Not sure how to categorize your business? Having trouble understanding the difference between a Listing, an Event or an Offer? Did you know that an Offer does not require a discount?
Each ATIS content type is aimed at supporting travellers in their vacation planning process, whether it’s helping to develop excitement and discovery through listings, providing urgency on timing through events or to encourage travellers to book by providing offers.
Use the below guidelines and examples to better understand how each of the content types serve to help increase your exposure on ATIS.
LISTINGS
Listings represent the core experiences or aspects that make up your business. Are you an accommodation with a stand-alone restaurant onsite? Do you operate an arts facility with an onsite museum? Each of these are core experiences that will need their own listing in ATIS.
Examples of businesses that would be eligible for multiple listings include:
- An accommodation with an onsite restaurant. The restaurant operates under a different name than the hotel and attracts locals and visitors. This business would be eligible for two listings under the following categories: Accommodation and Food & Entertainment.An attraction that also operates an attached RV Park. This business would be eligible for two listings under the following categories: Accommodation (RV Park) and Attraction.
Each listing is allowed only one category and subtype in ATIS. As a general rule, if the experience has a unique name and is a standalone experience (you can visit one without the other) will want to create a listing for each in ATIS.
EVENTS
Events can be a stand-alone experience, such as a festival or event that happens outside of an established attraction (Airdrie Festival of Lights, Calgary Stampede, Edmonton Folk Festival), or as a special event that takes place at an existing tourism attraction for the purpose of attracting visitation during an established timeframe (Fall Festival at the Jungle Farm, Ukrainian Day at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village).
OFFERS
An ATIS Offer is an experience offered by a tourism property with a specified price.
An offer does not need to be discounted and packaging with other components is not required, although encouraged.
A regular price or family rate is an acceptable offer, but offers that include an experiential element or unique visitor experience are typically most effective.
Offers help to increase your businesses exposure as they are featured in additional areas of travelalberta.com and may be featured in Travel Alberta’s marketing tactics.
Typical Offers include:
- A ranch stay is offering a Long Table Supper one weekend in October
- A Guided Tour company adds an offer for each of their scheduled tours
- An accommodation is partnering with a local spa to create a girls weekend or couples package.
- An established Attraction is having a local brewery come in and offer a brew master evening (additional cost outside of a regular admission price)
OFFERS VS EVENTS
Events differ from Offers in that typically events are spectator based where visitors attend to watch rather than participant. A good example of an event would be a concert or festival with outside entertainment.
If the event or activity requires the visitor to be a participant, where the activity would cease to exist without visitor involvement, it would typically be an Offer. A good example of this would be a brewery tour, long table supper or most other offers that center on an activity.
Here are a few helpful tips to distinguish between Events over Offers:
- If your event is free, it would be classified as an Event and not an Offer. It is not a requirement that an event be free, but if it is free, it is always an Event.
- If the experience is included your regular admission price, it is typically an Event and not an Offer. For example, if you feature special activities for a holiday, such as Canada Day, or a festival that does not require special ticket purchase, this would be classified as an Event. If the experience requires a ticket purchase outside of your regular admission, this may be better suited as an Offer.
- Special price or discounted rates should be submitted as an Offer. To note, you can create a discount offer for an event if you are trying to push sales to compensate for low attendance or drum up advanced sales. A 2-for-1 admission coupon would be an example of this.
- Activities that are offered throughout the year as part of your regular programming are typically Offers.
- Activities with a strong festival atmosphere and varied programming or experiences that are more spectator in nature are typically Events.
