THUNDER BAY WELCOMES UNITED AIRLINES

This past week, the Thunder Bay International Airport Authority announced that United Airlines will begin daily direct service from Chicago's O Hare Airport to Thunder Bay beginning February 14, 2013.

This is great news for our tourism industry on a lot of different levels and the teams at the Thunder Bay International Airport Authority and United each deserve a huge applause for working diligently towards bringing this service to the city and region.

As many know, I'm a big advocate of brand alignment in advancing our community's tourism reputation and that can successfully occur on both passive and active levels.  United has a global presence, strong brand recognition and an extensive network of cities served.  Chicago's O Hare is one of the world's busiest airports and located itself in a major catchment area of some 8.5 million consumers.  The connectivity to this market through United raises our reputation as a "go to" destination.  As news of the new service was circulating this week, I've had discussions with provincial tourism colleagues and consumers from across North America commenting to me how positive this news is and how this development reflects positively on the community.

Chicago has long been a major source market for the region's angling and hunting experiences and its massive population coupled with its weathering of the recent US economic downturn has made it an attractive market to pursue.  Our industry made huge marketing cuts in the wake of the events of 2001 and this market, regrettable, lost a lot of market penetration.  New regional tourism investments has allowed the industry to capture some of that market back.  United offers a quicker way to get here fromt he U.S. markets, saving anglers, hunters, kayakers, canoeists, campers and hikers a  minimum10 hour drive in each direction.

The air connectivity allows our angling and broad outdoor industry to reach out to a broader market of avid enthusiasts willing to travel a longer distance for that epic experience.  Thunder Bay is a hub to Lake Superior water adventures, stunning scenic coastal touring, accessible wildlife viewing and hundreds of thousands of angling lakes served by hundred of angling resorts.  These experiences are what we do best and there is a market further afield than the 8 hour drive radius who put a value on these experiences.  United opens us up to the entire United States market and beyond, allowing our experience focused campaigns to target avid consumers more precisely.

Better air connectivity helps us reach them and our city can improve its role as a hub providing accommodation, rental vehicles, supplies and culinary experiences to these visitors before they head out into the region.

United's arrival in the city will be a convenience for local and regional travellers heading south. Thunder Bay's accommodation and culinary industries will benefit from this outbound market as much as for the inbound traveller.  Given that we're the hub for a regional catchment area of some 40 000 residents and a lot of them seek sun destinations, we can expect some increases in winter leisure traffic through our community as a result, perhaps as many as an additional 2000 to 4000 room nights annually

United begins daily service on February 14, 2013 arriving at 8:40 PM utilizing 50 seat CRJ200 jets.  The inaugural departure will be at 6 AM, February 15th and continue daily on that schedule.

Welcome United.  We look forward to working with you!

Canada' Great Outdoors Program Partnership Continues into Chicago this Year

This Thursday January 13, we're going to be at the Pheasant Run All Canada Show in St Charles Illinois to promote a new enhanced partnership with OTMPC around their "Canada's Great Outdoors" tactical strategy promoting the northwest's iconic outdoor experiences into the U.S. midwest market.

Last year, we partnered up with Porter, OTMPC, Thunder Bay Airport Authority and others to align with Canada's Great Outdoors with our own "Canada's Great Outdoors Begins in Canada's Great Outdoor City" program and web portal landing site to encourage US midwest anglers and soft outdoor adventure seekers to consider Thunder Bay as their hub and to consider the convenience of flying into the region versus driving.

This year, through our RTO transition mandate, we've expanded the partnership, taking a lead on the program with Tourism Kenora and NOTO, and input from Sunset Country and NOSTA, to keep building upon the "Canada's Great Outdoors" brand, positioning our region as the best outdoor adventure destination in the country. Its a great partnership by numerous organizations that understand that in the northwest, we have common experiences and common markets, making it essential that we collaborate on a regional level versus working in our traditional organizational silos, often based on geo political boundaries. That is what the RTO is about. Leveraging each other's equity and resources to present the region to the consumer most effectively.

The All Canada Show is only one channel and a good chance to meet with regional tourist operators, conduct some research with respect to the experiences offered by other regions and build some awareness of regional collaboration in an RTO world. Other tactical channels of this campaign will roll out between the end of January and end of May, 2011, primarily into the Chicago area wish a focus on avid outdoor adventure markets.

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO NAMED AS FINALIST IN

TORONTO, September 7, 2010 – When WFN: World Fishing Network, North America’s only 24/7 fishing channel, asked Canadians to name the best place to wet a line, loyal anglers from more than 160 different communities nationwide stepped up to tell WFN why their town is Canada’s best place to fish. After more than a month of nominations and public voting, 10 of these towns, including Thunder Bay, Ontario, have earned a spot as a finalist in the search for WFN’s Ultimate Fishing Town.

The 10 finalists for WFN’s Ultimate Fishing Town are: Port Alberni British Columbia; Chilliwack, British Columbia; Dauphin, Manitoba; Nestor Falls, Ontario; Thunder Bay, Ontario; Port Rowan, Ontario; Seeley’s Bay, Ontario; Miramichi, New Brunswick; O’Leary, Prince Edward Island; and Nipawin, Saskatchewan.

To vote for Thunder Bay, or to simply look at its entry which includes videos, photos and testimonials from numerous passionate Thunder Bay anglers, people can visit http://www.wfn.tv/ultimate-fishing-town/Thunder-Bay.
The final phase of voting begins today at www.wfn.tv/fishingtown and runs through September 28th. The winning community, which will be announced in October, will receive a $25,000 donation to be used towards fishing–related cause(s) and have a 30-minute feature show about fishing in their town air on WFN. There will also be over $7,500 in additional prizes awarded.

The 10 cities and towns advanced to the final round after more than 220,000 votes were cast for the 160 nominated towns and cities. The top two vote-getters in each of the three geographic regions (Ontario, West and Atlantic) advanced to the final round. The other four finalists were selected by WFN based on originality, persuasiveness, energy, the nature of the community organization or cause and the number of on-line votes received. Only votes accumulated during the final round of voting will be used to determine WFN’s Ultimate Fishing Town.

“Proud and passionate anglers from more than 160 different towns and cities across Canada tried to stake their claim as WFN’s Ultimate Fishing Town, and after a nationwide vote, 10 are left standing,” said Mark Rubinstein, President and CEO of World Fishing Network. “We hope every angler across Canada who has ever cast a line will now cast a vote for the place they consider WFN’s Ultimate Fishing Town.”

The finalists are encouraged to mobilize their supporters to vote. To help, WFN has created easy to use applications at www.wfn.tv/fishingtown that allow users to customize posters and web banners. The site also offers icons for use on various social communication tools such as MSN, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, BBM and more. The voting guidelines limit voting from one email address every 12 hours. WFN is closely monitoring votes and removing votes deemed fraudulent.

WFN is available nationwide. Check www.wfn.tv/subscribe for a complete list of TV providers and channel numbers.

About WFN: World Fishing Network
WFN: World Fishing Network is the only 24/7 television network dedicated to all segments of fishing with programming that covers instruction, tips, tournaments, travel, food, boating, outdoor lifestyle and more. WFN's wide-ranging programming lineup includes primetime theme nights, regional bureaus from across the nation, a selection of the best international series and the most diverse species coverage of any TV channel. Featuring popular programs hosted by the world's top anglers, the network also delivers a weekly news program, WFN News, and the schedule includes a variety of exclusive lifestyle shows including Hookin' up with Mariko Izumi. WFN also delivers the beauty of fishing in stunning High Definition with WFN HD, a separate network that delivers 100 percent High Definition programming 24/7.
Like millions of anglers across the continent, WFN is committed to supporting important conservation issues and groups that are fighting to preserve North America’s waterways and fisheries. WFN is also dedicated to using its resources and powerful media platform to help grow the sport by promoting and championing groups and organizations that are helping to inspire a new generation of anglers to appreciate and respect the world’s natural wonders.
Originally launched in December 2005, today WFN and WFN HD are available in more than 20 million households through North American cable, satellite and telecommunications distributors. For more information, visit http://www.WFN.TV.

Final Phase of Voting is Open at www.WFN.TV/fishingtown Until
September 28 – Winner Announced in October

Media Contact: Doug Drotman - WFN (631-462-1198 or doug@drotmanpr.com)

Unique Culinary Spin Featured in Westjet's Up! Magazine

Building Thunder Bay as one of Canada's best- and hippest -outdoor communities to visit gives us a lot of material to work with, especially when courting new visitors who are looking for sustainable tourism experiences. Its also a chance for us to weave sustainable tourism experiences with more traditional urban experiences to create memorable vacations.

Working with Lois Nuttal at Lake Superior Visits (http://www.superiorvisits.com/), a fun little package called "Loaves and Fishes" took on a life of its own this spring when former Senior Managing Editor of Up! magazine (http://www.up-magazine.com/), Eric Rumble, heard about it from me over coffee in Calgary. Eric loved the concept and had to write about it.

This 3 day epic adventure combines outdoor experiences, culinary and unique accommodation options to encourage visitors (and our tourism partners for that matter) to explore the city in exciting new ways. The core of Loaves and Fishes is essentially collecting local ingredients for your own dinner - even if your cooking skills involve burning water. A stay aboard the http://www.sailsuperior.com/ floating bed and breakfast and at the iconic McVicar Manor Bed and Breakfast, a lake superior salmon and trout fishing excursion with Archie's Charters (http://www.archiescharters.com/), visits to Thunder Oak Gouda (http://www.cheesefarm.ca/), Both Hands Bread and other local food producers fills ones' basket with fresh, locally made ingredients while taking in the city's iconic land and water scapes. The day ends at the spa while The chef's at Lot 66 (www.lotsixtysix.com ) cook it all up and pair it with worldly wines to create a memorable dining experience.

At the end of the day, Loaves and Fishes demonstrates creativity in product and experience development that consumers are looking for, weaves urban and outdoors together and builds upon our mandate to build Thunder Bay as a urban sustainable tourism leader.

Don't take my word for it. Read Eric Rumble's mouth watering take on it in the September edition of Westjet's (http://www.westjet.com/) Up! Magazine. You can read the online version on page 53 and 54 at:

http://www.soulintegrated.com/up/