VCM
Partners Extranet

Tourism BC Notes on .travel

As a valued partner in the British Columbia tourism industry, Tourism BC is taking the unusual step to ensure that you were aware of the opportunity to register for a new ".travel" domain name for your business. While Tourism BC is not officially connected with this enterprise, they have been working with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) to register provincial-level domains, and believe it could represent an important search tool for consumers seeking out British Columbia tourism experiences.

PLEASE NOTE: Registration for individual tourism businesses becomes available on May 1, 2006. Business operators are encouraged to go to http://travel.travel/ to learn more about .travel.

Tourism BC suggests that interested businesses consider registering as quickly as possible to avoid potential marketplace confusion. While TIAC is acting as the verifying agent for Canadian-based businesses for the registration process, there are many instances where cyber-squatters have found ways to register domain names that closely approximate or mirror existing tourism business identities.

Click here for more general information about .travel

Sunshine Coast and Vancouver, Coast & Mountains Press Conference in Gibsons
May 13, 2006

Sunshine Coast, AUSTRALIA? Our friends Down Under might respond with "Bloody Oath!" which loosely translates to "Yes, there is!" in Canadian. We welcome John Fitzgerald, General Manager of Tourism Sunshine Coast in Australia, to our very own Sunshine Coast at a press conference on May 13 at 10:00 AM in Winegarden Park. John is in BC to explore joint marketing possibilities with Vancouver, Coast & Mountains.

With the tourism sector growing leaps and bounds as we move towards the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, media attention is on the rise. This story of the two Sunshine Coasts is unique in markets that we have in common. Both Australia's Sunshine Coast and the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia share many similarities, and are a natural fit for a joint venture, with other exciting possibilities in the works.

Getting from THEM to YOU: Tour Operators Defined

Tour Operators are an essential partner for the tourism industry – they help to put the Vancouver, Coast & Mountains Region experiences into the hands of the potential visitor. Their in-market (the country they do business in) sales activities and the access to their particular market provide an effective pipeline to the International consumer.

Just to confuse things, the term Tour Operator can actually represent 3 different links between the end Consumer (THEM: the traveler) and the Supplier (YOU)

Click here to clear up the confusion!

Visual Media Update

You may have read in a previous "Visual Media Update" that www.VCMBC.com is getting a makeover! Cosmetic enhancements to the site are happening behind the scenes as I write and I'm looking forward to big unveiling! When might that be, you ask? Well, www.VCMBC.com is a very demanding makeover contestant, and she wants to make sure that everything is exactly right, before we reveal, so stay tuned and watch for an announcement very soon. In the meantime, take a look at the site stats for the first 4 months of the year.

Click for Site Statistics