Once a year the British Columbia Hospitality Foundation (BCHF) shines up the silverware, lays out the best napkins and invites everyone to the 'Dish n' Dazzle' fundraiser.
When the provincial government reincarnated its Buy BC program under the Buy Local name, it put $100,000 into a VQA program aimed at persuading consumers to try British Columbia-made wines.
Green Tourism Canada has just re-launched the Green Tourism Business Scheme to certify, and teach better, more sustainable ways of running tourism businesses
The World Tourism Organization Network says China is the world's largest single source of international tourist dollars and other emerging markets are growing fast.
Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia took home a gold medal for its 'Our Story. Your Experience.' marketing campaign at the WorldMediaFestival Tourism Awards in Hamburg, Germany.
The New York-based media company, SkiftSocial, recently posted a list of eight ways destination marketers can engage consumers with their Facebook pages.
With the growing realization that more visitors to Canada are coming from new markets and emerging economies like Mexico, Brazil, China and India, the federal government is moving to reduce visa wait times.
A report by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC makes clear how much money this recreation is putting into the general economy of British Columbia and the tourism sector
The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) reported very favourable impressions from its attendance at the giant ITB Berlin travel trade show and the second season of a television show it is sponsoring in China.
Those interested in learning, or having staff learn, about wine should attend the 'Wine Fundamentals I' program at the Mission Hill Wine Academy in West Kelowna, which starts on April 8
The Foundation of the Economuseum of Quebec was set up 20 years ago to promote small, artisanal quality businesses focused on quality and authenticity and now the model has reached British Columbia.
Every company that invests in the marketing of their business wants to know how well the agency has done. Recently HelloBC released numbers for its website from the fourth quarter and for all of 2012.
The board members for the recently created Destination BC, which will be in charge of tourism marketing for the province, were announced at the end of January.
The provincial government of British Columbia, along with the BC Arts Council, announced a three-part strategy worth $6.25 million to bolster various art and creative activities through a new entity, BC Creative Futures.
The province has named February 11 to 17 as 'Restaurant Week' to celebrate the economic contributions that 12,000 restaurants make to our economy and way of life in the province.
Focusing on the online market, ClickZ's Marko Muellner has picked apart American marketing reports for what they see as the areas of strongest growth for advertising in the coming year.
Many business owners sometimes wonder whether the pay they provide to their employees is reasonable, too little or perhaps too much. Until January 20 owners can participate in the 2012 Canadian Tourism Sector Compensation Study.
The Canadian Tourism Commission reported healthy numbers of visitors to Canada in October of last year; although there was a 0.2% drop overall. Expenditures by those visitors increased by 4% to $2.5 billion over the same period in 2011.
The government of British Columbia announced more funding for arts programs. Aimed at non-profit groups, cultural organizations and First Nations, any group has until February 15, 2013, to apply.
At the recent Terra Madre Slow Food Conference held in Turin, Italy, three locals were on hand to represent the Thompson-Okanagan, which is the newest chapter in Slow Food Canada.
Overall Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) figures for August 2012 show mostly positive trends when compared to August 2011. Putting the figures against those from the same period a year earlier, international overnight trips to Canada were up 7.4% to 2,446,097.
The provincial government announced the creation of a new Crown corporation, Destination BC, to work with tourism stakeholders to market B.C. tourism opportunities. Destination BC was created on November 2, 2012, and will take full responsibility for operations as of the new fiscal year, April 1, 2013.
After a few years of back-and-forth British Columbia and business will be returning to the PST/GST tax system. The official date for the implementation of the PST is April 1, 2013, but businesses can register for the PST starting January 2, 2013.
B.C.'s new Tourism Labour Market Strategy – released June 4 by go2, B.C.'s human resource organization for tourism and hospitality – sets out a plan to recruit, train and retain the workers needed to keep pace with the large growth projected for the industry. Nearly half of the industry's projected 101,000 job opening…
Camping in B.C.'s provincial parks appear to be an increasingly popular vacation option, with early reservations soaring this year for camping reservations in the parks.
Months of co-operative work by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) and Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D) have paved the way for a new push to attract more international medical conferences, meetings and educational events to Canada.
LinkBC General Manager Terry Hood travelled to New Zealand and Australia earlier this year to exchange information and promote new partnerships which aim to build and share tourism resource materials.
The Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) says the federal government's intention to pursue free trade with Japan is an excellent move for the industry.
The major tourism and hospitality associations in the province have announced they will merge their usual two separate annual conferences into one 'super-conference' for B.C.'s tourism industry this year.
Maxime Bernier, federal Minister of State for Small Business & Tourism, used his speech to the awards luncheon at the 20th annual Hotel Association of Canada Conference to note that for the first time ever, tourism industry representatives met recently with officials from the 15 federal government departments that have…
Sport tourism spending in Canada rose to $3.6 billion in 2010 – an increase of 8.8 per cent from 2008, according to a report prepared by Statistics Canada for the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA).
The Tourism Industry Association of BC (TIABC) has applauded the provincial government's 2012-13 budget, unveiled by Finance Minister Kevin Falcon in the Legislature on Feb. 21.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched a new Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) marketing campaign in China Feb. 8 during his latest trade mission to that country. The campaign highlights Western Canada, the 100-year-old Calgary Stampede, and CTC's Signature Experiences Collection of outstanding Canadian travel destinat…
The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has teamed up with Food Day Canada to launch a new Culinary Journalism Award that will recognize media content published in the United States that captures the depth and excellence of Canada's culinary experiences.
The Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) says it likes the new border agreement reached in Washington in December by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama.
In late 2011 it was announced that, for the second year in a row, Canada has been named the No.1 most powerful country brand in the world by FutureBrand, a leading international brand and design consultancy.
The Aboriginal Tourism Association of B.C. (AtBC) released its new five-year plan on Jan. 18, setting out new priorities designed to spark growth in Aboriginal tourism through the 2012-17 period.
The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has just finished running a month-long television marketing campaign on more than 20 TV channels in the U.K. – its first TV campaign in that market in eight years.
The B.C. government announced recently that representatives from China's Sichuan Airlines and the Vancouver Airport Authority have signed a letter of intent with the aim of starting a new three-flights-per-week service to Vancouver in 2012. The move will boost tourism and new jobs, according to B.C. Premier Christy Cla…
The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) has applauded the federal government's Oct. 1 announcement that the bilateral air transport agreement between Canada and Japan has been expanded.
In recent weeks, with the opening of a new session of the provincial legislature and Premier Christy Clark's unveiling of "Canada Starts Here – The B.C. Jobs Plan", the provincial focus has been on creating investment, jobs and economic growth. But tourism has not been left out of the mix.
B.C.'s HR body for the tourism industry, go2, has announced the appointment of a new staff member to head up its leading-edge Certificate of Recognition (COR) health and safety program.
Canada's two national tourism organizations are welcoming the new Federal Tourism Strategy and say they will work hard within the new collaborative plan to expand tourism across the country.
Canada's Minister of State for Small Business & Tourism, Maxime Bernier, officially unveiled the new Federal Tourism Strategy in Ottawa on Oct. 6, saying its aim is to help position Canada's tourism sector for long-term growth and global competitiveness.
TELUS and our team members are passionate about giving back to the communities where we live, work and serve. Since 2000, TELUS, our team members and retirees have proudly contributed $211 million to charitable organizations and volunteered more than 3.7 million hours of service in local communities, including many in…
After the success of its first major consumer campaign in China, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is now targetting the fully independent traveller (FIT) segment of the Chinese travel market, a fast-developing segment that CTC believes is rich in future travel potential.
The B.C. travel industry's human resources association – go2 – says a just-released study into pay and benefits for 31 tourism and hospitality occupations across Canada should help tourism employers in the province remain competitive.
