Did you miss the Summit 2022 session, “How DMOs Help Shape a Destination's Story Through Stakeholder Engagement?” Don’t worry — here’s a throwback.

Watch as Scott Beck, president and CEO at Destination Toronto, describes the inspiration and process behind To Go Toronto, a website created with Simpleview content management system (CMS) and Marketplace to help local restaurants in Toronto stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Problem: 

  • No one knew which restaurants were open for takeout and delivery services 
  • Local restaurants reported that there was nowhere customers could go for accurate, real-time information on where they could eat 

Solution: 

  • Destination Toronto collaborated with Simpleview to build the To Go Toronto website 
  • To Go Toronto was built in Marketplace in order to capture data and store it in Simpleview CRM for later use 

Results: 

  • The destination marketing organization (DMO) reported an increase in its listed restaurant partners from 275 to 3,300 in about four weeks
  • A database of 3,300 restaurants is now housed in the CRM so the DMO can lean into becoming more of a partner in the local culinary community
  • When someone searches for restaurants in Toronto, Destination Toronto now appears much higher in the organic search results than ever before

“Stakeholder engagement is really simple — it is all about ensuring alignment with the products and services our destination has chosen to develop,” said Beck. “[ToGo Toronto] was a real lesson for us in the importance of looking to the community and hearing what they needed.”