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Press Release
For immediate release
October 27, 2006
Tourism Toronto Launches $1M Cultural Enhancement Program
First partnerships elevate holiday experience in Toronto region
TORONTO (October 27, 2007) - Tourism Toronto announced today a new $1-million annual marketing initiative to augment the Greater Toronto Region’s cultural tourism experiences. Beginning with spectacular lighting installations for this holiday season, the program was developed to build on the momentum of Toronto’s surging cultural energy and its positioning as global centre of creativity.
“Travellers have more choices than ever and that means the focus on enhancing our tourism product has to be ongoing,” said Bruce MacMillan, President and CEO of Tourism Toronto. “This program gives us an opportunity to create even more stories with our partners to inspire visitors to come.”
Tourism Toronto’s Cultural Enhancement Program (CEP) will invest up to $1 million annually in new cultural experiences that have the potential to be significant tourism draws. Tourism Toronto will invest selectively in compelling opportunities with partners that demonstrate a solid business potential to attract visitors and to increase the length of stay by visitors. For the selected business proposals, Tourism Toronto will match new investment by partners between $100,000 and $500,000 per project, which must be first-time or one-off events, or represent substantial expansions of existing visitor experiences. The CEP could invest in up to 10 projects per year.
The first investments made through the Cultural Enhancement Program in 2006 will add sparkle to the holiday experience in Toronto. The annual Cavalcade of Lights program by Toronto Special Events will feature a spectacular water-themed light projection on Old City Hall. “Immersion” is a dramatic illumination by world-famous French artist Xavier de Richemont that will run every night from November 25 through December 23.
In addition, Tourism Toronto has partnered with four neighbourhoods to help them add significant new experiences to their holiday lighting:
• Bloor-Yorkville Business Improvement Area
One-of-a-kind 32' LED light tree in The Village of Yorkville Park
• City of Mississauga
A light sculpture suspended above the ice rink in Civic Centre Square, adjacent to
Square One Shopping Centre
• Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area
One-of-a-kind 30-foot light tree on Yonge-Dundas Square
• St. Lawrence Market Neighbourhood Association
New lighting on Berczy Park adjacent to the Flatiron Building
Tourism Toronto launches its Fall/ Winter marketing campaign this week throughout Ontario as well as Boston, New York and Washington, D.C. The campaign promotes holiday escapes to Toronto and features the city-wide holiday lights, the region’s diverse shopping experiences as well as special holiday events like The Radio City Christmas Spectacular and The Nutcracker.
“Every time visitors walk throughout our neighbourhood, we want them to be surrounded by the warmth and wonder of our holiday lights. We believe that it is this type of experience that helps us bring visitors from around Ontario into Toronto, and also helps us bring them back again next year,” said Briar de Lange, General Manager of the Bloor-Yorkville BIA.
“Building on the tremendous cultural product already in place across the whole Toronto region, we are helping create remarkable new visitor experiences. With the great depth and range of retail experiences available in Toronto and the exciting seasonal presentations on stages throughout the GTA, the holiday experience in Toronto is without parallel in Canada. Our investments this year will add further excitement and appeal to the Toronto holiday experience,” said MacMillan.
More information, including investment criteria and details on the process for submitting a partnership proposal, is available on the Tourism Toronto web site: www.torontotourism.com/cep.
Tourism Toronto, the Toronto Convention and Visitors Association, is an industry association of more than 1,000 members established to strategically market the Greater Toronto Region as a remarkable destination for tourists, convention delegates and business travellers around the globe.
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For more information contact:
Andrew Weir
Vice President, Communications
(416) 987-1741
aweir@torcvb.com
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