Destination Québec cité: a project that showcases our very best
For the last two editions, our creative agency Maison 1608 has had the pleasure of working on the Destination Québec cite Magazine, a bilingual tool created for Québec City’s tourism office. They took on the idea creation, content management, graphic design grid and page layout, while our presses printed the 100,000 copies of the 116-page publication.
This magazine—the only one distributed in the more than 14,000 hotel rooms belonging to the Association hôtelière de la région de Québec—is intended to be a practical tool for tourists, although locals also like to take a peek for inspiration!
We talked more about it with Karine Bilodeau, Communication Advisor for Destination Québec cité and the person who entrusted us with this major project.
Why did you decide to use a magazine to promote Québec City?
We’ve been wanting to create a magazine for quite a while, something really attractive that would give people ideas once they arrived at their destination. We already knew that tourists who come here use our website as a main reference. It’s very comprehensive. But with a magazine like this that they can find right in their hotel room, people can experience more spontaneous and custom discoveries based on the season. They take the time to look through it, and some will take it home as a souvenir and maybe even share it with someone else!
It’s a practical guide, a quick reference, and a complement to the website with exclusive content that includes gems to discover suggested by locals.
What type of feedback have you gotten on the magazine?
It’s only been positive. Tourists like that it’s filled with content not ads. Locals like the excellent quality and they’re proud of it!
They disappear like hotcakes from the display racks! We have to fill the ones at the airport every week! They’re extremely popular. And we’re also getting requests to distribute it elsewhere in the province, like at the tourist bureaus in Montréal. We’re working on that.
And since the hotels can have customized coverage with an insert in the magazine, they’re very happy to give it to their guests. They feel part of it, and we love that.
What are the advantages of working with Maison 1608 and Solisco?
There are lots! Their excellent service, unmatched professionalism, and vast experience in magazine creation… We want excellent quality work and we want to keep the ball rolling. We like how the teams offer advice and sometimes challenge us. Both for content and printing, they encourage us to try new things. Their outside view of the project is incredibly valuable.
I have complete trust in them.
Let’s talk environment. How does the Destination Québec cité Magazine fit into your move toward sustainable tourism?
Québec cité wants to do what it can to support responsible tourism and that comes through in the paper used for the magazine. We chose to use Rolland Enviro 100 paper, which is 100% Quebec made, 100% recycled and top quality.
Yes, it’s more expensive, but it wouldn’t have made sense to choose any other paper. Every action counts in encouraging sustainable tourism. By opting for recycled paper made locally, we greatly reduce our environmental impact. We print 200,000 copies per year, so this choice makes a real difference.
What do you have planned for 2024?
Our beautiful print magazine is here to stay! We’re already working with Maison 1608 and Solisco on the spring-summer edition. And the 2024 winter edition will soon be underway. We’re also thinking about how to improve our coming editions, how we can do more and do it better.
We’re on it all year round!
“It’s an honour for Solisco to print this incredibly attractive and relevant magazine for Québec cité. By requiring strict environmental criteria and following the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) certification program, Destination Québec cité is proving that paper is the future in tourism while still being environmentally responsible and attentive.”