A Big Win for our Region!
2019 Travel Alberta Alto Awards – Marketing Partnership Category awarded to Go East of Edmonton Tourism Group Picture of Go East of Edmonton Campaign Partners – Pictured left to right: Shane Olson- Strathcona County, Jennifer Filip-Tourism Camrose, Christopher Smith-Travel Alberta, Jolene Kisilevich- Go East of Edmonton and The Marketer, Richard MacDonald- Strathcona County, Leon Hunter- Smoky Lake Region and Metis Crossing, Kevin D. Kisilevich- Go East of Edmonton, Jim Newman- Lamont County, Brian Siddle- Strong Coffee Marketing, Diane Jenkinson- MD of Bonnyville, Brennan Bunko- Parks Canada & Elk Island National Park, Heather Atkinson- Lamont County, Anya Langkow- Town of Vegreville, and Trevor Tessier- Strong Coffee Marketing.
We are excited and honoured to announce that Go East of Edmonton Regional Tourism won the 2019 Marketing Partnership Alto Award at the Travel Alberta Tourism Industry Conference!
Go East of Edmonton Regional Tourism would like to give a special thanks to the following partners who helped make this award winning campaign a huge success — Thank you to Strong Coffee Marketing, Travel Alberta, Strathcona County, Lamont County, Thorhild County, Smoky Lake Region, Town of Vegreville, Town of Redwater, Municipal District of Bonnyville, Elk Island National Park, East Central Alberta DMF Campgrounds, Lac La Biche Region, and Tourism Camrose.
Let’s ALL celebrate this victory for our region as Go East of Edmonton Tourism was the ONLY rural tourism organization to win an Alto Award this year! It was also the FIRST time a Tourism organization from this region has won at this prestigious awards competition. The Finalists and Winners were dominated by Edmonton, Calgary and the Rocky Mountains. The Go East Team; Board of Directors, Staff and Partners are honoured to be acknowledged amongst such an elite group of tourism organizations and businesses.
Kevin Kisilevich & Jolene Kisilevich who created and coordinated this campaign would personally like to thank all of the partners and supporters of Go East of Edmonton. Special thanks goes out to Trevor Tessier and Brian Siddle of Strong Coffee Marketing who’s expertise and team of digital marketers have been instrumental in the success of this campaign.
Pictured on right is Kevin D. Kisilevich accepting award from Honourable Minister of Economic Development, Trade & Tourism Tanya Fir (on right) and the Award Sponsor Alberta Hotel & Lodging Assn (on left).
A Celebration of this achievement will be taking place during the November 8 Regional Tourism Meeting of Go East of Edmonton and its partners.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2536686219756104/ – RSVP by Friday, November 1, 2019.
About the 2019 Alto Awards… The Alberta Tourism (Alto) Awards recognize the best of the best in Alberta tourism. The winners are mavericks in their field, exemplifying determination and ingenuity, and helping drive Alberta’s economy forward. Over 500 Industry partners were in attendance as the Alto Awards were presented in 11 categories on Monday evening, October 28 in conjunction with the Travel Alberta Industry Conference in Banff. The Alto Awards honour tourism industry partners who demonstrate excellence in experience development, marketing and service delivery. (CNW Group/Travel Alberta)
“The efforts of this year’s nominees, finalists and award winners are truly inspiring. The Alto Awards committee was busy this year, due to a huge jump in nominations. We received over 80 submissions, the most in 10 years,” said Alto committee chair Tyler Riopel.
At the 2019 Travel Alberta Industry Conference in Banff, there were many great learning sessions, and great networking with EDO’s and representatives from the tourism industry. Go East of Edmonton was also fortunate to meet with the Honourable Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Tourism – Tanya Fir.
Pictured left to right: Honourable Minister of Economic Development, Trade & Tourism Tanya Fir, Kevin D. Kisilevich and Jolene Kisilevich
Travel Alberta described our project as where East meets the Best!
All partners were promoted through various mediums, such as contest giveaways, a live television segment on Global Edmonton Morning News, targeted weekly Facebook ads, blog articles, weekly live radio broadcasts on Country 106.5 as well as in the widely distributed travel guide, social media channels, website and monthly e-newsletter.
The campaign increased website traffic from key geographic areas and increased referrals to partner websites. A total of 15,300 partner leads brought a significant increase in hotel room nights across the region. “Every year our partnership grows and so does our ROI of referrals to partners,” says Kevin Kisilevich, Marketing and Development with Go East of Edmonton. “We are so excited that the total growth over the past few years has far surpassed anything ever done in tourism in this region.”
Pictured above are screenshots of the 2018 Go East of Edmonton Digital Marketing Partnership Campaign shown during the Alto Awards Banquet. The other two Finalists in this category were Edmonton Tourism and Ski North AB, Grand Prairie
This sums up how our partners feel about the work we are doing to grow Tourism… From Jennifer Filip, Manager of Tourism Camrose and Chairperson of Go East of Edmonton Regional Tourism So excited to be part of this Team! Congratulations…your hard work and dedication to rural tourism is outstanding!
2019 Travel Alberta Alto Award Banquet Pictured left to right: Anya Langkow- Town of Vegreville, Jolene Kisilevich- Go East of Edmonton; Kevin D. Kisilevich-Go East of Edmonton, Brian Siddle and Trevor Tessier- Strong Coffee Marketing; Jennifer Filip- Tourism Camrose, Diane Jenkinson- MD of Bonnyville; Jim & Jackie Newman, Heather Atkinson- Lamont County
The Bodo Archaeological Site is one of the largest and most well-preserved pre-contact archaeological areas in Western Canada.
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