Quebec City Looks to Travel Agents and Small Group Market to Increase Economic Impact of Cruise Ship Visits

Quebec City Partners with Groupize.com for Pre and Post Cruise Packages

As one of the top destination for cruise ship passengers discovering the Canada–New England route, Québec City lives up to the expectations of all tourists. Having welcomed 600,000 passengers over the years, the City of Québec, in collaboration with its main regional partners, has carved out an enviable niche among global competitors. Quebec city is now widely recognized as a superb destination and a port of call par excellence for ships such as the Holland America Line Massdam and Eurodam, Princess Cruise line’s Crown Princess, the MSC Poesia, Yacht of Seabourn Seabourn Sojourn and more including Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas cruises. More than 80 000 passengers are expected this upcoming season at the Port of Quebec City.

The Quebec City tourism community has embarked in a three-year effort to maximize the economic impact of cruising and to position itself as a destination port. In order to attract even more cruise ship visitors; Quebec City partners created a multi facet campaign to reach out to travel agents and to facilitate their trip planning. Additionally, the Quebec City partners are focusing on how they can work with the agency community to get their customers to maximize their visit and spend more time in our area and in our hotels, restaurants, and attractions.

“To be successful, we decided to focus on the Small Group Market and chose to work with Groupize.com™ (pronounced “group-eyes”) to compliment our marketing efforts. Groupize.com can help the agents and group leaders in making their plans and therefore has the ability to convert the inquiries we generate”, says Gabriel Savard, Quebec City Tourism General Manager. “In this economy, Return on Investment (ROI) is crucial and we needed more than just a marketing campaign with no trackable call to action.”

Groupize.com is a specialist in tailor-made group tours to Quebec. They can assist agents with groups as small as 10 passengers with private airport transfers, shore excursions and a series of customizable pre and post tours for cruising on the Eastern Seaboard. Agents can visit Groupize.com/cruises.php and can customize their own meaningful experience for their group with themes such as “Must See”, Religious, Family, Gaming, Adventure and more. This gives the agents the power to differentiate their group cruise experience by adding a unique pre and post component.

“The Fall Foliage in the Quebec City area is breathtaking”, says Charles de Gaspe Beaubien, president of Groupize.com. “It would be a shame for first time visitors to Quebec not to spend a few more days and to complete their cruising experience by discovering Quebec City and nearby Charlevoix, l’Ile Aux Coudres, Ste-Anne de Beaupre and the areas they sailed by. We look forward to helping agents create unique pre and post tours and even save money on their transfers, excursions and even on airfare by flying a few days before or after the date of embarkation.” Now Quebec City becomes an alternative for River Summer cruises as well.

group∙ize: pronounciation/group-eyes/, verb;
To use state-of-the-art technology to efficiently search, customize, and create meaningful experiences for group travel online: It’s so easy to custom-ize, individual-ize, organ-ize, optim-ize, familiar-ize, social-ize and maxim-ize your trip with Groupize.com™.


For further information, contact:

Mme Marie-Louise Pineault
Director of Tourism Development
Quebec International
Tel: 418 681-9700, poste 237
[email protected]

Charles de Gaspe Beaubien
President
Groupize.com
Tel: (508) 232-7719
[email protected]