In this new Forum series, Queen’s prof Ken Wong and Capital C CEO Tony Chapman tackle challenging marketing categories and offer up their Renegade CMO solutions. First up is travel and tourism.

The travel and tourism industry directly drives 3.4% of Canada’s GDP (with capital expenditure, government contribution and tourists’ purchases included, it’s $236 billion – 11% of our GDP) and employs two million people. So when you factor the strong Canadian dollar into a volatile category with high price elasticity, it’s time to challenge conventional thinking:

Ken’s tourism agenda:

Sunset…forest…mountains…moose…families…pan to a neon downtown night…singles…over to an amusement park…oops, better show some festivals…and don’t forget to work in the multicultural cast…cue the inspirational music and finish with some combination of the words ‘experience,’ ‘spirit’ and ‘friendly.’

OK, I’m being a little harsh. After all, tourism is one of the hardest marketing assignments you can get – not because of product, but because of politics. Cities, regions, provinces, nations – everyone has a vested interest and wants full control. Where’s the synergy and leverage? How much gets spent with no integration?

Now factor in the politicians. Does the work go to the best agency? The most local? The most politically aligned? Do we focus on politically correct areas like aboriginal tourism or those with mass appeal? Sure, we have differentiation on aboriginal attractions, but how big is the market? When was the last time you said, ‘Hmmm…I’d like to go somewhere diverse this year?’

Then there are the businesses that serve tourists and pay directly for some of the marketing work. They want their ‘fair share.’ Ever wonder why so many tourism brochures are simply regionally organized mishmashes of businesses/attractions?

Someone has to be in charge, and not just of the promotion. When Frank McKenna was in power in New Brunswick, he did four great things that helped the province ride out the very nervous ’90s.

First, he linked economic development with tourism – because you have to have something to promote. Second, he stopped flaunting attractions and starting selling experiences, like ecotourism, heritage, hunting and fishing. Third, he didn’t sell the same thing everywhere – Quebecers were sold beaches, Europeans got the outdoors, and so on. Finally, he invested in service training for the smaller hospitality businesses, because if you promise an experience, you’d better deliver.

It wasn’t magic, just renegade leadership.

Tony’s travel plan:

Tourism is the lifeblood of any economy. It’s the last bastion for employing an uneducated work force, it generates foreign exchange and it attracts national players, local entrepreneurs and significant capital expenditures.

The consumer decision-making process is based on two key drivers: what it’s going to cost and the anticipated experience.

As a destination, Canada can no longer hide behind a 70-cent dollar. We went from being good value to good and expensive almost overnight, with little hope of cutting expenses. Our only play is to focus on the experience side – what we offer. I agree with Ken that another politically correct tourism campaign will not unlock demand.

We need to zig while other tourism marketers zag. Forget direct mail,

30-second ads and tiny media buys, and focus on the Internet so we can span the globe, targeting different groups that covet different experiences.

Target tweens and teens. They live online, and a recent global study suggests these hormonally driven, often logic-deprived beings now influence 80% of their parents’ purchases, and over 55% of family travel decisions. Let’s investigate how they think about vacations, where they go to source content and how they persuade their parents.

My bet is that segmenting the experiences they’re after will be easy. We’ll have adventure, sports and ecotourists, shopping maniacs, pop culture enthusiasts and ‘first to’ experience nuts. They’ll want to be in the presence of other teens, and look for opportunities to shake the adults.

Make sure we’re fishing where the fish are – Twitter, Facebook and other P2P communities – and back it up with creativity. Offer a teen concierge service to answer questions and parental objections, set up webcams in key destinations and add a teen-to-Canadian-teen connection.

Mom – this year let’s go to Canada.

Ken Wong is a career academic at Queen’s School of Business, and in a feat of time management and airport endurance, wedges consulting gigs between lecturing and speaking engagements. Tony Chapman is an entrepreneur/career brand guru and the founder of Toronto-based indie agency Capital C. Both are inductees to Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends.