Work With Us

Businesses, associations or government bodies within the Sunshine Coast; and/or which are directly or indirectly engaged or interested in tourism and/or the economic welfare of the Sunshine Coast; which meet the criteria for the relevant business category for the Society; and which register with the Society and are approved as a Registered Stakeholder. 

A Voting Stakeholder is any tourism-related business in good standing, that has electronically registered affirming that their business meets the criteria appropriate to their business type AND has participated with Sunshine Coast Tourism through at least one Stakeholder contribution within the 12 month period since the previous AGM to maintain their voting status.

Registered Voting Stakeholders are eligible for nomination to the Board of Directors for Sunshine Coast Tourism and can vote in any regular, annual or special meeting of the association. This means you will have a voice into the development of the tourism industry on the Sunshine Coast. 

A Non-voting Stakeholder is a business that meets the criteria but is not considered a direct tourism business AND businesses and organizations having met the Stakeholder criteria for tourism-related business, who have not participated with SCT through a Registered Stakeholder contribution. These businesses will be considered a stakeholder of the association, but will not be entitled to vote. Non-voting stakeholders are eligible to participate in SCTs stakeholder contribution opportunities.

Opportunities to participate in include:

• Cooperative Marketing: Annual Travel Guide, Consumer Shows, Print Advertising, Brochure/Map Ads 
• Sector Marketing
• Racking at Visitor Centres
• Board/Committee participation
• In-kind participation valued at over $100 including, but not limited to:
  • Media Hosting
• $100 fee in lieu of participation

Here are some of the many benefits of being a Registered Stakeholder. Of course, the more you participate and take advantage of these opportunities the more you will benefit, so we look forward to your participation!

• Website listing on our online Business Directory promoting your business with contact information, website and social media link, photos and description
• Discounted cooperative advertising opportunities in print, online and radio campaigns, and at industry trade shows
• Industry sector marketing opportunities
• Exposure to our 50,000+ social media followers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube
• Promotion of your specials, packages and booking deals on the our website and on social media
• Access to our wealth of industry knowledge and intelligence, educational workshops, business development events and informative newsletters
• Potential opportunities for inclusion in targeted media hosting and itineraries
• Brochure Racking opportunities at the Gibsons and Sechelt Visitor Centres
• Collaborate with other tourism businesses to market the Sunshine Coast and attract more visitors
• Opportunities to serve on the Board of Directors and participate on committees

We are constantly creating new opportunities and ways to collaborate with our partners as our industry grows.

Sunshine Coast Tourism creates a number of print collateral pieces such as brochures and maps. When we develop or reprint these branded consumer pieces, we often invite our stakeholder partners to place an ad for their business on the brochure. By doing this, we can not only direct more referrals to our partners, but we can also leverage the advertising investment from our partners into wider distribution for these print pieces.

Texada Island Brochure 

Sunshine Coast Tourism is taking on the production of a new Texada Island visitor brochure. This new brochure includes community information, top things to see and do on the Island, and information on how to get to Texada Island, plus a map of Texada Island and additional inset maps of Van Anda and Gillies Bay. The brochure will reflect the Sunshine Coast destination brand to maximize visitor awareness, by incorporating the brand’s colours, fonts, and imagery. The brochure will fold out into 4 panels across and 2 panels down, similar to past brochures.

Ad spaces are available on the brochure for Texada-based businesses and organizations to highlight their unique offering and leverage the reach and distribution of the brochure to drive additional traffic to their business.

Print run

• 15,000 copies

Ad sizes and cost:

• 1/2 panel ad (3.5938” wide x 4.59” high) - $650 + GST
• 1/4 panel ad (3.5938” wide x 2” high) - $350 + GST

Download and fill out the ad booking form and email it to crystal@sunshinecoastcanada.com before September 16, 2024, to secure your spot. Completed ads are due by September 23, 2024.

Consumer shows allow us to meet face-to-face with potential visitors to promote the Sunshine Coast. Stakeholders have the opportunity to provide rack cards for distribution at the shows and sometimes even join us to help promote the Coast and all our partner businesses.

All brochure racking spots are now filled for the 2024 Vancouver Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show.

Ad sales for the 2024/2025 Sunshine Coast Travel Guide are now closed.

The official Sunshine Coast Travel Guide is a two-year publication that showcases the best of what the Coast has to offer, from Howe Sound to Desolation Sound. It’s filled with inspiring content such as spectacular photos, community overviews, key attractions and activities, and itinerary suggestions, and is sure to draw visitors to the Coast and serve as a keepsake for people to share with friends and family at home. 

Calls to action are included throughout the guide to let visitors know where to find more information. Readers are supported in their trip planning journey via our official travel website, sunshinecoastcanada.com, where they can continue to discover local businesses, outdoor attractions, maps, events, special offers, and more.

A minimum of 40,000 print copies of the Sunshine Coast Travel Guides will be distributed both on-and-off Coast over the course of 2024 & 2025. The Sunshine Coast Travel Guide is also available online, and engagement with the guide has increased significantly since the launch of our new website in December 2022. Website links throughout the online publication are clickable, meaning that readers can easily access more information about the Sunshine Coast and advertisers within the publication. 

We are excited to collaborate with qathet Parks and Wilderness Society (qPAWS) to produce the Sunshine Coast Trail brochure. Exclusive advertising opportunities are now open to Sunshine Coast Tourism stakeholders.

With 15,000 copies slated for distribution at Sunshine Coast Visitor Centres, strategic placements on high-traffic BC Ferries routes, and prominent exposure at events like the 2024 Vancouver Outdoor Adventure & Travel Show, this is your chance to shine!

Ad sales are now closed.

The SCT Board of Directors has established two standing committees within our bylaws.  The purpose of these Committees is to increase communications between Sunshine Coast Tourism and its stakeholders across the region. Meetings will include:

• SCT staff will share organizational updates regarding:
  • Destination MarketingStrategic planning 
  • Visitor Services 
  • Destination Development
  • Other key projects 
• Committee members will share “on the ground” perspectives about their communities on tourism, the continued development of the tourism industry, identifying successes and challenges, and offering input to SCT related to the above topics and the organization’s mandate. 

Are you interested in participating?  Please see the Committee Terms of Reference for full details and the Sign Up Form for those interested.

Each year we target key travel publications in which we place ads to attract our various target markets. Stakeholders are often invited to join us in these publications through subsidized cooperative advertising. We find we can make a greater impact by working together. Coordinating many Sunshine Coast tourism businesses to advertise together in publications allows for a larger page presence and more draw for the consumer.

We participate in a number of tourism sector publications, including Ahoy BC (boating); BC Ale Trail; BC Farmers Market Trail; Coastal Circle Route; Fishing BC; and Mounting Biking: Sea to Sky Biking. We invite our partners to join us to showcase their own offerings in these sectors, whenever the opportunity exists. If you feel that your business represents one of these sectors and would like more information, please reach out to us at info@sunshinecoastcanada.com for ways your can participate.

There are several ways we can align our efforts and work together and communication is king—if you haven’t already, please sign up for the monthly SCT Industry Newsletter. 

Visit our business-resources page to see ways you can take action and partner with us on our Sustainable Sunshine Coast initiative.

You can also work with us to discuss ideas for packages, promotions, or special offers. Our media/stakeholder relations specialist would be happy to brainstorm and/or assist in making connections within our networks that might be beneficial to your business. 

If you already have a travel deal, promotion, or package please share it with us. Sunshine Coast Tourism stakeholders can log in to the SCT Partner Portal and navigate to "Collateral" and then "Special Offers" to add and/or update a promotion.

Once approved, these special offers show up on our Deals & Packages page, and will also show up on your respective website listing. The Deals & Packages page is promoted on our website in a number of ways (including a "View Special Offers" button in our website footer), in paid ads (including SEM ads), and on our social media channels from time-to-time.

Information Required

• Name of your deal or package
• Offer description
• Link to your website or promotion page
• Redeem start date and end date
• Start date and end date you want the offer to appear on our website
• How to redeem the offer
• Terms and conditions (if there are any)
• Promo picture (ideally 640x400 pixels)

Does your accommodation need reservations/booking software? Sunshine Coast Tourism is partnered with Meridian Reservation Systems to offer their SimpleRez Solutions software to our partners at a discounted rate. SimpleRez Solutions offers an Online Booking Engine, Property Management System, and Channel Manager software solutions for accommodations. Seamless integration with booking platforms such as Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb, and VRBO, SimpleRez offers our Sunshine Coast Tourism members simple and easy management of their accommodation property—from a single vacation home to large hotels. For more details, please contact SimpleRez directly and mention you are a member of Sunshine Coast Tourism.

Sunshine Coast Tourism is active on social media, with a combined consumer audience of over 47,000 followers. We frequently look for opportunities to share engaging content from locals, tourists, businesses, and media about the Sunshine Coast.

The best way to ensure we see your content is to use the hashtag #sunshinecoastbc. Furthermore, by using this hashtag and encouraging your guests to do so as well, it elevates our consumer destination brand. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

We also encourage you to review this content checklist for tips on increasing the chances your content is shared by Sunshine Coast Tourism and other partners, such as Destination BC. Following the safety and responsibility best practice tips is important, as we strive to promote good visitor behaviour. 

• Partner Content Checklist 

Destination BC’s Learning Centre offers access to free resources and tools, featured articles, guides, templates, and videos, open 24/7. Whether you’re looking for market research for a new business plan or looking to up your digital marketing skills, the Learning Centre is full of helpful resources geared toward BC’s tourism industry.

If you have ever picked up a magazine on a plane or stumbled across a travel story online and thought, ‘Wow, I’d like to visit that town, stay in that hotel or try that experience…”, it’s likely that the creator of the story (media) worked with a media relations specialist to get the job done. 

At Sunshine Coast Tourism, our Media Relations specialist works with traditional and non-traditional travel and lifestyle media to raise positive profile and awareness for the region by generating “earned” editorial coverage. This includes print and online publications (digital content), TV and radio, and online influencers who have large or niche audiences on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter & YouTube. User generated content (UGC) created by visitors or local residents on popular social media platforms, blogs and discussion forums can also influence travellers in their vacation planning.   

In all mediums we want to tell stories that showcase the best products, experiences and attractions to encourage people to choose the Sunshine Coast as their vacation destination. 

We do this by drafting storylines/pitches; arranging and hosting media visits; attending  media events; and providing photography or other visual assets. It is a competitive and long-term process, but the ripple effect of a good media relations campaign and the resulting coverage can generate great stories for years to come. 

To build and maintain lasting relationships with the media we need to provide them with fresh story ideas and unique insights to the Sunshine Coast. That is where you, our industry partners come in – it’s your business and your stories that make the Sunshine Coast such a special destination! 

There are several ways to work with the SCT media relations team:  

• Create and/or share your newsworthy story lines (yours or another local business)
• Participate/host a press trip or individual media visit with complimentary services (or media rates) to your: accommodation, food/beverage or experiences
• Develop partnerships/promotions with other industry partners  (we can help make those connections) 

If you are interested in working with the media,  would just like to discuss story ideas or need assistance vetting direct media inquiries, please contact Andrea Wickham-Foxwell at media@sunshinecoastcanada.com