BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2022

Tourism Richmond, along with local hotel partners, travelled to Toronto on August 16-17, 2022 to attend the Canadian Meetings and Events Expo (CMEE). The two-day conference featured education and networking held on a tradeshow floor with destinations from across Canada. With over 200 attendees and a 50:50 ratio of corporate meeting planners and suppliers, Tourism Richmond showcased our destination through a five-senses dumpling cooking demonstration inside the Tourism Richmond booth.

Collaborating with local chef Ken Yau with Toronto’s popular k.Market, meeting planners experienced a live cooking demonstration of traditional Chinese dumplings before tasting them fresh from the pan. The dumplings were met with rave reviews and many planners stopped by both days, allowing them to learn more about why Richmond is a must-see part of BC and the perfect place for their next meeting.

Making up the rest of the trade show aisle were eight other BC DMO’s including Vancouver, Whistler, and Victoria. Together, these nine booths made up the “Experience BC Aisle” and planners were encouraged to complete a scavenger hunt by visiting each of the booths and answering trivia questions unique to each destination. Not only did this ensure BC was the standout province at the expo, but it allowed planners seeking one destination to also explore nearby destinations to expand their destination searches.

Richmond was also pleased to see a doubling in scanned planner badges from 2019 and nearly a doubling in the show floor size. Both are strong signs of a recovering travel market and a growing interest in hosting events in Richmond.

Tourism Richmond’s next event will be the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) Annual Conference in Halifax, October 18-21, 2022.