November 23, 2006
In this issue:

It’s Official – Passports Needed By Jan 23, 2007 For Us Bound Air Travel
Interested in Business from Travel Agents?
Partners call for Community Podiums & Flat Sheets Opportunities in Spring 2007 Consumer Shows!
Media Report
Are You Export Ready? Interested in the Australian Market?
Tourism BC Shines at Canadian Marketing Awards
Submit your festival or event to www.vcmbc.com for free!

It’s Official – Passports Needed By Jan 23, 2007 For Us Bound Air Travel

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Department of State announced today that passports will be necessary for anyone entering the US (including returning US citizens, beginning January 23, 2007.

The travel document requirements make up the Departments of State and Homeland Security’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). This change in travel document requirements is the result of recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission, which Congress subsequently passed into law in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. WHTI requires all citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted document that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality to enter or re enter the United States from within the Western Hemisphere.

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Interested in business from Travel Agents?

Then Great Getaways is a MUST program for you. Now in its fourth year, it has become a highly demanded brochure by travel agents all over North America.

The distribution system is unique... brochures are only sent to travel agents that ask for them! Working with our partners, CONTAC Travel Marketing in Canada and Distinctive Mailing Services in the U.S., these two companies continuously create awareness of the brochure and invite agents to order them. In the U.S. alone, 938 travel agents use this brochure to sell product in our region.

Jason Knibbs, Sales Manager, Travel Trade, attends the Addison Travel Shows from Alberta to Quebec, speaking directly to agents about the wide range of commissionable product in this brochure. Booked directly with you, Great Getaways helps you to build your relationships with travel agents.

For more information on one of our most trackable programs, please speak with Kelly Phillips at 604-484-5112 or kelly@vcmbc.com.

Partners call for Community Podiums & Flat Sheets Opportunities in Spring 2007 Consumer Shows!

The unveiling of these new consumer show concepts created a lot of excitement at Vancouver, Coast & Mountains' recent road shows and other related meetings. Therefore, instead of waiting for the next fiscal year to start these projects, we will be offering them to partners for the upcoming Spring 2007 shows.

Because Show season is fast approaching, there will be a VERY short turn around time on these projects. So keep your eyes peeled in the next week for opportunities to participate in our Community Podiums or Flat Sheet Distributions. With the quickly approaching season, we will need all materials by Christmas. But hey, "All Things are Possible" in Vancouver, Coast & Mountains Tourism Region!

For more immediate information, please contact Allison Longshore via email at allison@vcmbc.com

Media Report

Vancouver, Coast & Mountains was represented for the first time this year at the SATW Annual Convention (Society of American Travel Writers), which occurred in October in Santiago, Chile. To date, it was the most well attended SATW Convention when held at an international location. The convention was designed to encourage networking with media at every opportunity and also featured a busy 2.5 hour open marketplace. Without prescheduled appointments, Vancouver, Coast & Mountains met with 19 journalists during this busy session, in addition to all of the contacts made at events throughout the convention. The journalists reached by attending the SATW Convention are primarily from the United States, as well as a small amount from Canada. If you have any questions about SATW, or about how you may get your tourism products noticed at media shows, please contact Jennifer Rhyne at 604-637-9046 or jennifer@vcmbc.com.

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Are You Export Ready? Interested in the Australian Market?
Take Advantage of Independent Familizations for Canada Specialists

What is the Objective of the Independent Fam Programme?
The independent fam programme provides Canada Specialist agents with the opportunity to access competitive rates for Canadian product when traveling to Canada on a personal holiday basis.

Obtaining group allocations on aircraft to operate fam trips is becoming more and more difficult out of the Australian market. By offering the Canada Specialists the option of utilizing these special rates it allows them to take their own fam trip with a partner or friend and experience Canada as their clients would. With Canada being such a popular destination and strong seller out of the Australian market, many agents are keen to travel there themselves so they can increase their knowledge of how to effectively sell the destination.

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Tourism BC Shines at Canadian Marketing Awards

The most prestigious and longest-running annual marketing awards competition in Canada was held Friday, with Tourism BC once again holding top spot among national leaders by winning two Gold awards for the success of their 2006 BC Escapes® campaign.

Delivering strong results since 1997, the BC Escapes campaign achieved record levels of success this year, delivering approximately $100 million in tourism revenues to the province - an 18:1 return on investment. In addition, over 82,000 inquiries for information were received, which is important in building a foundation for future business. With recent challenges in attracting the US market to British Columbia, the 2006 program portrayed a unique offering of cities, mountains and water that make a getaway to BC the perfect escape.

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Submit your festival or event to vcmbc.com for free!

Do you have the festival of the season coming up? Is your community known for your fabulous annual corn-popping contest and festival? Make sure that visitors to www.vcmbc.com know about it by submitting the details on-line. Visit www.vcmbc.com/page.cfm/9819 and fill out the form to submit all your event details.