1. Tourism winter campaign in the Meetjesland – a successful example of how to ‘Make collaboration work’ Reflection and lessons learnt from the 2009- 2010 winter campaign in four touristic regions within the Province of East Flanders Cornwall, 21st April 2010 Hannah Pector, Sirka Ludtke

2. Todays challenges  No collaboration between hotels and Toerisme Meetjesland  Expanding segment of relevant hotels for touristic target group  Economical crisis – bookings of businesses

3. Winter in het Meetjesland

4. The results  230 winterpackages sold (= € 34 500 ! + added value)  Strong contacts with sector  Touristic bookings in winterperiod  Image region  Press coverage (regional – national)  Building ‘image’ tourism as an economic sector

5. Value evaluation for different users Improvement internal strategy and policy More interest of media and press for Tourism East Flanders as tourist destination (indirect) be better known (indirect) Quality improvement Set up basis for future campaigns Strategic choices in which campaigns to invest (time, money)  winter campaign – basis to start up cluster working with hotels on concrete basis Feedback entrepreneurs (indirect) Extra clients (indirect) Quality improvement of products and services (indirect) Knowledge share Tourism East Flanders Regional tourism co- ordinators EntrepreneursCollabor8 partners

6. Involved regions Meetjesland Gent Scheldeland Leiestreek

7. Conclusions and Lessons learnt The key message of a campaign should be direct visible and be possible to formulate in one sentence. Experience / remarks from the involved regions: ML and SL: arrangement for a total value of 150€, individually to fill in G and SL: Better clear than for each one a bit of everything. G and SL: If organising a winter campaign both image and title should tell that.

8. Conclusions and Lessons learnt Ghent: too much for one night. 50% discount on your second night

9. Conclusions and Lessons learnt Start small- Big effect. Not each potential partner but a conscious choice of partners seems to increase the chance for an effective higher amount of bookings. Experience / remarks from the involved regions: ML: only hotels ( *** stars or more); first time; direct contact with involved partners Transparent and realistic selection criteria for entrepreneurs and partners who want to take part in an action

10. Analysis : Partners vs effective bookings + Museums (4) SL - ScheldeLand LS - LeieStreek G - Gent ML - MeetjesLand

11. Conclusions and Lessons learnt Preparation of a campaign seems to be half of the success. Make use of the Sense of Place. incl. time period, vision, contact entrepreneurs,neighboring and competitive regions, tourism trends,market,etc. Experience / remarks from the involved regions: ML LS: other SoP ( landscape urban, small scale attractions tourist highlights,..)

12. Conclusions and Lessons learnt To get FOR FREE does (almost) not exist. Entrepreneurs should contribute to a tourist package both in terms of content but also financially. Experience / remarks from the involved regions: ML: winter package as part of arrangement offered to participating partners for free ; huge success SL: option to buy winter package by partners for 9,75€/ per package with a minimum of five to take

13. Conclusions and Lessons learnt Special “gadgets” are welcome if they can give the tourist package an extra value. Experience / remarks from the involved regions: ML: 50 special for the winter campaign hand made wol bonnets produced by local grandma’s ; enormous press coverage

14. Conclusions and Lessons learnt Keeping a list with media and promotion channels which work for your region can be helpful in giving publicity to your campaign. There is no fixed concept or strategy for the choice of media and promotion. Paid promotion channelsNon paid promotion channels TM : a lot of publicity, and most of them non paid Experience / remarks from involved regions:

15. Conclusions and Lessons learnt Measuring the effective impact of a campaign requires qualitative and quantitative indicators. Experience / remarks from the involved regions: ex. Voucher booking arrangement in Meetjesland In non of the regions: set up indicators in advance Easy to use procedures, allowing registering and counting additional overnight staying, are needed.

16. Conclusions and Lessons learnt Organised feedback should be fixed part of a campaign. Experience / remarks from the involved regions: SL: telephone questionnaire LS and ML: info session with partners afterwards

17. Analysis : Budget Total budget winter campaign 2009 -2010: between 15.000 € - 30.000 € / per region (only campaign cost, without promotion material)

18. What we also learnt Why should the local/ regional government give a present to the sector/ entrepreneurs? Tourisme East Flanders Tourisme Meetjesland Tourism entrepreneurs

19. Thank you Hannah.Pector@oost-vlaanderen.be Sirka.Ludtke@oost-vlaanderen.be