Delve deeper.
Explore more.
Appreciate more.
Dive into the authentic.
Stay longer.
Slip off the beaten track.
The new 'Stay a While' campaign of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association is urging visitors to the region to do just that.
Tourists that stay longer also spend more money.
And that's important because tourism is one of the biggest economic engines in the region with 4,500 tourism businesses and 3.5 million visitors a year spending $2 billion.
That puts tourism on par with the area's four other economic generators -- high tech, construction-real estate, retail-trade and agriculture-wine.
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The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association is promoting 'Stay a While' through its extensive advertising, social media and industry networks to locals, travellers and tourism professionals like tour operators, travel agents and industry associations.
'Stay a While' is inviting and vague enough that it could meanspend an extra hour somewhere or add on a few days or a week to a vacation.
In the 'Stay a While' section of the association's website, https://www.
1. Road trip adventures
2. Food and beverage delights
3. Arts and culture exploration
4. Soft adventures' awe-inspiring moments
5. Thrilling adventures
6. Indigenous culture
The overwhelming advantage of the Thompson Okanagan as a tourist destination is its incredible diversity.
The 'Stay a While' campaign pays tribute to that with verbiage such as: "A region that is filled with diverse climates of tall mountains, rolling hills, raging rivers, peaceful lakes, a dry desert and a temperate rainforest."
In the region, there are 120 communities from small villages to bigger cities like Kelowna, Kamloops, Penticton and Vernon, 33 Indigenous communities, and the four cornerstones of tourism -- beaches and lakes, food and wine and beer, golf and skiing.
And there are so many niches in between to create the perfect family vacation, couples' or friends' getaway, corporate trip or conference.
We're talking distinctive hotels and resorts, spas and wellness activities, rock climbing, zip lining, picking your own fruit, cooking classes, art galleries, horseback riding, camping, mountain biking and city cycling.
'Stay a While' messaging also promises: "Here, you will find year-round activities that are suitable for thrill seekers, leisurely travellers and everyone in between."
The 'Stay a While' promise also ties in nicely with the 7 Generations Pledge recognizing that the Thompson Okanagan is on the traditional unceded territory of three Interior Salish nations -- Syilx, Nlaka'pamux and Secewpemc.
The pledge "invite(s) you to explore the region for the first time, 100th time, or as a local, while respecting the beautiful natural spaces and communities calling it home."
For tourism purposes, the Thompson Okanagan is broken down into nine regions -- Central Okanagan, South Okanagan, Similkameen Valley, North Okanagan, South Thompson, North Thompson, Gold Country, Shuswap and Boundary Country.
