Tourisme Montréal

In the context of 2009 – increased competition in destinations, a recession hitting travellers and no Grand Prix in the summer – Tourisme Montréal needed to optimize its marketing efforts.

Today’s travellers have changed their habits, seeking authentic sources of information, and planning and booking trips online.

Although Montreal is a top-notch international destination, its attractions fail to entice consumers the way those of other large cities do. In Montreal, it’s not tourist attractions, but rather the spirit of the city, that really distinguishes it. To encourage travel, Sid Lee had to communicate in a more intimate and conversational manner. 

The solution was to give consumers a glimpse into Montreal’s day-to-day workings – to hand the mic to Montrealers themselves, giving them a chance to showcase their passion for the city and invite tourists to spend a weekend living like a local.  

Five themes were chosen that reflect motivations for travelling to Montreal:  girl’s getaway, nightlife, gay life, gastronomy and arts & culture. For each theme, ambassadors became bloggers, revealing the city’s hidden treasures on the “Get the Local Buzz from Montréal Insiders” blog hosted on the Tourisme Montréal website.

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were used as each blogger created profile pages to interact with travellers, share content and field questions. Links were also created between content and famous blogs, magazines and influential social media. In the fall, famous Twitter-er Gary Vaynerchuk came to Montreal and showcased the city to his fans. To drive traffic to the newly created blog, banners showed videos of the bloggers and promoted “Sweet Deals” on travel.

Offline, street stunts in New York and Toronto helped generate interest. One blogger was even interviewed by CBS’s The Early Show.

Despite the difficult context of 2009 and an advertising budget that was reduced by 26% from the previous year, Tourisme Montréal increased all indicators of performance.

A wealth of content was created (articles, photos, comments) and strong communities were built on Facebook and Twitter. Better still, website traffic increased by 19.5% and the conversion rate of Sweet Deals increased by 17%. Finally, room bookings through the Tourisme Montréal website increased by 14% as compared to 2008.