Sarah Robinson is “playing the long game.” While the end goal for Robinson, Tourism Winnipeg’s Business Development Manager focusing on Travel Trade, is convincing groups and tour operators that Winnipeg is the ideal spot to bring travellers, she says it’s really about the business of developing relationships – however long it takes. 

Tourism Winnipeg, a division of Economic Development Winnipeg, leads EDW’s efforts to attract organizations to host special events, sports, meetings and conventions in Winnipeg, as well as visit for leisure or educational travel. The Travel Trade side focuses on Winnipeg as a packaged tour destination, by researching, promoting, buying and selling travel experiences (such as local attractions and accommodations) to the tour operators and travel agents who might be convinced to add Winnipeg’s tourism products to their packages and promotions.

“We might have groups booking tours for 2024 or 2025, but I’ve been building the relationship with the tour operators for years, even since I started here in 2015,” Robinson says. “It’s a very patient process!”

While most North Americans tend to book their personal travel on their own and don’t use the travel trade network, most of the rest of the world relies on it entirely to plan their travel.

“Anytime someone is booking travel through an agent or a tour operator, that’s who I’m targeting, so Winnipeg is top of mind for a destination to sell to their end consumer,” Robinson explains. “I’ll make phone calls and send emails, but the most effective way to start that classic cycle of prospecting, selling and closing deals is to meet with them in person.”

That includes through sales missions to visit tour operators across Canada, the U.S. or beyond, as well as setting up at conferences such as Rendezvous Canada, which Tourism Winnipeg won the bid to host in 2025. The Tourism Industry Association of Canada in partnership with Destination Canada and the local hosts holds this important event every year, inviting tour operators from key international markets to discover what Canada and each province has to offer.

“That face-to-face opportunity as suppliers is important. You see a much higher response rate in your follow-up if you’ve had that in-person contact,” Robinson says.

Another valuable opportunity is the Student Youth Travel Association’s annual conference, given that the student/ youth market has been a major focus for Tourism Winnipeg for the past few years. The conference was held here in 2023, and Robinson says she’s already seeing the results. 

Canadian student groups often want an educational experience, learning about things like history, French studies and Indigenous culture, so the Canadian Museum for Human Rights has been a pillar for Winnipeg, Robinson says. On the other hand, American student groups are more often bands and choirs that want to incorporate performance opportunities and music clinics into their visit.

“So we’ve been working a lot with our attractions and museums over the years to explain to them that if you promote yourself as a venue where these groups can perform, they will also book a tour or program and perhaps spend some money in the gift shop too.”

Visitors who purchase through the travel trade are a critical fabric of our tourism economy who care about the authentic experiences they’re going to have here and bring a real curiosity to learn about Winnipeg and Manitoba, notes Natalie Thiesen, Tourism Winnipeg’s Vice President of Tourism.

“Tourism is one of the largest sectors in the province and this segment, in addition to business events and conferences and leisure visitors, has a huge impact to our economy in a direct way and also an indirect way,” says Thiesen, who began her own Tourism Winnipeg career in Travel Trade. 

 But the value these tour groups and visitors bring goes beyond just the economic impact, she explains.    

“If you look at the visitor journey when they come to Winnipeg – maybe they’re doing a cross-Canada tour in the summer by train and they’re stopping two nights in Winnipeg, or they’re going to see the beluga whales in Churchill and they’re spending three nights here – it’s not just the direct impact of the hotel stays and the taxis and the restaurants, it’s that indirect impact that can really be this pride of place. When you have someone coming from Australia, it’s their first time in Canada and they’re just amazed at the beauty of Winnipeg and Manitoba, that has a ripple effect in terms of creating more ambassadors for our city.”    

Thiesen notes travel trade is a competitive space and Winnipeg is competing to win business with other cities around the globe to be carried and offered as a travel destination by tour operators. If Robinson and Tourism Winnipeg aren’t engaging with operators and agencies, the city will get passed by and that potential tourism economic opportunity for Winnipeg goes elsewhere.   

By working with the travel trade, Tourism Winnipeg’s partners – the attractions and accommodations, for example – are essentially diversifying their market, Robinson explains.  

“If they’re only selling direct to the consumer, that’s one form of revenue generation. But if they work with a tour operator, yes, they would have to provide a wholesale rate, but they’re expanding their reach to a market they wouldn’t have had access to, and attracting business they wouldn’t have otherwise received.”    

Getting the tour operators to see Winnipeg’s value for themselves is often crucial, and the relationships Robinson and the Tourism Winnipeg team build with tour operators and agents will often turn into a visit, called a familiarization or “FAM” tour. Tourism Winnipeg will bring them here to show them around, building a customized itinerary of attractions, accommodations, transportation and dining, to show them what’s available and possible depending on their focus.   

“This might be two or three years after our initial meeting. Then after another year, the product gets to market – the operator builds an itinerary, advertises it and starts the process of selling it to their clients, which could take another one to three years,” Robinson explains.    Tourism Winnipeg also offers tours and itinerary suggestions for groups – or individuals – on its Travel Trade website at winnipeggroups.com, along with reasons to choose Winnipeg, trip planning tips and resources, and information specific to the student/youth tourism market.    

It’s an exciting time to be promoting Winnipeg and Manitoba, Thiesen says.    

“We have these world-class attractions that are unique to only Winnipeg, and combined with our rich arts and culture scene and culinary experiences, we can give visitors a really transformational experience, whether it’s related to learning about Indigenous culture, the plants in our environment, to our journey of human rights and the work that we continue to have to do. So whether we’re talking to educational travel companies for youth, or international high-end tour operators who are looking for a connection, to researchers wanting more in-depth experiences, we have that right here in Winnipeg.”