History of the YTMP
The YTMP is a conduit for tourism industry professionals to
interject their ideas and vision into the programs, initiatives and
campaigns designed by the Department of Tourism to position the Yukon as
a 4-season destination. This partnership between Government and
Industry was the first of its kind in the Yukon.
The Yukon Tourism Marketing Partnership of today (2011) is represented
by the Senior Marketing Committee (SMC).
In June 2000, the Yukon Tourism Marketing Partnership (YTMP) was
born. The original organizational structure of the YTMP included 120 people
from all sectors of the tourism industry and all regions of the Yukon
sitting on 8 committees and 5 sub-committees. All YTMP committees were
lead by an industry co-chair, chosen by TIA Yukon and a Government
co-chair chosen by the Department of Tourism Yukon’s Marketing Branch.
The five core committees (Research, Product Development, Travel Trade,
Communications and Marketing) were made up of seven industry members,
two Government members and one Parks Canada representative.
From 2000 to 2006, the YTMP has reached several important milestones:
- Developed the first ever Yukon three-year marketing strategy in cooperation with Tourism Yukon;
- Developed the first ever Product Development Strategy;
- Approved a significant move towards stronger visual impact and enhanced profile for Yukon destination regions;
- Provided recommendations to the Department of Community and
Transportation Services for changes to the Sign Regulations and to
tourist oriented directional signage;
- Designed a training program for all individuals who will be attending consumer shows;
- Provided recommendations to and reviewed final draft of Air Access Study.
The results of December 9, 2002 review process showed that the YTMP
as an organization was too large and needed better communications.
Members of the YTMP were beginning to feel unsure of their roles and
responsibilities and as such began to attend fewer meetings. Other areas
for improvement included communication and accountability. Once these
problems were identified, TIA Yukon and Tourism & Culture set to
work trying to figure out ways to overcome these obstacles.
On the issue of organizational structure, the following recommendations were carried forward:
- New organizational chart needs to be smaller with more industry focus;
- TIA Yukon together with input from Tourism & Culture will determine membership criteria;
- Organizational chart shows priority to industry taking the lead contributing relevant skills from members;
- Organizational chart will show one government representative as
co-chair on the Senior Marketing Committee (Government resource people
may be included as would be TIA Yukon’s Executive Director in
resource/advisor capacity);
- YTMP group is smaller, communications processes improved, and Terms of Reference are simplified; and
- New Terms of Reference-one committee with function for role management of partnership.