Destination Greater Victoria launches $2.2M ad campaign to attract visitors

Island tourism operators eager for summer demand Canada is loosening some of its travel restrictions, something that many in the tourism industry have been waiting two years to hear.

With pandemic restrictions easing across the country, Destination Greater Victoria is unveiling what it calls its "largest marketing campaign ever" to attract visitors to the region.

The tourism group is launching a $2.2-million advertising campaign to highlight southern Vancouver Island.

The campaign will run from March 1 to Aug. 20 and will focus on targeting visitors from Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, Calgary, and Toronto – as well as travellers from Washington state and California.

Destination Greater Victoria says the campaign is designed to attract multi-night stays to the region from diverse communities in Canada and the U.S.

"This campaign is Destination Greater Victoria’s most significant campaign ever and is carefully planned to help stimulate and drive recovery," said Destination Greater Victoria CEO Paul Nursey.

"Re-introducing Greater Victoria’s travel brand into key source markets such as Washington state and California, where competitive travel marketers within the United States have been very active for the past two years, will present some challenges; however, we are confident that Greater Victoria has a solid reputation to build upon," he said.