Who could be the next Destination Cape Breton CEO?

We have an exciting opportunity before us. The CEO of Destination Cape Breton is one of the most important roles within one of our most vital industries. This week, we learned that the current Chief Executive Officer is retiring. Thus, a major career opportunity is currently open with an application closing date of November 23rd.

These types of high-level executive appointments tend to be long-lasting. The person who becomes the next CEO may be in place for a decade or longer once hired. If we get it wrong, it can have a major impact on the growth of our tourism sector.

But if we get it right, we have an immense opportunity to accelerate our growth, embrace new ideas, and leverage the best tourism marketing practices we can find anywhere in the world.

The right person will need to have or quickly acquire a vast knowledge of our island tourism product. However, if we cannot find that individual here, we should be open to finding top-notch talent from anywhere. The best CEOs are adaptive and may even find it advantageous to discover our tourism offerings from the perspective of a visitor, but with the analytical abilities of tourism marketing expert. Likewise, knowledge of our tourism product alone is insufficient.

This new person must not make the mistake of taking the beauty of our island for granted nor in believing that it sells itself. There will always be a tremendous amount of wonderful places in the world with talented marketers competing to attract increased visitors. Marketing can never be a passive endeavour.

Knowledge of modern marketing - especially digital marketing - is a must. The person must be well travelled and must be one who always travels with an intense (perhaps even obsessive) interest in how each place they visit markets and creates the best experience possible. They need to know what stands out, what creates unforgettable experiences and be able to encourage our tourism operators to emulate it all back here at home.

One of the greatest mistakes we make as a region is recruiting too closely within a small network of prominent local individuals who traverse the same circles. We'll be missing an opportunity if we appoint someone with limited experience in business, insufficient world travel, or without some form of clear ingenuity in their approach to marketing... qualifying them only because of their familiarity to local decision makers.

Fortunately, we have an outstanding tourism product to work with, and the industry itself has been creating new businesses that enhance our offerings. In the last few years, we've started to do a better job of adding more adventurous, active, and stimulating attractions. Think "Live Life in Tents", zip lining, archery, "cocoon" accommodations, helicopter tours, and multiple river tubing operators. Even the arrival of the Harbour Hopper tour during the cruise ship season gave Sydney a truer sense of being a more interesting place to visit. This all serves to complement our world-class golfing, Cabot Trail views and driving experience for motorcyclists, hiking, and wildlife (including the randy moose of the Skyline Trail).

It bears repeating: We absolutely cannot take any of this for granted. We need a brilliant, creative, proactive, growth marketer as the new CEO.

For those who have a preference for hiring close to home, I also made an interesting discovery by happenstance. There is at least one local person who is tourism and business specialist, highly educated and was a top student, has an extensive travel history, and who currently works in a marketing executive role in the private sector. I hope that we attract applications from 50 different people of similar credentials. If we do, our next Destination Cape Breton CEO may represent an amazing opportunity to foster growth in our tourism sector.

NOTE: The views expressed above are my own and do not represent lokol (goCapeBreton.com). Read more

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