RTO 9 once again was pleased to implement a funding program developed to help start, build or grow organizations’ marketing programs.

The Drive for Excellence program was designed for Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and Destination Marketing Program (DMPs) partners to support everything from strategy development to marketing campaign support, to operator training and many other options.

 The Drive for Excellence program:

• Maps out how destinations and operators want to develop over time; business, market, and trade ready
• Allows destinations and operators to self-identify their current readiness and understand what’s ahead
• Helps the RTO to collaborate with destinations to provide direct access to professional services and knowledgeable marketing support
• Provides a strategic and measurable industry development legacy
• Provides direct access to professional services and knowledgeable marketing support

Below are the support programs that have been initiated for each destination for the 2022/2023 season.

Prince Edward County – Paid Search Strategy – Countylicious
Bay of Quinte – Content creation + digital asset development curated by BoQ
Kingston – TBD
Cornwall – Influencer and PR Media FAM tours through TartanBond + Content creation + digital asset development
SDG Counties – Media plan and implementation through Alphabet Creative
1000 Islands Gananoque – Influencer and PR Media Fam tours through TartanBond + Digital
Lennox and Addington – Digital media campaign with 1Dea Creative plus Design
Frontenac County – Content creation + digital asset development, Experiential Workshop 
Brockville – Content creation + Influencer and PR Media FAM tours through TartanBond
1000 Islands Rideau Canal Waterways – 1000 Islands & Rideau Canal Waterways Tourism Development Strategy implementation

We’re thrilled to announce that we have won ⅗ nominations from the TIAO Ontario Resiliency Awards.  The TIAO Ontario Resiliency Awards are well established as the defining tourism award program in the province and we’re proud to be a part of it. 

Our campaign, Rail + Roam won under the COLLABORATION category for Transportation, Regional Tourism Organization, and Accommodation.  We truly feel that these awards are a reflection of the collaboration we had with our partners and would like to extend our gratitude to Landsby, Alphabet® Creative, and VIA Rail Canada for all of their hard work and team effort put in during this campaign. 

A special congratulations to Tourism Kingston for winning INNOVATION – Food Service for Kingstonlicious, Delta Hotels by Marriott Kingston for winning the Safe Travels Stamp for Tourism Region 9 and The Eddie & The Festival Players for winning COLLABORATION Festivals & Events.

View all award winners here.
View our award-winning campaign, Rail + Roam here.

Thank you from all of us at RTO 9!

About the TIAO Ontario Resiliency Awards

2021 continued to be a year that challenged our industry, reinforcing the need for determination and perseverance. It just made sense for TIAO to continue to recognize those that have shown resiliency, gained inspiration from others and look towards rebuilding with the Ontario Resiliency Awards.

This year’s awards had two new elements of criteria. The first was that each nomination must be able to provide the actions made towards diversity, equity, and inclusion in what they are being nominated for. The second was that each nomination came from the desire and opportunity to promote and collaborate.

RTO 9 works closely with tourism-related business owners across South Eastern Ontario in the development and promotion of visitation to the region. The organization works closely with destination marketing organizations, destination marketing programs, municipalities, counties, and independent business owners to explore strategic projects and programs to support and grow tourism.

This welcome kit is intended to introduce the role, support and partnership opportunities that RTO 9 provides to all those engaged in tourism in South Eastern Ontario.

• Who We Are
• The Tourism Funnel
• What We Do
• Why Get Involved

We look forward to the opportunity of working with you to help grow tourism in South Eastern Ontario.

View our Welcome Kit

We all have amazing stories to tell and know that travel-related storytelling, in all its many forms, is of great interest to consumers. We encourage our regional partners, and operators to share their stories/products/experiences/packages with us to keep us in the loop. Your input will help with our marketing needs.

How do we connect with tourism partners?

Part of what we do includes increasing the marketing reach for destinations, communities, and tourism business operators within South Eastern Ontario. We actively work with our Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and Destination Marketing Program (DMPs) partners when developing our content on a seasonal basis. The content recommendations are referenced and repurposed into our marketing activities across our website and social media channels. We also reference these suggestions when organizing Influencer and other Media trips.

Our South Eastern Ontario Social Media channels allow us to connect with our audience and inspire visitation. Both Facebook and Instagram serve as our primary channels for connecting with consumers and staying connected with our Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), Destination Marketing Program (DMPs), tourism partners, and operators in the region. We have leveraged our Social Media channels to build a community of advocates for the South Eastern Ontario region. Our brand hashtag, #SouthEasternOntario, has been used over 22,000 times on Instagram alone. We invite you to use our hashtag in your Social Media posts but please note that we do not monitor hashtag usage on Facebook. 

On our South Eastern Ontario Social Media channels, we use “Mentions” and ‘Tags’ in our posts when we communicate with our Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), Destination Marketing Program (DMPs), and tourism partners. A mention is an act of adding another user’s handle (@) or account name to a Social Media post. A properly formatted mention allows our audience to click through to the profile of the user mentioned in the post and be directed to their page. A Tag is a keyword that is added to a Social Media post for the purpose of categorizing related content. You can also use tags to tag another profile in a post or photo, which creates a link to the user’s Social Media profile and associates them with the content. 

Like and Follow our South Eastern Ontario Social Media pages to get involved in the conversation and to keep us up to date with your offerings.

Facebook @South Eastern Ontario – Mention us in your captions.
Instagram @southeast.ontario – Tag us in your post, Mention us in the caption, & use our hashtag #SouthEasternOntario.
X (Twitter) @southeast_ontario – Tag us in your post, Mention us in the caption, & use our hashtag #SouthEasternOntario.

Why should you participate?

1. We can better promote you! 

Tag us in your post and mention us in your caption to tell us about your tourism product and experiences. Connecting with us keeps you top of mind in our marketing efforts – such as our website, social channels, newsletter, etc. This is a simple way for you to share your content with us.

2. Amplify your reach 

When you share your story with us, this gives you the opportunity to increase the visibility of your brand. When we share your story, we are amplifying your brand and sharing it with an entirely new audience (ours!) 

3. Reach a new audience

Try searching #SouthEasternOntario on Instagram and Twitter. Take a look at what visitors are talking about and doing in the region. Once you know what visitors are saying, we hope you’ll be excited to participate in the conversation by creating a similar post and engaging with other accounts. From this, your content and your brand can be seen by an audience that you may not have been able to reach before. 

A Note About Events

We have recently moved away from an events calendar on our website and are now linking directly to our Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) and Destination Marketing Program (DMPs) event pages on their website.

If you are using the Facebook Events listing on your page, keep us in mind: Tag us, mention us or ask us to be a co-host on your Facebook events as we can then easily share them on our events page. Any changes you make on your event will automatically show up wherever it has been shared on other Facebook events.

How do we respond to a post when South Eastern Ontario is Mentioned and Tagged?

As part of our engagement strategy, we will ‘Like’ all posts we are tagged and mentioned in and may leave a comment. We may share your post if it fits in with our tourism mandate, our current social media calendar allows it, and our number of daily posts hasn’t been exceeded. Or, we might just save it to refer back to at another time.

We check our Social Media notifications at least once a day as part of our daily routine. Due to volume, we cannot share all posts we are tagged/mentioned in. We are cautious about “overposting”, especially on Facebook when we have numerous campaigns running as it can disengage followers. Don’t be discouraged if your post isn’t reshared on our Social Media pages. Remember, you’re still feeding us information to help us in all of our marketing activities.

What to do when you have been Mentioned and Tagged in a post?

So, we have tagged and mentioned you in a post, what are we looking for in return? Here are different ways you can engage in a post when you have been featured. 

• ‘Like’ the post – Acknowledges that you have seen it.
• Leave a comment, maybe with more info about whatever is featured in the post, a thank-you for the feature, or you can just leave an emoji if you can’t think of anything to say. 
• Reply to an inquiry from a user that you can answer way better than we can.
• Share/Retweet the post if it’s relevant to your Followers. Bonus: sharing helps increase engagement for all of us!

The success of our consumer brand South Eastern Ontario depends upon the active engagement from our Followers and the participation from the tourism community across the region. Together, we can work towards increasing awareness and inspiring visitors to the South Eastern Ontario region.

Check out these post to better understand Social Media Engagement: Understanding and Using # Tags and @ Tags, How to Use Instagram Tagging for More Exposure, Social Mentions 101: What Are They and Why They’re Important.

As a tourism partner, make sure to Like and Follow our Industry accounts to stay up to date on tourism industry news, tips, and opportunities.

Facebook @RTO9 
Instagram @RTO9_ON 
X (Twitter) @RTO9_ON
LinkedIn @RTO 9

Easing of COVID-related testing and other measures to significantly impact tourism recovery  

Kingston, ON – September 28, 2022 – As COVID-19 entry requirements lift later this week, tourism organizations on both sides of the border are applauding the Government of Canada’s decision to remove travel restrictions including testing, proof of vaccination status, quarantine and isolation planning. 

With three land border crossings connecting South Eastern Ontario to the U.S. Thousand Islands and Upstate New York regions, the easing of restrictions is a step in the right direction for businesses that rely on cross-border traffic.   

“We are excited to learn that travel restrictions will finally ease for cross-border travellers. This is wonderful news for our destinations in South Eastern Ontario,” said Bonnie Ruddock, Executive Director, Regional Tourism Organization 9 (RTO 9), South Eastern Ontario. “With three land border crossings in our region – Massena-Cornwall International Bridge in Cornwall, Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge in Johnston and the 1000 Islands Bridge in the heart of the 1000 Islands – we hope to be able to resume cross-border travel to pre-pandemic levels.”  

“The removal of these travel restrictions is very much welcomed and appreciated with Black Friday and holiday shopping looming. This is a significant step toward rebuilding international visitation and reuniting our border towns,” said Corey Fram, Director of Tourism, 1000 Islands International Tourism Council. 

Effective October 1, 2022, all travellers, regardless of citizenship, will no longer have to submit public health information through the ArriveCAN app or website; provide proof of vaccination; undergo pre- or on-arrival testing; carry out COVID-19-related quarantine or isolation; or monitor and report if they develop signs or symptoms of COVID-19 upon arriving to Canada. 

Transport Canada is also removing existing travel requirements, meaning travellers will no longer be required to undergo health checks for travel on air and rail; or wear masks on planes and trains. 

Cruise measures are also being lifted, and travellers will no longer be required to have pre-board tests, be vaccinated, or use ArriveCAN. A set of guidelines will remain to protect passengers and crew, which will align with the approach used in the United States. 

Further information and the official Government of Canada update can be found here. 

All travellers are being reminded to make informed decisions when travelling outside of Canada and are encouraged to review the travel and health notices at https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories. 

For more information on Regional Tourism Organization 9 or South Eastern Ontario, visit www.rto9.ca or www.southeasternontario.ca.