Follow Your Heart to the Right Place: Campaign Welcomes Visitors Back to Manitoba

It’s that time of year again when the days get longer, the lake warms up and Travel Manitoba launches its annual Spring and Summer Leisure Campaign!

Recent results from our campaign survey underscore what the data from the marketing return on investment analysis shows: our leisure campaigns are resonating. According to the Probe Research survey in market this past January, our campaigns are encouraging Manitoban’s to explore their province and to recognize tourism’s contributions to the economy.

• More than one half of Manitobans took a staycation in Manitoba within the past year.
• More Manitobans (32 per cent January 2026 vs. 27 per cent July 2024) say the ad campaign nudged them to learn more about trip opportunities.
• 88 per cent of Manitobans say tourism is important to Manitoba’s economy.

The most recent data shows that visitors spend $5 million a day on average, or $1.89 billion a year, contributing $385 million to provincial government revenue. The $1.35 million campaign will run from May to September and is designed to increase awareness and leads to partners driving overnight bookings to continue bolstering growth following the record 2025 wildfires. With activities planned for every stage of the marketing funnel, this campaign seeks to engage outdoor explorers, polar bear and beluga enthusiasts, and travel intenders in Canada and select U.S. markets.

The campaign will reach our primary markets of Manitoba, Ontario, Calgary, Saskatchewan and North Dakota. Our secondary markets include Quebec, St. John’s, Minnesota, Atlanta, Denver and Chicago.

Building on Manitoba’s destination brand, Canada’s Heart is Calling, we’re hopping on the travel search bar trend with the tagline “Follow your heart to the right place”. The campaign focuses on key themes of road trips, stunning stays, Indigenous experiences, urban escapes, northern adventures and festivals and events, with each theme showcased through motivational digital creative and targeted storytelling.

Our marketing approach includes a wide array of tactics to create maximum impact and reach our audiences where they are.

Our digital advertising will include hyper-targeted display, video and streaming, as well as social media and Google Search ads to capture attention and drive traffic throughout the campaign period.

Using connected TV and OTT, our targeted video placements and dynamic video takeovers will help deliver Manitoba’s message to households across North America through ads on streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

We’ll also have 30 second PSA advertisements on network television including channels like CNN, A&E and MSNBC as well as in Cineplex movie theatres. Targeted 30 second ads will also air on Spotify including music and podcast listeners.

New this summer, we’ll host a familiarization (FAM) tour as part of the Culinary Tourism Alliance partnership to build up the reputation of Winnipeg and Manitoba’s growing culinary scenes.

Traditional media partnerships with CTV Morning Live, Bell Media and the Ace Burpee Show, La Liberté, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Filipino Journal, CIAO! and Savour magazines will extend reach across TV, radio and print, especially in key local and regional markets.

We’re teaming up again with the Sea Bears including in-game announcements and advertising in Manitoba and Saskatchewan games as well as collaborating on a featured contest. The Winnipeg Goldeyes bus wrap features our world-class angling opportunities with the tagline: “Big lakes, bigger fish”.

We are also working with local content creators for inspirational content and video.

To complement awareness efforts, we are working with several marketing partners to capture flight and accommodation bookings.

We are joining a high-value co-op campaign with Destination Canada and Expedia to drive bookings through a branded landing page and retargeting ads. Collaborating with Air Canada on a co-branded digital campaign, a dedicated landing page will feature Manitoba and Winnipeg to inspire and track bookings. We’re also working with Sojern to measure hotel and flight bookings attributed to campaign ads across a wide variety of digital platforms used for travel planning. Using this tool helps us track conversions as visitors view our marketing and click to book, allowing us to better understand where our marketing dollars are most effective and demonstrating our return on investment.

As always, we are updating our landing pages, travel deals, itineraries and interactive content to make it easier than ever for visitors to plan their summer adventures. Our 24/7 AI travel assistant, GuideGeek, helps visitors explore options and get trip planning support in real-time and is available on travelmanitoba.com and through WhatsApp.

We’re ready to hit the road with bold, bright and vibrant creative and a diverse media strategy. This year’s spring and summer campaign is designed to meet people where they are—and inspire them to choose Manitoba.

Visit our campaign pages on our consumer website here.