Last 
night, after getting together for a drink in Yaletown with Chris Clarke, a Hospitality
professional and consultant, of Chrispitality Media and Vacant Ready I had the pleasure of joining Mr. Jens Thraenhart for dinner. Since I am not an expert on Vancouver restaurants, I chose one from a few he suggested by checking out the restos' websites first. So we met at the Blue Water Cafe also in Yaletown. We had a delicious dinner of great BC Oysters (the BWC's selection is so extensive I can't remember the specific kinds, but I think I had some Kusshis and Stellar Bays) followed by a fabulous fish dish with scallops in a saffron sauce. I must admit that I have been less than enthusiastic about Vancouver's culinary scene, but this dinner (and another I had last May at Joe Forte's on Robson) are really changing my mind. Splendid food aside, I enjoyed seeing Jens again. We met at a TIAC conference some time ago and have kept in touch via email (and now Facebook). It was a good time with interesting and stimulating conversation about Canada's tourism, Hispanic inbound markets and eTourism Strategy, the main focus of the upcoming conference that Jens is organizing, Canada-e-Connect. The focus of this first ever eTourism conference is about Strategy. It is not about learning tactics to improve an organization's web presence or about SEO (search engine optimization). Canada-e-Connect will be about tourism organizations' overall Strategy (or lack thereof) vis a vis web techonology.
night, after getting together for a drink in Yaletown with Chris Clarke, a Hospitality
professional and consultant, of Chrispitality Media and Vacant Ready I had the pleasure of joining Mr. Jens Thraenhart for dinner. Since I am not an expert on Vancouver restaurants, I chose one from a few he suggested by checking out the restos' websites first. So we met at the Blue Water Cafe also in Yaletown. We had a delicious dinner of great BC Oysters (the BWC's selection is so extensive I can't remember the specific kinds, but I think I had some Kusshis and Stellar Bays) followed by a fabulous fish dish with scallops in a saffron sauce. I must admit that I have been less than enthusiastic about Vancouver's culinary scene, but this dinner (and another I had last May at Joe Forte's on Robson) are really changing my mind. Splendid food aside, I enjoyed seeing Jens again. We met at a TIAC conference some time ago and have kept in touch via email (and now Facebook). It was a good time with interesting and stimulating conversation about Canada's tourism, Hispanic inbound markets and eTourism Strategy, the main focus of the upcoming conference that Jens is organizing, Canada-e-Connect. The focus of this first ever eTourism conference is about Strategy. It is not about learning tactics to improve an organization's web presence or about SEO (search engine optimization). Canada-e-Connect will be about tourism organizations' overall Strategy (or lack thereof) vis a vis web techonology. Strategy is a big word and many people confuse tactics with strategy. Some companies may need a website, but they may not need a Web strategy. DMO's, Hotel companies and large attractions definitely should have one. Strategy is basically how one goes about achieving goals. It may be easier to think of Competitive Strategy as oppose to simple strategy since most organizations (and definitely all destinations) compete for consumers/travellers share of - first attention - and then (hopefully) share of wallet. Many books have been written about business Strategy. I like Michael Porter's, but many others may be just as good. Porter reminds us of the basics, e.g. define how the business (read destination, hotel chain, attraction, etc.) is to compete. Then go about defining objectives and finally arrive at a strategy to achieve them. Start by evaluating generic strategies (from which all others derive), i.e. Differentiation (uniqueness perceived by the customer/traveller), Low Cost Position, Focus (on a particular segment - e.g. honeymooners, families) or Overall Cost Leadership. Translating these concepts to a Web strategy is not simple, thus a conference like Canada-e-Connect is very timely, given the explosion of new Web tools (like social media, blogs, etc.) The other component of the conference is the First Ever Canadian eTourism Awards to recognize excellence in Canadian online marketing and also bring in the consumer to the fold. Read more about it on the awards' site.
It's late so I will leave it at that. Need to get some shut eye because early tomorrow morning I'm going to Vancouver Island to spend a few days with family and to finally visit Tofino.
Cheers,
Jaime
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