In this issue:

Start planning your marketing activities!
Canada rolling up welcome mat by cancelling Visitor Rebate Program
2007 BC Tourism Industry Awards
Trade Report
Royal Roads University - Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management
Managing your Reputation Online

Start planning your marketing activities!

Vancouver, Coast & Mountains is in the final stages of completing the Marketing Plan for FY 2008 (April 2007 - March 2008). Watch for exciting new opportunities in e-marketing, marketing to women, niche market consumer shows, and how you can get that media and travel trade attention you want.

The Marketing Plan will be presented at the Road Shows that are taking place over the next few weeks around the Region and will be available online soon!

Click here for when the Road Show will be in your area.

Canada rolling up welcome mat by cancelling visitor rebate program, coalition tells Ottawa

Eliminating the GST/HST Visitor Rebate Program will put Canadian jobs, economic growth and tax revenues at risk. That’s the message the federal government got today from the VRP (Visitor Rebate Program) Coalition, a broad-based business group formed to fight the planned measure, announced last month as part of a wide-ranging series of spending cuts.

“Canada’s competitiveness as a tourism destination is at stake,” said Randy Williams, President and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), which is leading the multi-stakeholder initiative. “While other countries are going out of their way to attract visitors, Canada is essentially rolling up the welcome mat. All of our major competitors with taxes comparable to the GST/HST have visitor rebate programs and a number of them have, in fact, been expanding those programs and making them easier to access.”

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2007 BC Tourism Industry Awards - Nominate an Outstanding Tourism Business Today

Tourism British Columbia and the Council of Tourism Associations (COTA) are calling for nominations for the 2007 Tourism Industry Awards, which will take place on February 22, 2007 at the Victoria Conference Centre.

Do you know of a tourism business practicing industry excellence? Be sure to nominate them for one of the nine categories, including the new Foresight Sustainability Award, which recognizes excellence in running a sustainable tourism operation defined in a social/cultural, economic and environmental context:

• Tourism Industry Leader of the Year, sponsored by Tourism BC
• Best Tourism Marketing Campaign, sponsored by The Vancouver Sun
• Environmentally Responsible Tourism, sponsored by British Columbia Magazine
• Tourism Media, sponsored by Delta Hotels
• NEW! Foresight Sustainability, sponsored by COTA
• SuperHost® Customer Service, sponsored by SuperHost
• Technology in Tourism, sponsored by Telus
• Employees First, sponsored by go2 - the resource for people in Tourism
• Sport Tourism Community Legacy, sponsored by 2010 Legacies Now

Find award nomination forms and criteria on Tourism BC's corporate website at www.tourismbc.com.

Nomination Deadline: November 24, 2006

Trade Report

TRADE SHOWS

Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA) Annual Marketplace - Boston, MA - Sept 8 -12

On your behalf, Vancouver, Coast & Mountains attended the annual Student & Youth Travel Marketplace, held in Boston, MA. Close to 1,000 attendees, a 25% increase over 2005, capped another year of remarkable growth for the association, which continues to gain widening recognition in the industry.

The Student & Youth Travel Association is a non-profit, professional trade association formed in 1997. Members of SYTA include tour operators, attractions, convention & visitor bureaus, state/provincial offices of tourism, hotels/hostels, restaurants, theaters, transportation and other organizations involved in student and youth travel in North America. Current active tour operator members of SYTA accounted for almost $1.55 billion US in student and youth travel, providing trips for over 2.2 million participants each year. For more information, visit SYTA on-line at www.syta.org.

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Royal Roads University - Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management

Royal Roads University is proud to announce the establishment of the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management. The new Faculty will be home to undergraduate and graduate degree programs, executive education, and continuing professional development activities that focus on the needs of tourism professionals seeking entry to, or already employed in, the international travel and hospitality fields.

The Faculty will serve as one of Canada's "gateways" to the emerging Pacific Rim tourism and hotel sectors, preparing Canadians and international learners for successful careers in these fields in countries throughout the region and the world. Graduates will meet, exceed, and set new global standards of excellence in service and business acumen.

The first Bachelor's program was launched in October and on November 12 their MA in International Hotel Management will begin -- a new degree on the Canadian tourism landscape. As there are still some spaces left, Royal Roads is offering a bursary to students interested in enrolling in the program this fall. As an incentive to the first cohort, they are offering a $10,000 bursary for students who enrol for the Nov 2006 program, which means they can obtain their 2-year masters degree for $10,525. Combine this with a flexible learning model that allows people to continue working while they study, and it is a great opportunity!

Information on the University and discussions on individual suitability can be done by contacting the program manager, Deborah Wickins, directly @ 250.391.2600 ext 4769 (deborah.wickins@royalroads.ca) , as well as by visiting their website.

Click here to download an information sheet about the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management.

Managing your On-line Reputation

Remember how important your “rep” was in high school? Well, it’s equally important in today’s on-line world! According to Forrester Research, 79% of US travelers are online, 69% of leisure travel is researched online and 85% of consumers trust recommendations from other consumers. With popular travel websites such as www.tripadvisor.com and www.travelpod.com, it has become much easier for online consumers to share their experiences, both positive and negative, at your property/attraction/tour company. You need to know what consumers are saying about your business and then you need to respond quickly and positively.

But where to begin?

Be found. Do you have an online reputation if consumers can’t find you? Use search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) to ensure that consumers can find your site. Build online content that attracts visitors and search engines. Take advantage of tools like TripAdvisor.com, which allows you to write and edit Inside Pages or GoLists about different destinations and businesses. Wikipedia or Wikitravel are other sites that allow users to write and edit content about any topic.

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