Discover Halifax began to prepare for the impacts of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in late January 2020 when it became evident that Halifax would be impacted like all destinations globally.
Throughout this ordeal, we have focused on remaining supportive, transparent, collaborative, and approaching everything we do with a community-first mindset.
Our key messages have emphasized four key themes:
Economy
COVID-19 is impacting more than our health; it is affecting lives and livelihoods.
Our role
As the sales and marketing organization for HRM, our primary focus is on attracting visitors from safe travel markets.
Responsible
Since the beginning, Halifax’s tourism industry has acted responsibly. We took preventative measures to ensure everyone’s safety and Halifax will continue to be a safe destination because we took swift action.
People
Halifax’s brand is all about our people, and people are our top priority.
PHASE ONE – SUPPORT
- Followed government advice to remain home, if possible, and set up all staff to work remotely
- Initiated an executive group of tourism leaders for the exchange of information
- Offered support for affected businesses and shared government safety messages
- Conducted surveys to identify the immediate needs of the membership
- Postponed any expenditures and product launches to manage the business responsibly
- Provided extensive support and recommendations to all levels of government on the impacts to tourism operators
- Created fiscally-responsible business plans to sustain Discover Halifax and support recovery programs
PHASE TWO – REOPEN
- Collaborated with partners to help sub-sectors of the tourism industry get ready to return to work
- Created several possible business models to sustain Discover Halifax through tumultuous times
- Developed marketing campaign to support local restaurants with safety messages
- Assisted clients with cancelled events in rebooking and provided information
- Developed proposals for a safe reopening and recovery of the industry
- Expanded responsible marketing campaigns as needed to safe markets
- Created new and safe experiences for leisure and business travellers
PHASE THREE – TRANSFORM
- Explore opportunities to accelerate recovery through Halifax’s Integrated Tourism Master Plan
- Recover from the pandemic better than we entered.
- Build on Halifax's reputation as a safe destination.
- Improved membership to unite businesses under simple, no cost model
- Seek opportunities to re-imagine Discover Halifax's core services as backbone organization in the collective impact model.