Rocky Mountaineer and Quesnel Partner To Gain International Attention For Barkerville And The Cariboo

In 2008, Quesnel & District Chamber of Commerce received a $20,000 grant from Northern Development through the Economic Diversification Infrastructure program towards this $121,403 project. This has been a funding partnership of Quesnel & District Chamber of Commerce, Northern Development, Barkerville Heritage Trust, Canadian Tourism Commission, and Rocky Mountaineer Vacations

2012 – Rocky Mountaineer Vacations is a Vancouver-based railway tour company founded in 1990, that offers unique Western Canadian vacation packages on four rail routes through British Columbia and Alberta. Best known for the world-acclaimed Rocky Mountaineer train, a two-day, all daylight rail journey between Canada’s West and the Canadian Rockies, the company also offered day trips between the 2010 Winter Olympic host cities of Vancouver and Whistler, BC. Rocky Mountaineer trains travel through some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.

In 2008, Rocky Mountaineer partnered with the Quesnel and District Chamber of Commerce on a marketing project that would bring influential travel and tourism writers to the northern interior region of British Columbia. Writers who visited the region were offered customized itineraries throughout the North Cariboo in order to expose them to the unique local tourism highlights.

"The $20,000 investment made by the Northern Development Initiative Trust to the Rocky Mountaineer Regional Media project gave the Quesnel & District Chamber of Commerce the funding necessary to re-tool marketing materials, production of information and media story ideas and in general inspired us to work collaboratively with regional partners to vision outside of the box with ways to showcase our tourism sector through targeting earned media."

Coralee Oakes, Manager, Quesnel and District Chamber of Commerce

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Positive Economic Impacts in Quesnel

The tourism sector in the Cariboo region has seen a substantial boost in exposure thanks in part to this innovative regional marketing partnership. Regional, national, and international media all provided great coverage of the Rocky Mountaineer as well as the amazing regional tourist attractions in the Cariboo region, including historic Barkerville.

In the years since the project, Quesnel has hosted international travel writers, production companies and have partnered with the Quesnel Community Economic Development Corporation, Barkerville Heritage Trust, Rocky Mountaineer and the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association. This has provided extensive media coverage that has provided readers with a glimpse of BC's beautiful Cariboo region increasing the numbers of people coming to vacation here.

The Rocky Mountaineer Regional Media Project has helped to draw coverage for the region in sixty-one magazines and newspapers in 2009 alone, with estimates of over $350,000 in free media coverage since the completion of the project.

Economic Diversification Infrastructure

The Economic Diversification Infrastructure program is no longer available. However, your project may still be eligible under one of our NEW programs.

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