Tourism Kingston honoured with three Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence

Kingston, Ontario – Last night, Tourism Kingston received three awards at the prestigious Ontario Tourism Awards of Excellence, hosted by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO). Kingston’s destination management and marketing organization was honoured for its work over the past year in three categories: Tourism Digital Marketing, Culinary Tourism Leadership, and Culinary Tourism Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

“This is a great honour to be recognized by TIAO, Ontario’s voice of tourism,” says Megan Knott, CEO of Tourism Kingston. “I’m so proud of our staff, board, and our local partners to be recognized for both for their hard work and their passion to promote Kingston and all it has to offer.” 

The Tourism Digital Marketing Award was awarded for Tourism Kingston’s Social Media & Influencer Marketing, which utilized stories, posts, Instagram reels, TikTok videos, and hosted media visits to connect both travellers and local residents with Kingston activities. 

Chief Marketing Officer Alison Migneault says, “We target our key regional travel markets – Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal – as well as local residents – with media tailored for different audiences, from long-form articles featuring local makers to listicles about great places to eat, all to provide that authentic Kingston experience.”   

 
Tourism Kingston’s focus on authenticity in all of its marketing extends to the people featured in all its photo and video campaigns. They are all local Kingstonians, recruited by casting calls on social media. 

The Culinary Tourism Leadership Award was given to Tourism Kingston in recognition of its work in growing culinary tourism in Kingston. In 2023, Tourism Kingston executed a number of strategies from Kingston’s Culinary Tourism Strategy. These included growing key partnerships to support destination offerings such as Kingstonlicious, Open Farms, Kingston Food Tours, Historic Inns, Kingston’s breweries, and hotel packaging. Kingstonlicious is a multi-week culinary festival created by Tourism Kingston to showcase local restaurants and culinary events in the winter months. 

The showcase event of Kingstonlicious 2023 received the TIAO Award for Culinary Tourism Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “Call to Action 83: What does reconciliation taste like?” brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous chefs and beverage purveyors for a culinary collaboration that invited guests to learn about Indigenous foodways, linking the food and drink consumed with its history, heritage, culture, and geography. “It was such an honour for us to collaborate with members of the community,” says Knott, “from local Kanyen’kehá:ka artists and leaders to Objibwe and Odawa chefs who came to Kingston to be part of this amazing culinary event, which furthered our efforts to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and indigeneity. ” The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 83 is for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects and produce works that contribute to reconciliation. Tourism Kingston worked with local consultants Gold & Fife and Inclusive Voices, along with partners at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, to present the event.