Module 3: Selling your destination and tracking success

In tourism investment attraction, it’s important to show more than why your community is a good place to do business. You also need to clearly show its potential as a travel destination.

An investor package helps communicate this information clearly and consistently.

Key components

Community tourism profile
Include a community tourism profile that highlights your tourism assets and visitor economy. For details on what to include, see the Tourism Investment Readiness Self-Assessment Tool (PDF, 166 KB)

Brand promise and vision
Clearly describe what makes your destination unique. Explain your competitive advantage and what sets your community apart from other places investors may be considering.

Market potential
Use data to show demand and opportunity. This may include visitor profiles, travel trends, seasonality, demand‑generating activities, and gaps in existing tourism products.

Tourism partnerships and business supports
Show how your tourism system works. Identify key partners and contacts at the local, regional, provincial, and national levels. This helps investors understand what supports are available.

Links to key strategies
Include links to relevant tourism development strategies, your Official Community Plan, and destination marketing initiatives.

Success stories
Highlight successful tourism developments in your community or region. Include simple metrics or outcomes where available.

When sharing tourism data with potential investors, focus on information that clearly shows market potential, visitor demand, economic impact, and growth opportunities.

Data access will vary by community. Economic Development Officers (EDOs) and local and regional Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) can help identify and source relevant data.

You can also include data that highlights the overall strength of tourism in British Columbia. Tourism research and data for B.C. are available on the Province’s tourism research webpage linked here.

Below are the key tourism data points investors are most interested in.

1. Visitor volume and demographics

• Total number of visitors, including domestic and international
• Year‑over‑year visitor growth
• Visitor origin, such as top countries or regions
• Visitor characteristics, including:
  • Age group
  • Income range
  • Travel party type (solo, family, group)
  • General visitor profile

2. Visitor spending

• Average spending per visitor, per day and per trip
• Breakdown of spending by category, such as:
  • Accommodation
  • Food and beverage
  • Transportation
  • Attractions and activities
  • Retail
• Total revenue generated by the tourism sector

3. Length of stay and seasonality

• Average length of stay
• Peak and off‑peak travel seasons
• Accommodation occupancy rates

4. Economic impact

• Tourism’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP)
• Number of jobs supported by tourism
• Tax revenue generated from tourism‑related activity

5. Market trends and visitor preferences

• Most popular activities and experiences
• Emerging travel trends, such as eco‑tourism, cultural tourism, or wellness travel
• Visitor satisfaction levels and return visitation

6. Infrastructure and investment opportunities

• Current accommodation supply and capacity
• Transportation access and connectivity
• Planned or ongoing tourism infrastructure projects
• Opportunities for public–private partnerships

7. Competitive positioning

• Comparison with similar destinations
• Unique selling points of the region
• Brand awareness and marketing reach

Once you have strong investor materials in place, the next step is to reach potential investors.

Think regionally when planning outreach. Partnering with nearby communities can help generate interest. Once investors are engaged, communities can then compete locally.

Key components

Pitch deck
Create a clear, high‑level presentation that explains why tourism is a strong investment sector and why your community is a good fit. This can be a slide deck or video. Make it available on community or DMO websites and share it through partner networks.

Lead generation
Work with EDOs and DMOs to attend trade shows, investor forums, and tourism events. These are opportunities to meet investors, share information, and build contact lists.

Priority project list
Share your priority tourism projects with development and investment attraction agencies across the province. Your project may match what an investor is already seeking.

Tracking tourism investment helps communities measure success, spot trends, and plan for future growth.

Monitoring also supports transparency and continuous improvement. While smaller communities may face data‑collection challenges, collaboration between EDOs, local governments, and DMOs can help.

Key components

Investment tracking
Use a customer relationship management (CRM) system, or another shared tracking tool, to record inquiries, assign follow‑ups, and track completed investments. Keep an up‑to‑date list of key contacts involved in approvals and project implementation.

Impact measurement
Track both community and visitor impacts, such as:

• Job creation
• Tax revenue
• Business growth
• Visitor spending and occupancy

Also consider how tourism projects benefit residents, as many tourism investments create community assets used by local people.

Post‑investment engagement
Stay in contact with investors after projects are completed. Ongoing engagement helps support reinvestment, strengthens relationships, and improves data collection. It also supports coordination with marketing partners.

Global success stories
Review tourism development success stories to see how other communities have addressed challenges, worked with partners, and supported sustainable growth.

Tourism and investment attraction resources 
Many organizations, agencies, and programs can help build local capacity for tourism investment attraction. These resources include funding programs, data tools, and partnership opportunities and provide a strong starting point.