yk.ca

Tourism Yukon Wants to Hear from You!

              The Department of Tourism and Culture has contracted Outside the Cube (OTC) to review and  recommend ways to enhance Yukon's tourism visitor data - what we collect and how it is collected.  A large part of the review is identifying,  through stakeholder interviews,  the type of data and visitor intelligence Yukon's tourism stakeholders would find most useful. 

Meetings will be taking place throughout Yukon between August 16 and September 2, 2016. If you are contacted for an interview we hope that you will participate in this important review so we can provide you with the information you need to make strategic investments in tourism marketing and development. 

If you would like to ensure your participation, please contact Sandy Legge at Outside the Cube,  sandy@outsidethecube.ca

Destination Canada - #CanadaChat

Join the next #CanadaChat

Have you noticed @TravelYukon’s #CanadaChat posts on Twitter? We’ve found that #CanadaChat tweets are a great way for us to engage with a wider audience of potential visitors on Twitter, and we’d love for you to join us!

What’s a #CanadaChat?

Each month, Destination Canada (@ExploreCanada) hosts an hour-long Twitter chat about a different Canadian tourism-related topic. Destination Canada posts a series of questions over the course of the hour, and using the hashtag #CanadaChat to unify the conversation, Twitter users around the world join in by sharing their answers and engaging with other #CanadaChat participants.

Have a look at how #CanadaChat works

How to get in on the next #CanadaChat

#CanadaChats are usually held around the 15th of each month, from 10:00 a.m. PST to 11:00 a.m. PST. Follow @ExploreCanada (and @TravelYukon) to hop in on the next conversation.

You can also email Emilie.Joslin@gov.yk.ca to request the list of #CanadaChat questions and posting times in advance. Emilie can also help find answers to your questions about Twitter Chats, #CanadaChat or Twitter in general. Happy Tweeting!

HOT TIP: Always include a photo in your posts - and don’t forget to use the #CanadaChat hashtag with your answers.

Familiarization Tours (FAMs) - Busy as ever!

Tourism Yukon's FAM tour season is in full swing.
So far we've hosted a multitude of guests who will help drive consumer awareness and interest through media attention, and encourage increased tour sales to international guests. 

From our Asia-Pacific market, this summer we've already welcomed: National Geographic Traveller magazine from China; YTN, a Korean TV news channel; Xinhua Chinese news network; a Brazilian film crew; and bloggers and print journalists from Australia. 

We've also welcomed many groups from Europe and the UK, including executives and pilots from Condor Airlines doing their land survival training; travel writers and media experiencing driving the Alaska Highway to promote it for the 75th anniversary next year; and journalists and bloggers taking part in the Yukon River Quest to promote adventure tourism. 

Tourism Yukon would like to thank all of our industry participants who've helped us welcome our guests so far this summer and we look forward to bringing more of these opportunities north, which are essential to growing Yukon's market share in the tourism sector. 

There are many more trade and media FAMs still to come this summer. If you are interested in learning more about our FAM tour program, contact Marketing Coordinator, Valerie.Neufeld@gov.yk.ca.

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Friendly Reminder -  Tourism Yukon is GST exempt

As a branch within the Government of Yukon, Tourism Yukon is GST-exempt.  When providing services to the government, please remember to omit the GST from price quotes or invoices.
If you have any questions about this please don't hesitate to contact us at industryservices@gov.yk.ca

Socio-Economic Web Portal (SEWP)

Did you know this tool was available to you?

The Socio-Economic Web Portal (SEWP) is a collection of community-specific information and statistics relating to the social and economic setting of Yukon’s communities.

Although the information is not tourism-specific, it can help you with business planning, recruiting staff from outside the territory, and understanding the cost of goods in one community relative to another. This site pulls data from several different sources and groups it all together by subject or community.

To learn more check out the SEWP.

Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) now mandatory

As of September 2016, Canada’s Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) will be fully implemented, meaning all air travellers from countries that currently do not need a visa to visit Canada (excluding the U.S.) will require an eTA for entry into the country.

At a cost of CDN $7, travellers can obtain the eTA through a short questionnaire on the Government of Canada’s website, after which the eTA is electronically linked to the traveller’s passport number. The eTA will be valid for five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. It is expected that over 3 million travellers a year will require an eTA.

For more information, visit Immigration and Citizenship Canada

Mexican Visa Requirements - Changes Ahead

As of December 1, 2016, the newly implemented Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) will replace visa requirements for Mexican visitors. The eTA is much more accessible and affordable than the traditional visa process for travellers wishing to come to Canada.

Charlotte Bell, TIAC President & CEO has said of the change in travel requirements for Mexico: “By lifting this visa, we expect that visitation will increase by up to an additional 82,000 Mexicans a year – spending up to $122 million more at Canadian businesses”.

Tourism Yukon is continuing to strategically increase investment in the growing Mexican market and expects to see increased visitation to Yukon by Mexicans in the coming years.

Learn more about what this mean for Mexican travellers

Department of Tourism and Culture, Yukon Government, P.O. Box 2703, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2C6