This text is part of the special Business Tourism booklet
The Outaouais region offers many attractions, not only for leisure tourism, but also for business tourism. For the latter, the pandemic break will have allowed Tourisme Outaouais to review its offer in order to meet the needs of both large and small events.
“Our greatest advantage, specifies Julie Kinnear, President and CEO of Outaouais Tourism, is not our reception capacity, but rather this harmonious combination between an urban tourist offer and a tourist offer in the heart of nature. It is this cohabitation between the city and nature that distinguishes our region. »
Indeed, tourist infrastructures are not only located in the city of Gatineau, but also in smaller municipalities such as Chelsea, Wakefield and Montebello. Gatineau Park is in itself a jewel of nature.
“In the Outaouais, points out Julie Kinnear, it is possible to attend a meeting in the morning in a large hotel, go skiing in the afternoon and end the evening in a gourmet restaurant, all without having to make a special effort. »
In addition, the Outaouais region is directly across from the national capital. “You can go from one bank to the other without really noticing,” says Julie Kinnear. Business tourists who choose the Outaouais can easily take advantage of Ottawa’s tourist attractions. »
Tourist infrastructure
Among the major tourist infrastructures capable of hosting major conventions, let us note in Gatineau the Four Points By Sheraton hotel & Conference Center and the Hilton Lac-Leamy hotel, which adjoins the casino of the same name, as well as Fairmont Le Château Montebello, in the municipality of the same name.
In addition, the city of Gatineau can count on its Palais des congrès, built in 1981 and which, today, is no longer sufficient for the task. This is why there is a project to build a second convention center in the air. “There were electoral promises in support of this project, explains Julie Kinnear. The current Palais des congrès is 41,000 square feet, and it is hoped that the new one will be 80,000 square feet. This is important for the region because our largest infrastructure, the Hilton Lac-Leamy, is now operating at maximum capacity. The construction of a new convention center would not mean the death of the current one, but would make it possible to host larger conventions or even more than one convention at a time.
Customer service
Outaouais Tourism provides event planners with customer service dedicated to business tourism. “We are able to work closely with event planners to identify their needs with them,” says Julie Kinnear. Once they are well identified, we can make proposals and we can support them in their approach, and even make submissions for them. In addition, we are setting up a turnkey service for smaller events. »
The two years of pandemic have upset the entire tourism industry, which today seems to be recovering. “On the other hand, the pandemic break also allowed us to think about our business tourism offer and to better structure it, explains the CEO. For example, the increase in teleworking. While teleworking can be effective, it does not eliminate the need for employees to come together and see each other in the flesh. We have therefore enhanced our offer of more modest events, such as Lac-à-l’oreille style meetings or motivational activities. »
In addition, Outaouais Tourism has set up the Events and Conventions Support Program (PSEC) which is aimed directly at event planners. By joining the PSEC, the planners commit to a number of nights, in return for which they obtain financial aid.
The pandemic also allowed Tourisme Outaouais to refine its brand image: “We changed our brand image last March to better reflect the concept of the city and nature,” underlines Julie Kinnear. While this new brand image essentially concerns leisure tourism, business tourism is not to be outdone. “We are beginning to deploy an advertising campaign entirely dedicated to business tourism under the slogan ‘In the front row’, she specifies. Publicity material will be sent directly to event planners. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.