Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2016 tourism advertising campaign kicked off in January with the release of a new television ad for their mega-successful Find Yourself campaign. Entitled Crayons, the ad featured colourful place names from various regions of the province, such as Rose Blanche and Flower’s Cove, set to a Kira Willey song played by Catherine Allen of Fortunate Ones.

It was announced this week that it is a finalist for the Tourism Industry Association of Canada’s Marketing Campaign of the Year Award.  The ad ran for 15 weeks, and was also featured on Air Canada flights, with derivations appearing in national newspapers, digital videos, and online ads.

According to Christopher Mitchelmore, Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development, the idea was to showcase our colourful place names, houses, landscapes and nature. “Newfoundland and Labrador tourism’s advertising campaign is one of the most recognizable in the country and it continues to achieve great success.”

He’s right about that.  To date, the province’s ongoing Find Yourself campaign has won 245 regional, national, and international awards. And in 2015, annual visitation to www.NewfoundlandandLabrador.com reached  a whopping 2.1 million visits. Tourism in Newfoundland and Labrador generates over $1.1 billion in visitor spending each year.

Since 2012, NL has welcomed over two million non-resident visitors, and locals have made nearly 15 million trips throughout the province. Employment in the tourism industry represents approximately 8% of total jobs in the province, making the industry a significant part of building and sustaining the regional economy.

The 2016 Canadian Tourism Awards will be presented on November 30 during the annual gala awards dinner being held at the 2016 Tourism Congress in Ottawa.