The Oliver Tourism Association held its Annual General Meeting at Janssen’s Restaurant at Nk’Mip Canyon Desert Golf Course on Friday April 11, 2014.

Members, guests and the public were invited to enjoy wine and appetizers prior to the meeting.
After the formalities and introduction of Guests, Chair Beth Garrish made the following comments about the progress and activities of the Tourism Association.

The OTA has just completed its first 3 year stint as THE Tourism Services Provider for the Wine Capital of Canada and is pleased to have the Fee for Service agreement with the Town of Oliver and RDOS renewed for another 3 years.

With that milestone, 3 of directors who have been instrumental in the formation of the Oliver Tourism Association will be stepping down: Kenn Oldfield, Kathy Mercier and Sofia Cerqueira. All have been driving forces and champions of tourism and economic development in the area for many, many years. The Association thanked them for their time, effort and passion!

The new directors for the Association elected at the meeting are: Tony Munday, James Hodge, Jennifer Busmann, Carol Sheridan and Beth Garrish

The OTA has developed an active working relationship with the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association providing the Wine Capital of Canada with amazing exposure by exchanging volunteer coordination for sponsorship at key events.

Tony Munday gave a power point presentation of the achievements of the Oliver Tourism Association highlighting:

World Wide Reach – through social media, Geocache ‘Travel Bugs’, having Allison Markin from All She Wrote Consulting promote the Wine Capital of Canada at international wine events such as the Wine Bloggers Conference and International Wine Tourism Conference held recently in Tblisi, Georgia. Also very exciting was a recent article “Go Here, Not There: 10 Alternative Destinations” by Cheap Flights in the UK that suggested that instead of going to the Napa, the traveler should go to the “Golden Mile”.

Visitor Centre – the Oliver Visitor Centre continues to service thousands of tourists every year from around the world. A warm thank you to the Tourism Manager Rhoda Brooks and her team of volunteers was given. It was noted that the retail line of clothing and souvenirs brought in just over $11,000 for the Association, and that the retail line is available for other businesses to sell.

Events – the Rose’ Revolution was held in conjunction with the Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country’s Winter in Wine Country last year and continues to grow. The Association also takes an active part in coordinating volunteers for the major OOWA events such as Pig Out and the Half Corked Marathon in exchange for title sponsorship at the events.

Marketing and Communications – the Association continues to work with Allison Markin of All She Wrote Consulting to move the plan forward. Major achievements over the past year have been the complete overhaul of www.WineCapitalofCanada.com including a fully interactive and searchable events page. 35,000 of the Official Visitor Guides were distributed to tourists and throughout the province, and into Alberta and Washington State. Plans are to continue to grow the image bank, have a regular Wine Capital newsletter and press releases to improve communications with the Association’s members, stakeholders and visitors.

Tourism Advisory Committee – this dedicated group has been meeting monthly to brainstorm and guide the direction and activities of the association. Members James Hodge, Carol Sheridan, Tony Munday, Jennifer Busmann, Lyndie Hill, Kathy Mercier, Sofia Cerquiera, Beth Garrish, Bob Parker & Linda Buhler were thanked for their contributions. The Oliver Tourism Association invites anyone interested in helping out on this committee to contact Rhoda at the Visitor Centre.