Introducing the Tourism Digital Assistance Program

Connecting Tourism with Tech!

Digital Nova Scotia and Tourism Nova Scotia are partnering on the Tourism Digital Assistance Program, a creative new initiative that provides funding for qualified digital service providers to work with tourism operators to help enhance or develop effective digital marketing tools. Tourism Nova Scotia has provided funding for the program to help tourism operators solve digital challenges so that they can improve online visibility, and collectively contribute to the brand of Nova Scotia’s tourism industry.It’s an opportunity for the tech sector to connect with the tourism industry in our province. Digital marketing is a critical tool for tourism operators to attract potential customers. According to TrekkSoft’s Travel Trends Report 2019, 82% of all travel bookings in 2018 were made online via a mobile app or website, without human interaction. “The Tourism Digital Assistance Program will help tourism businesses improve their digital marketing so they are visible to potential customers and can provide the services customers expect, like online booking. Working with Digital Nova Scotia, we are giving tourism businesses the support they need to more effectively market their businesses online and become more competitive,” says Darlene MacDonald, Director of Sector Development, Tourism Nova Scotia.“We’re very excited to be partnering with Tourism Nova Scotia to help bring tech to our province’s tourism operators,” says Wayne Sumarah, CEO of Digital Nova Scotia. “The new Tourism Digital Assistance program is an excellent opportunity for tourism operators throughout Nova Scotia to build and enhance their online presence, and we look forward to working with Tourism Nova Scotia to make this program a tremendous success.”

How The Program Works

Digital service providers who would like to participate in the program will submit an Expression of Interest to Digital Nova Scotia that describes the types of services they can provide. Digital Nova Scotia will review these submissions and maintain a list of prequalified service providers. Eligible services include:

• Web Design & Development
• Search Engine Optimization
• Ecommerce
• Online Booking
• Digital Marketing Strategy
• Social Media Strategy
• Content Creation & Copywriting

[fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="30" border_size="" icon="" icon_size="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center"][/fusion_separator] [fusion_button link="https://digitalnovascotia.com/portfolio-items/tdap-service-provider/" text_transform="" title="" target="_self" link_attributes="" alignment="left" modal="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" color="default" button_gradient_top_color="" button_gradient_bottom_color="" button_gradient_top_color_hover="" button_gradient_bottom_color_hover="" accent_color="" accent_hover_color="" type="" bevel_color="" border_width="" border_radius="" border_color="" border_hover_color="" size="xlarge" stretch="default" icon="" icon_position="left" icon_divider="no" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset=""]SUBMIT AN EOI[/fusion_button] [fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="50" border_size="" icon="" icon_size="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center"][/fusion_separator] Eligible tourism operators will submit their requests for digital assistance, and a selection committee from Tourism Nova Scotia will forward approved requests to the team at Digital Nova Scotia. Next, Digital Nova Scotia will match digital service providers to tourism operators based on industry experience, areas of expertise, and the required scope of work. If multiple digital service providers are an equally good fit for a single project, the tourism operator will select which provider to use. Digital Service Providers can be either members or non-members of Digital Nova Scotia.Approved tourism operators will be eligible for 100% of the cost of services up to a maximum value of $5,000. Depending on the needs of each tourism operator, the budget may be divided between multiple digital service providers. When Digital Nova Scotia selects a suitable digital service provider for a project, that provider will receive specific details about the project’s scope and deliverables, and will be asked to provide a quote for those services.

Key Dates

The Expression of Interest form is open from Monday June 22 to Wednesday July 8.For questions about this program please contact Hannah Edgar at dap@digitalnovascotia.com. [fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="30" border_size="" icon="" icon_size="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center"][/fusion_separator] [fusion_button link="https://digitalnovascotia.com/portfolio-items/tdap-service-provider/" text_transform="" title="" target="_self" link_attributes="" alignment="left" modal="" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" color="default" button_gradient_top_color="" button_gradient_bottom_color="" button_gradient_top_color_hover="" button_gradient_bottom_color_hover="" accent_color="" accent_hover_color="" type="" bevel_color="" border_width="" border_radius="" border_color="" border_hover_color="" size="xlarge" stretch="default" icon="" icon_position="left" icon_divider="no" animation_type="" animation_direction="left" animation_speed="0.3" animation_offset=""]SUBMIT AN EOI[/fusion_button] [fusion_separator style_type="none" hide_on_mobile="small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility" class="" id="" sep_color="" top_margin="" bottom_margin="50" border_size="" icon="" icon_size="" icon_circle="" icon_circle_color="" width="" alignment="center"][/fusion_separator]

About Tourism Nova Scotia

Tourism Nova Scotia (TNS) is a private sector-led provincial Crown corporation with a mandate to grow Nova Scotia’s tourism industry and maximize the value of tourism to Nova Scotia’s economy. TNS develops and implements long-term strategies designed to drive sustainable tourism in the province that deliver growth and profitability to the tourism sector, provide economic benefit to the province, and are consistent with the province’s strategic priorities.

About Digital Nova Scotia

Digital Nova Scotia (DNS) is the industry association for Nova Scotia’s $2.5 billion ICT and digital technologies sector. We are a membership-driven organization representing over 160 members, including startups, SMEs, multinational corporations, government, post-secondary institutions, and more. DNS strives to connect the digital community and close the gaps in its ecosystem while leveraging all of its strengths. DNS supports the province’s tech sector through skills development programs, capacity building, industry events, strong partnerships and the promotion of IT opportunities as the industry continues to grow, evolve and thrive.