On May 26th the Honourable Stephen Owen, Minister of Western Economic Diversification and Minister of State (Sport) announced an investment of $450 000 in the Vancouver Community College’s BC Centre for Leadership and Innovation in Hospitality. The funds are part of the Western Economic Partnership Agreement, a $50 million joint federal/provincial program supporting economic development in B.C..  The new BC Centre will help train nearly 2000 graduates annually to enter BC hospitality sectors including: hospitality management, culinary arts, baking & pastry arts and Asian culinary arts.  For more information on the program, click here.

Moneris Solutions, service provider of merchant credit card payment processing, recently distributed a number of letters to tourism operators notifying businesses of an increase in their rates of 4%.  COTA organized a conference call last week between industry representatives and Moneris to discuss the issue.  Moneris Solutions admitted to mistakenly sending out the rate increase notification to 1250 businesses of which only 450 will be affected.  Moneris will begin the process of recalling many of these letters and will work with the industry to ensure the same mistake does not occur again.  If you have any questions about your Moneris account, contact 1-866-319-7450 or visit http://www.moneris.com.

Negotiations begin this week between the representatives of 265 unionized workers and the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to reach a new employment contract for airport staff.  Although union members voted 78% in favour to strike if negotiations fail, airport authorities are optimistic that a solution will be reached and note that if discussions should deteriorate, YVR’s past experience in dealing with a strike will help minimize any airport interruptions.

An additional 61 sailings will be added to BC Ferries’ schedule for the Victoria Day long weekend.  Beginning on Thursday, May 19, the increased service will continue through to Tuesday, May 24.  In anticipation of the extra traffic, some of the Ferries will be offering entertainment and activities on selected routes between the mainland and Vancouver Island.  The company recommends travelers on a tight schedule make reservations by visiting www.bcferries.com or by telephone at 1-888-223-3779.

In a media release from May 19, Armstrong Hospitality Group Ltd., owner of Rocky Mountaineer Vacations announced its purchase of Gray Line Sightseeing and Charter Bus Company, subsidiary of Greyhound Canada Transport Company.  The Gray Line group, operating in Victoria, Vancouver and Banff, manages approximately 150 vehicles and 400 full time staff.  The acquisition almost doubles the size of the Rocky Mountaineer Vacations which is already the largest private passenger rail company in North America. To view the media release, click here.
 

BC Ferries’ $1.5 million construction project to improve the Highway 17 approach to Swartz Bay has finished a week ahead of schedule. The construction work allows for better access to the drop-off/pick-up area of the terminal as well as improved traffic organization through the addition of a new highway lane. Other components of the project include new signage, extra lighting, and upgrades to some of the Lochside Bicycle Trail.  For more information, click here.

To find out more information on BC’s transportation projects, join COTA and the BC Ministry of Transportation on May 31th from 10 am – noon as they unveil the projects scheduled and already underway in the six tourism regions of the province. Sign up today for this exclusive online event available FREE only through COTA by email at info@cotabc.com. 

While international travel to BC decreased in February 2005 by 1.9% (year to date), positive indicators from the European and Asian markets show excellent growth in visitors from these two regions.  According to Tourism BC, European entries to the province grew by 8.8% in February 2005 with the UK and Germany accounting for 70% of Europe’s visitors.  Travellers from Asia/Oceania grew 5.9% in February 2005 with the largest increases coming from Taiwan(+20.6%), South Korea(+10.2%) and China (+5.2%).  For more information on BC overnight entries, click here.

The Airline Industry Monitoring Consortium of BC (AIM BC) is pleased with Transport Canada's announcement yesterday that airport rents at Victoria and Vancouver international airports will be dramatically reduced. AIM is grateful to Transport Minister Jean Lapierre, Industry Minister David Emerson, and the BC Federal Liberal Caucus for their work in pushing hard for the change. Allan Baydala, Chair of AIM BC noted that tourists are very price sensitive and have reacted negatively to the rising cost of air travel.  Even in its shrunken form, fees like the Air Travellers Security Charge have reduced short-haul travel by roughly 5 per cent.  A study commissioned by AIM BC figures this decline cost the BC tourism industry over $73 million in spending last year. Air travel is important to tourism because it brings in the high-yield tourist.  Last year, jet-setting overseas tourists rang up 18 per cent of the spending even though they only accounted for seven per cent of the total visitors BC welcomed.  For more information, click here.

With negotiations underway for Canada’s Approved Destination Status with the Chinese government, the forthcoming ease of travel to Canada for Chinese nationals opens up a powerful market to the BC tourism industry.   To optimize this opportunity, BC operators will have to prepare to work with this new market on a number of levels including an appreciation of their unique cultural prospective.   For this reason, the Council of Tourism Associations of BC presents a seminar and workshop: 
“Successfully Interacting, Relating to and Dealing with Prospective and Actual Tourism Customers from Mainland China" (A stepping stone to success in selling to this emerging market for the BC Tourism Industry).

Date:                June 16, 2005
Location:          Room 420 M, Vancouver Community College, 250 W. Pender St, Vancouver
Time:                12:00pm – 4:00pm
Cost:                $52.00 plus GST (COTA members receive 10% discount) *price includes lunch

RSVP by email at info@cotabc.com or call (604) 685-5956.

Dorothy wondered what was over the rainbow, and so does the BC tourism industry.  How will climate change affect our snow pack and river levels?  What markets will become the strongest given the fluctuations in global economies and the Canadian dollar?  What will be the impact of technology on society’s motivation to travel? 

To plan for the future, and to ensure that the industry puts the best practices in place to meet the challenges of the future, COTA has launched one of its most ambitious projects ever.  The Sustainability Initiative, overseen by a Task Force of industry leaders, will establish a policy and action plan for tourism’s triple bottom line: economic, social and environmental sustainability. 

The project started in March of 2005 and will continue on to 2008.  A special workshop with the industry will be hosted in conjunction with the Tourism Industry Conference in Penticton in late February 2006.   Watch for updates on this initiative on the COTA website www.cotabc.com.