August 15, 2007
In this issue:

Business Review for This Year
More on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
Welcome to VCM!
Noticed us on Global Yet?
Seeking Director of Marketing / Executive Director - Tourism Langley
Responsible Tourists: New Guests on the Block
Board Profile - Rick Sair

Business Review for This Year

As part of our reporting process to Tourism British Columbia, we prepare a business review for the current year. It's rather incomplete because only a few months of the year have passed. Accommodation stats and Visitor Centre reports are helpful, as is anecdotal information.

If you can take a few minutes, please e-mail kevan@vcmbc.com with your experience with business volumes, seasonal differences, markets, trends, consumer attitudes, challenges and opportunities.

Thanks for your input!

More on the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

We are pleased to share with you TIAC’s draft comments for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) pertaining to the implementation of the land and sea portions of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

The NPRM was released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of State on June 20, 2007. The deadline for submissions is Monday, August 27, 2007.

Please read TIAC’s comments and use them as a basis for your own submission. It is very important for our industry to continue to collaboratively express our thoughts and concerns on the WHTI proposed rules and regulations. We encourage you to respond to the U.S. Government’s request for comments and submit your own document by the deadline.

The full NPRM is available at: www.regulations.gov
Search under docket number: USCBP 2007-0061

Please also note that, with the support of industry partners, Intervistas Consulting will also be preparing an economic review of the “Regulatory Analyses” of the NPRM. Once this is completed, we will be including it in our submission and we will also share it with our members.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Lydia McCourt at: lmccourt@tiac.travel or 613-238-6148.

Welcome to VCM!

Even though we are in the middle of the busy summer travel season, we still want to let businesses in our region know about the opportunities which are available when you become a tourism partner or a marketing partner with us.

Recently, an email campaign was sent out to individuals from our database found in the restaurant and accommodation categories. From this campaign, and from other tourism companies registering, we have added 28 new partners.

Here is a list of our new partners!

Mermaid Boat Tours, www.mermaidboattours.com  – Halfmoon Bay
Nathan’s Grill, www.nathansgrill.ca  – Burnaby
Peaches Bed & Breakfast, http://www3.telus.net/Peaches  – Tsawwassen
Tourism Gold Country, www.exploregoldcountry.com  – Cache Creek
Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites Riverport, www.hierichmond.com  – Richmond
La Bodega Restaurante & Tapa-Bar, www.labodegavancouver.com  – Vancouver
Kypriaki Norte Restaurant, www.kypriaki.net  – Whistler
Mr. Pickwick’s Fish and Chips, www.mrpickwicks.bc.ca  – Vancouver
The Cambie, www.thecambie.com  – Vancouver
Malone’s Bar and Grill, www.malones.bc.ca  – Vancouver
White Rock Business Improvement Association, www.stayplaywhiterock.com  – White Rock
Tuscany Restaurant, www.tuscanyrestaurant.ca  – Bowen Island
Sonoma Grill & Lounge, www.sonomagrill.ca  – Langley
Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, www.picachef.com  – Vancouver
Shaughnessy Restaurant, www.shaughnessyrestaurant.com  – Vancouver
Crepe Montagne, www.crepemontagne.com  – Whistler
Bent Rods Guiding & Fishing Co., www.bentrods.ca  – Chilliwack
Capilano Mall, www.capilanomall.com  – North Vancouver
Daniel Le Chocolat Belge, www.danielchocolates.com  – Vancouver
Paton Place Bed and Breakfast, http://patonplacebnb.com  – Ladner
European Bed and Breakfast Pension, www.vancouverpension.com  – North Vancouver
The Tuwanek Hotel, www.tuwanekhotel.com  – Sechelt
Travellers Joy Bed and Breakfast, www.travellersjoybb.com  – Langley
Seabreeze Resort, www.seabreezeresortbc.com  – Powell River
Lockehaven Waterfront Bed and Breakfast, www.lockehaven.ca  – North Vancouver
Whitesails Bed & Breakfast, www.whitesails.bc.ca  – Bowen Island
Phillip and I B&B, www.phillipandi.com  – Roberts Creek
Natural Trekking, www.naturaltrekking.com  – Vancouver

We would like to welcome all of our new partners and we look forward to working with each and every one of you. For information regarding any of our marketing campaigns, please visit our website at http://www.vcmbc.com/page.cfm/5505, or if you have any other questions, please contact Kelly Miller, Partner Service Coordinator at 604-484-5366 or kellym@vmcbc.com.

Noticed us on Global Yet?

Vancouver, Coast & Mountains Tourism and the other five regional Destination Marketing Organizations in British Columbia are working together to promote travel within our province. 

You may have noticed the 30 second spots across your television channel this summer, and these next two weeks are dedicated to our fabulous region.

This campaign will feature 'travel expert' Cheryl MacKinnon (founder of 'Kid Friendly Family Travel' & Tourism BC's media award nominee for outstanding tourism promotion) and Wayne Cox (Global BC weather personality), encouraging the BC resident to experience a getaway in VCM.

The 12-week television and newspaper campaign is designed to promote travel within British Columbia and to generate an excitement for British Columbians to re-discover their province’s touring activities and events. The campaign also offers a contest prize package (one for each region) – and our region has put together the chance to win a trip around the Coast Mountain Circle Tour, through entering on-line. A big thank you to all of our participating partners on this prize package!
 
The Vancouver, Coast & Mountains segment of the campaign launched August 13, with a special focus on three of our featured communities. Cheryl MacKinnon’s spots run on August 15 (this morning!) and also Wednesday, August 22. She is also featuring VCM in her weekly travel column with the Vancouver Sun and Province. And, Wayne Cox will showcase the region in 30-second promotional ads which started August 13.
 
Thank you to all of our participating partners and let’s continue to get the word out about our terrific region! If you have any questions about this campaign or others, please contact Jennifer Rhyne at jennifer@vcmbc.com.

Seeking Director of Marketing / Executive Director - Tourism Langley

Tourism Langley is currently recruiting for a Director of Marketing / Executive Director to lead the establishment, growth and development of the newly founded “Tourism Langley” destination marketing organization. 

Reporting to the Board of Directors of Langley Tourism, the Director of Marketing / Executive Director, Tourism Langley will be responsible for managing and implementing the Langley Tourism Plan, which will provide objectives, strategies, and tactics for the sustainable development of tourism markets and products in the City and Township of Langley. 

To learn more, click here.

Responsible Tourists: New Guests on the Block
By Hazel Heyer

Those who have made a positive contribution to conservation and the economies of local communities while minimizing any negative impacts of tourism will see their efforts rewarded during this year's edition of London's World Travel Market (WTM) via the Responsible Tourism Awards. A new concept in tourism is getting a lot of attention these days. The new fad dubbed “responsible tourism” seems to be taking the travel world by storm.

In fact, in the upcoming World Travel Market (WTM) in London this November, it will be highlighted through the Responsible Tourism Awards, sponsored for the first time by Virgin Holidays. The ceremony celebrates tourism ventures that make a positive contribution to conservation and the economies of local communities while minimizing any negative impacts of tourism.

To underscore the need by world travelers to understand it better, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) even partners with the WTM in spreading the message across the globe. In launching the responsible tourism initiative, the UN specialized agency for tourism aims to stimulate action to promote sustainability and special respect for destination countries. Today’s travel consumers and providers need to recognize that continuing growth in international and domestic tourism has a greater and wider implication on host societies and locales. Tourism stakeholders become aware, start to participate, and look in particular at the commercial responsibility of private operators towards the clients and the respect that tourists owe their hosts at the destinations or communities they visit.

Such a move is considered as a natural extension to UNWTO’s own “World Tourism Day,” which highlights a different aspect of the industry’s contribution to global society, which is now marked officially on the UN calendar.

If it ever gets so popular, will it ever replace the standard, traditional or classical vacations the public has been accustomed to? Say, forget Vegas or the Big Apple? Of course, not,” said Justin Francis, co-founder of the online travel agent Responsibletravel.com, the organizer of the awards. “Now, is it going to be too big to ignore if you want to run a widespread commercially-successful business? No, it will never overtake Vegas or New York. At the moment, many in the tourism industry think there’s not enough who want it for them to be bothered about it. It has changed here in the UK; I think it will change in the US in about two to three years.”

Responsibletravel.com is scheduled to give out awards this November during the WTM. The initiative is getting help from The Times (London), World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine, the magazine of The Royal Geographical Society.

"With the public's help we'll seek out tourism ventures providing the greatest benefit to local communities while reducing local cultural and environmental impacts,” Francis added. “A particular focus will be placed on carbon dioxide reduction initiatives both in destinations and in transportation.”

This will make the impact greater in the future ahead. Responsibletravel.com has entered into serious partnership with Conservation International to enable small community-based tourism (CBT) operators to market and promote destinations to consumers and tours operators and improve market access for community-based tourism-ecotourism enterprises globally. Such tourism both provides local employment and income for education, development and conservation initiatives and gives the tourist a unique opportunity for cultural exchange and interaction with members of a remote tribe or community.

Neel Inamdar, Ecotourism Business advisor for Conservation International (CI), is in the panel of judges at the WTM awards. “Partnership is important not only for the small operators but also for ecotourism in general. More interest from consumers and operators means more ecotourism sites will be created, which will translate into better conservation and biodiversity hotspots.”

Inamdar’s group has been working with many local communities in creating ecotourism sites in order to help them conserve their environments. By their very nature, many of their projects are small-scale and off the beaten track. But the initiative gives local folks global visibility by providing free marketing in Responsibletravel’s database and website. By far, RT and CI seek to connect their projects with appropriate tour operators from the 160 tour operators whose holidays they currently market.

Meanwhile, Travel Foundation director Sue Hurdle, who is also on the jury panel for Responsible Tourism Awards, said there are five key types of tourists on the responsible tourism scale.

“Lazy Lads” are generally males aged 25-34 who spend less than US$600 per week on holiday, are not interested in the environment, actively seek to eat British food on holiday and are not interested in local culture.

“Eco-Aware Women” are females of all ages who spend US$400 to US$800 per week and stay in three-star self-catering properties or half board. They’re concerned about environmental issues, mostly recycling and also use energy efficient light bulbs. Also they like a mixture of local and British food on holiday.

“Affluent Recyclers” are males and females aged 25-54, who spend more than US$1200 per week on holiday, stay in five-star all inclusive or full board hotels. They’re concerned about environmental issues, so they recycle and buy eco-friendly products. On holidays they’re not very concerned with local culture (hence, the all-inclusive guests). Budget Recyclers are the males and females aged 25-54 who spend less than £200 per week and stay in two-star properties. They tend to mix with locals on holiday and eat local food and are less likely to buy eco-friendly goods than the Affluent Recyclers.

The final type, called the “Enthusiastic Environmentalist,” are males and females aged 45+ who spend more than US$800 per week on holiday and stay at B&B in four-star hotels. They really immerse themselves in local culture on holiday. More often, they are very concerned about environmental issues, the type who recycle and compost.

“These segments should be of real interest to travel companies who can use them to help shape their sustainability policies for specific holiday types and customer profiles,” added Hurdle. “For holidays that appeal to the enthusiastic environmentalist, clearly there is more room to introduce overtly sustainable features, while this might have to be more subtle for the non-environmentalist on holiday.”

The Travel Foundation works with the UK outbound travel industry towards making travel sustainable, giving practical help to make their businesses more sustainable and working on specific projects to improve sustainability in overseas destinations.

Source: eTN – eTurbo News: August 13, 2007

Board Profile - Rick Sair

If you don’t already know him, now is the perfect chance to meet Rick Sair! Rick has a passion for the hotel and tourism business, and has the background to prove it. He has been a resident of the lower mainland for over 30 years and he worked in the family business that operated from 1969-1989. Since 1974, Rick has been involved in several hotels in the lower mainland, leading to his current position as the general manager of two Best Western properties. He opened the Best Western Uptown in Vancouver, September 2000 and later the Best Western King George Inn & Suites in Surrey, March 2002. 

From 2001-2005, Rick sat on the Mt. Pleasant Business Improvement Association Board, holding the position of Vice President for over three years and President for half a year. He has served on the Executive of the Surrey Tourism & Convention Association since 2003, more recently in the role of President. Of course we are lucky to have snagged his fabulous expertise as well, as Rick serves as the Secretary of Vancouver, Coast & Mountains board.

In his spare time, Rick loves spending time with his wife and two sons. He enjoys all kinds of sports including skiing and golfing, and is also an avid hockey fan (hmmm… good thing face paint substitutes as a great mask – we might all be wondering if that next crazed Canuck fan on the nightly news is indeed Rick Sair). To contact Rick, email bwkinggeorgeinn@telus.net or visit www.bestwesternsurrey.com.