Position Title: Industry Relations Manager – Durham Region

Position Type: Permanent, Full Time (37.5 hours/week)

Start Date: Immediate

Application Deadline: Friday October 28, 2022, at 5:00pm

Central Counties is the provincially funded not-for-profit dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting tourism stakeholders throughout Durham Region, York Region and the Headwaters Tourism Region. 

We are currently seeking a highly motivated and skilled relationship builder to support tourism-related businesses and organizations (our stakeholders) build their capacity and success. 

Reporting to the Director of Industry Development, the Industry Relations Manager (IR Manager) is responsible for the continual and consistent identification of and engagement with tourism stakeholders and supporters in Durham Region – developing strong community relationships by consistently providing training, networking, marketing and other opportunities that build tourism capacity and grow the tourism economy within their region, supporting the yearly business plan and strategy. In addition, the position is responsible for supporting pan-regional Central Counties projects, programs and initiatives through the management of content development and delivery.

Core Competencies

Relationships: The IR Manager is the day-to-day face of the organization and the “go-to” person for all stakeholders within the assigned region. It is imperative that they have the ability to actively engage stakeholders and community partners, gaining their trust and becoming an invaluable resource for them. They have to be able to listen and understand individual needs and make connections to provide solutions that assist the entire community build tourism capacity.

Initiative: The IR Manager is pulled in many different directions at once. They must be able to prioritize and take initiative to move CCT projects forward. They must be proactive in reaching out to new stakeholders, connecting them with CCT and others within their community. They must have a thorough understanding of what each of the tourism stakeholders has to offer, what level of readiness they are at and how they fit with CCT priorities and other stakeholders within the region.

Communication: The IR Manager is a teacher, sounding-board, networker, presenter and project manager. Their success is dependent on their ability to connect with a variety of stakeholders – from small business to municipal leaders and DMO’s – at a one-on-one level. They should possess the ability to quickly evaluate the communication style that will be most effective to maintain an engaged relationship.

Key Responsibilities

Development: The IR Manager is responsible for, but not limited to the development of individual stakeholders so that they are tourism-ready, developing experiences/itineraries that include tourism-ready stakeholders for featured content in communications programs, development of destinations within the region, development of community understanding that tourism has a positive socio-economic impact and the development of rich content to support pan-regional projects.

Leadership: The IR Manager is the regional tourism expert and project lead on CCT- led initiatives. As such, they must ensure they understand current and future trends within Ontario and beyond and assist stakeholders and community partners to develop and implement programs that will have a positive impact. They must also be able to take charge of all aspects of CCT-led pan-regional projects to ensure success.

Teacher: A key responsibility of the IR Manager is to evaluate a tourism business and/or regional destination to identify the gaps and barriers preventing tourism success. They are then responsible for working with the stakeholder/destination in an advisory role, teaching them best practices from across the region and province to improve their tourism capacity and increase the visitor economy. This includes, but is not limited to market research, market segmentation, product development, customer service, destination development, experience development, and marketing/communication.

Matchmaking: Based on the in-depth knowledge the IR Manager has about the stakeholders in their region and based on market research and trends, they engage and connect stakeholders for the purpose of creating synergies where none existed. This leads to destination development, new experiences and increased capacity.

Requirements

 Minimum five years experience as account manager, project manager or stakeholder relations manager within the tourism industry

 Proven excellence in building and maintaining business relationships

 Proven ability to develop, implement and support tourism products and experiences

 Proven project management ability, with a focus on developing and delivering content including working with photographers/videographers and media

 Proven presentation/facilitation skills, supported by excellent communication skills – written & verbal

 Proven ability to mentor and affect positive change for stakeholders

 Excellent teamwork and engagement skills to motivate tourism capacity building

 Proven self-starter – proactive and action-oriented

 Proven time-management skills

 Post-Secondary degree in tourism, education, business, marketing or communications

Please email resume and cover letter to careers@centralcounties.ca