October 7, 2010

Our World is Chaos!
2010 BC Tourism Industry Conference - Tourism: The Next Generation
Tourism Summit 2010: New Approach, New Format, New iPad...
It's a Wrap!
Travel Bug Bites Again
Calling all Wild Salmon People
Office Space for Rent
Board of Directors Profiles

Our world is chaos!
A message from Kevan J. Ridgway, President & CEO

I bet you thought that was a negative comment! Chaos brings infinite possibilities, and your Vancouver, Coast & Mountains team is fully engaged in exploring a myriad of opportunities in our world of regional destination marketing. We hope that those opportunities will serve to make us stronger in our resolution to bring you marketing campaigns that add value to your business and/or community.

There are three guiding principles that I call our "motherhood and apple pie" statements:

1. Increase visitation
2. Extend the length of stay of existing visitors
3. Maximize visitor expenditures

Each opportunity will be measured against its relevance in impacting one or more of these principles.

If social media has taught us anything so far, it's about changing the way we market our destination. We can't just rely on telling stories about our destination; we have to give consumers enough information to allow them to tell the stories. We can't make assumptions about our prospective visitors (i.e. traditional research); we have to make associations to test our theories. We can't talk to our prospective visitors; we have to create engagement and listen to them. It is an exciting new world of marketing, and while it requires us to let go of some control, it seems to indicate that our new strategies reach beyond just delivering a message, we actually add value to people’s lives.

To figure out how to effectively respond to change, we'll make some adjustments to our staff's roles and responsibilities, and develop a new strategic plan (there must be some new words for this now!) before our next Board meeting on October 27th. We'll then be guided into our FY2012 marketing plan, and our financial plan.

If you have any thoughts on our chaos, e-mail me at kevan@vcmbc.com, or give me a ring at 604-638-6930.

2010 BC Tourism Industry Conference
Tourism: The Next Generation
October 20 – 22 – Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, BC

T he 2010 Tourism Industry Conference will present dynamic speakers and important sessions to help industry strategize for longterm success. We will look to new faces, new tools, new ideas and new partnerships to ensure the on-going competitiveness of our destination.
Hosted by the Council of Tourism Associations, the 2010 Tourism Industry Conference is the best opportunity for British Columbia’s tourism business operators, marketers, academics and government stakeholders to be involved in shaping our future.

Register on-line today

Click here to download a schedule and more information about keynote speakers.

Tourism Summit 2010: New Approach, New Format, New iPad...

The Early-Bird registration may have ended, but it isn't too late to benefit from early registration for the Tourism Industry Association of Canada's (TIAC) Tourism Summit.

Register between October 4th and October 13th and you will be automatically entered in a draw to win a 16GB iPad Wi-Fi valued at approximately $549!

Don't miss out on the opportunity to bring home the year's hottest item, just in time for the holidays!

What is The Tourism Summit?
Hosted by The Tourism Industry Association of Canada, The Tourism Summit is Canada's only national and cross-sectoral tourism conference. The Summit brings together industry faces from every province and territory to focus on the trends and developments impacting on the sector.

The Tourism Summit will take place November 1-3, 2010 at the Hilton Lac Leamy in Gatineau, Québec.

Why should you attend?
The Summit provides an unmatched opportunity to get engaged about matters impacting upon our sector:

• Engage in the dialogue with our many relevant and knowledgeable presenters and panelists;
• Meet and network with your tourism industry colleagues;
• Celebrate our industry's achievementsat the Hall of Fame luncheon and the National Awards for Tourism Excellence dinner.

Click here for program highlights and more information.

It’s a wrap!

"Flavours of the West Coast" completed filming 13 episodes throughout BC and included the Vancouver, Coast & Mountains’ communities of Powell River, Lund, Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs and Abbotsford. The series producers were very pleased with the level of support they were given and had this to say, “I have to tell you that we are SO pleased with the way it has all gone; it was truly inspiring meeting so many passionate people doing the right thing in food production around the province and highlighting our fantastic chefs and produce.”

"Flavours of the West Coast" is a series about food airing on CHEK TV (BC) and CHCH (Ontario), Sundays at 6:30 pm. Episodes will also be available for viewing online each week after they've been aired.

Vancouver, Coast & Mountains episode schedule:

1. 31st October: Upper Sunshine Coast (Powell River / Lund)
2. 28th November: Fraser Valley

A big thank you to everyone involved for coordinating this in Vancouver, Coast & Mountains!

Travel Bug Bites Again
From the Wall Street Journal

Americans' renewed urge to roam is snapping back the travel industry much faster than the rest of the economy.

Spending on airplane seats, hotel rooms and rental cars, among other tourism and travel expenses, jumped 3% at an inflation-adjusted annual rate in the second quarter, the government said Thursday, while the economy as a whole grew only 1.6%.

Other indicators, including price increases at some hotels and airlines and even gate receipts at national parks—which rose 1.2% this summer from a year ago—suggest that travel is recovering from its deep slump.

Much of the increase is fueled by businesses, which reduced employee travel during the darkest days of the recession and are now once again deploying those road warriors.

According to Smith Travel Research, which tracks hotel data, hotel occupancy overall rose 5% for the year through August compared to last year. Room rates, however, slipped 1% because many hotels remain hesitant to raise prices. Still, for the last four months in a row average room rates have risen over the same period of 2009, Smith Travel said, "You see demand come in first and that gives the courage to the hotel owners to raise their rate," said Stephen P. Holmes, chief executive of Wyndham Worldwide Corp., a hospitality company that includes hotel franchises and vacation rentals. Even so, he still believes "the recovery will be gradual."

Travel and tourism spending remains far below its pre-recession peak but the latest report from the Commerce Department suggests the industry is a bright spot for an economy still burdened by high unemployment. Employment in the sector, such as hotel maids and airline pilots, rose 2.2% in the second quarter, marking the first increase after eight straight periods of decline.

Read More

Calling all Wild Salmon People!

In April and May of 2010 there was an epic walk down Vancouver Island called "The Get Out Migration" to call attention to the negative impacts created by open-net fish farms on the coast of British Columbia.

This October, the journey continues as thousands take to the water and the land in the "Paddle for Wild Salmon". The "Salmon Are Sacred" Group, headed by Alexandra Morton is paddling down the Fraser River from Hope. It will be joined by others and finish in Vancouver on October 24th & 25th.

More details can be found online at http://www.salmonaresacred.org/paddle-wild-salmon or by emailing salmonaresacred@gmail.com.

Office Space for Rent

There is some space available in the Vancouver, Coast & Mountains' office through to our lease end at December 31, 2011. We do have an option to renew for a further five years. Individual offices for one or two persons are within our area, and can be locked. There is also the possibility of two adjacent offices with storage space that could be separated from our own space. Subject to landlord approval.

Please contact Kevan if interested: kevan@vcmbc.com or 604-638-6930

Board of Directors Profiles

Over the next few issues of eNews we will be profiling your representatives on Vancouver, Coast & Mountains' Board of Directors. Each issue will profile two directors and we invite you to contact them with any ideas or constructive criticism for our regional programs and services.

Jack Pope, Sunshine Coast
Jack is recently retired from an extensive career as an educator, including teaching and management at the elementary and secondary levels, and curriculum development at the district and provincial levels.

Retirement has offered the time and opportunity to pursue an active interest in tourism. He is the past-president of the Sunshine Coast Bed & Breakfast and Cottage Owners Association, one of the largest B&B organizations in western Canada, and was a founding director of Sunshine Coast Tourism.

Jack and his wife Sheila live on the Sunshine Coast, where they operate Coracle Cove Waterfront B&B Suite and Beach House in Sechelt.

Jack has been a Director on the Vancouver, Coast & Mountains' Board for 3 years.

Please feel free to contact Jack at coraclecove@dccnet.com.

Eagle Walz, Sunshine Coast
R.E. Walz is married with two children. He is a founding member of the Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society (PRPAWS) and the architect of the 180-km long Sunshine Coast Trail. He has been that society’s president since its inception in 1992. Through PRPAWS he was also instrumental in the establishment of three provincial parks in the Powell River area.

Eagle is currently volunteering as project manager for the building of a string of shelters and huts along the length of the Sunshine Coast Trail.

Author of three books of poetry, and a Sliammon First Nation legend, he has also written three books of trail descriptions that introduce the visitor to the vast recreational backcountry that surrounds Powell River.

Before becoming involved in tourism, Eagle taught elementary school for 33 years. Since retiring Eagle has carried on enhancing the Sunshine Coast Trail, and promoting tourism in the region. Besides being a director on the board of Vancouver, Coast & Mountains, he sits on the board of Sunshine Coast Tourism, and is vice-president of Tourism Powell River.

Eagle has been a Director on the Vancouver, Coast & Mountains Board for 1 year.

Please feel free to contact Eagle at walz@shaw.ca.