Hi Jamie--Interesting lobbying approach! However from what I have experienced you are wasting your time. The Tourism Industry will continue to suffer as long as Government pretends to market tourism for the Province, as opposed to admitting they (all parties) use the Tourism Ministry as a propaganda and public relations vehicle for themselves. The Ontario Winter Bubble is a perfect example. One must question and challenge the extent of Government involvement in the Tourism Industry. Was tourism even mentioned in the recent Federal budget??
Cheers, Ron
Thursday 28 February 2008
Wednesday 27 February 2008
Is your Member of the Legislative Assembly aware of the Tourism Industry? Meeting with Donna Cansfield
Ms. Donna Cansfield, MLA for my riding in Ontario, former Minister of Energy, former Minister of Transportation and current Minister of Natural Resources was kind enough to see me in her constituency offices to talk Tourism. My objective in approaching Ms. Cansfield was simply to try to make her a champion for tourism in Ontario. I wanted to make her aware that, in my case at least, as one of her constituents, my business depends on a strong Ontario tourism industry. Furthermore, given the impact of globalization, high energy prices, the American economy and other factors, on Ontario's manufacturing sector, I mentioned that Tourism can be a very bright light in the province's economic future. I suggested that the government should consider a long term plan (ten to twenty years) to make Tourism a pillar of the provincial economy. -
In order to maximize the potential of tourism in Ontario I mentioned that the province should increase the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership's budget to double what it is today. Currently, The OTMP's budget hovers around $43 million, but the economic impact of tourism in our province is over $21 Billion. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the sector generates over $2.3 Billion in provincial taxes (figures from 2004). Clearly there is upside potential in the sector. Ms. Cansfield was very attentive and interested in my observations. I think it is important to reach out to our elected representatives as individual business people or tourism workers in order to put a human face to those whose living actually depends on tourism as oppose to just leaving it to the associations and dmo's to lobby for the sector.
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Have you thought about approaching your MLA or MP to talk tourism? Don't just wait for your tourism association to do something, you can help by making your representatives aware of how important support for tourism is to you.
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Jaime Horwitz MBA
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Sunday 24 February 2008
Creativity is the Secret - My submission to the upcoming new Tips from the T-List (travel bloggers) update
My friend Jens Thraenhart of the Tourism Inernet Marketing Blog and fellow travel blogger of the T-List (a virtual network of travel and tourism bloggers and consultants) asked me to submit an article offering my Tourism Marketing Secret. Out of the many submissions, the best will be presented at the PhoCusWright Bloggers Summit at ITB in Berlin (March 5 to 9).
Here's the article I submitted (this version is slightly different and includes some images and a video):
Creativity and Tourism
In my opinion and in my experience Creativity is THE marketing secret. Wikipedia defines creativity as “Creativity (or "creativeness") is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.” My former marketing professor, now one of my Facebook friends, and author of the book DigiMarketing: The Essential guide to New Media & Digital Marketing once defined creativity as (I’m paraphrasing) “putting things together that normally don’t go together”. A contemporary example of this concept is the mobile phone that combines music and telephony. The iPod products are examples of creativity at its best in the area of consumer products.
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While both definitions are helpful, I define Creativity as “a new way of looking at something (a product, a destination, a piece of music) and presenting it or expressing it in an unexpected and/or innovative way. At the core of creativity is the verb to create from the latin root crescere meaning to grow. Therefore Creativity is also the process, the intellectual tool, by which something new is created.” A painter like Picasso, perhaps the most creative artist in history, could look at bicycle's handlebars and a saddle and turn them into a bull’s head. An artist like Warhol looked at consumer products like Campbell’s cans of soup and turned them into (very valuable) works of art.
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When it comes to tourism, clearly creativity matters and it will matter more in the future as competition for travelers’ share of time and wallet intensifies. The most successful tourism businesses of the future will be those that are the most creative. Richard Florida became famous for his belief that the most successful cities in the world are and will be the creative cities. From a tourism perspective, it is also the most creative cities the ones that attract the most tourists. Whether it’s New York, Bilbao, Barcelona, Paris or Las Vegas (creativity does not necessarily mean ‘high-brow’) when it comes to urban experiences, the more creative a city
, the more visitors it will attract. (Toronto is trying hard. I love the Ontario College of Ar & Design's "building in the air". The ROM Crystal gallery is a good step forward as is the Gehry designed AGO renovation even though the new AGO will not be nearly as bold and creative as The Guggenheim in Bilbao or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in La. Creative cities attract creative residents and creativity thus retro feeds itself. Many hoteliers and restaurateurs have tapped the creativity in themselves or in others they hire to better compete in the marketplace. A restaurant that only focuses on food these days is at a disadvantage. Joso’s restaurant in Toronto, for example, has not only thrived because of it’s marvelous Mediterranean cuisine, but also because it’s a unique art gallery within the restaurnant (or vice versa).
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Another great example of creativity at its best in tourism is the Museum 21C Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. This property is a hotel within a museum (or a museum within a hotel). Comfortable, clean rooms with great showers and “designer” toiletries are the minimum standard for today’s hotels (most mid and high-end ones at any rate). After that what makes a hotel different? The 21C goes way beyond the usual: iPods with a wide variety of music for guests' listening pleasure, award winning design and décor, poster art, 42" HDTV flat screen televisions, WiFi, 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets imported from Italy crowning the exquisite bedding, silver mint julep cups, gourmet coffee makers, mini-bar refrigerators, Malin + Goetz bath amenities, and nightly turn down and Concierge services.
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What makes a hotel more attractive to prospective guests and, more importantly, what makes guests want to return to that hotel is the key success factor and creativity is the solution. The 21C Hotel does a fantastic job at wowing guests with its art collections and exhibits from living artists. The amenities are first class and the service is welcoming, professional and friendly.
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But don’t think that in order to be creative you need the resources of a 21C or a W Hotel. I know a small family owned suites hotel in Morelia, Mexico, that came up with a creative and artistic way to differentiate itself from the competition. Every apartment suite (and these are simple, clean, spacious apartments) in Suites Galería is decorated in the style of a famous Mexican painter. This simple yet creative idea gives the apartments a flavour and ambience that makes them more attractive than other accommodations in their class.
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Then there’s the sno limo, a Canadian innovation for non-skiers. Someone had the creative
idea to come up with a comfortable sleigh/lounge-chair on skis that allows non-skiers to enjoy the slopes and magnificent vistas of Canadian ski resorts (available also in Japan).
Here's the article I submitted (this version is slightly different and includes some images and a video):
Creativity and Tourism
In my opinion and in my experience Creativity is THE marketing secret. Wikipedia defines creativity as “Creativity (or "creativeness") is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.” My former marketing professor, now one of my Facebook friends, and author of the book DigiMarketing: The Essential guide to New Media & Digital Marketing once defined creativity as (I’m paraphrasing) “putting things together that normally don’t go together”. A contemporary example of this concept is the mobile phone that combines music and telephony. The iPod products are examples of creativity at its best in the area of consumer products.
-
While both definitions are helpful, I define Creativity as “a new way of looking at something (a product, a destination, a piece of music) and presenting it or expressing it in an unexpected and/or innovative way. At the core of creativity is the verb to create from the latin root crescere meaning to grow. Therefore Creativity is also the process, the intellectual tool, by which something new is created.” A painter like Picasso, perhaps the most creative artist in history, could look at bicycle's handlebars and a saddle and turn them into a bull’s head. An artist like Warhol looked at consumer products like Campbell’s cans of soup and turned them into (very valuable) works of art.
-
When it comes to tourism, clearly creativity matters and it will matter more in the future as competition for travelers’ share of time and wallet intensifies. The most successful tourism businesses of the future will be those that are the most creative. Richard Florida became famous for his belief that the most successful cities in the world are and will be the creative cities. From a tourism perspective, it is also the most creative cities the ones that attract the most tourists. Whether it’s New York, Bilbao, Barcelona, Paris or Las Vegas (creativity does not necessarily mean ‘high-brow’) when it comes to urban experiences, the more creative a city
, the more visitors it will attract. (Toronto is trying hard. I love the Ontario College of Ar & Design's "building in the air". The ROM Crystal gallery is a good step forward as is the Gehry designed AGO renovation even though the new AGO will not be nearly as bold and creative as The Guggenheim in Bilbao or the Walt Disney Concert Hall in La. Creative cities attract creative residents and creativity thus retro feeds itself. Many hoteliers and restaurateurs have tapped the creativity in themselves or in others they hire to better compete in the marketplace. A restaurant that only focuses on food these days is at a disadvantage. Joso’s restaurant in Toronto, for example, has not only thrived because of it’s marvelous Mediterranean cuisine, but also because it’s a unique art gallery within the restaurnant (or vice versa).-
Another great example of creativity at its best in tourism is the Museum 21C Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. This property is a hotel within a museum (or a museum within a hotel). Comfortable, clean rooms with great showers and “designer” toiletries are the minimum standard for today’s hotels (most mid and high-end ones at any rate). After that what makes a hotel different? The 21C goes way beyond the usual: iPods with a wide variety of music for guests' listening pleasure, award winning design and décor, poster art, 42" HDTV flat screen televisions, WiFi, 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets imported from Italy crowning the exquisite bedding, silver mint julep cups, gourmet coffee makers, mini-bar refrigerators, Malin + Goetz bath amenities, and nightly turn down and Concierge services.
-
What makes a hotel more attractive to prospective guests and, more importantly, what makes guests want to return to that hotel is the key success factor and creativity is the solution. The 21C Hotel does a fantastic job at wowing guests with its art collections and exhibits from living artists. The amenities are first class and the service is welcoming, professional and friendly.
-
But don’t think that in order to be creative you need the resources of a 21C or a W Hotel. I know a small family owned suites hotel in Morelia, Mexico, that came up with a creative and artistic way to differentiate itself from the competition. Every apartment suite (and these are simple, clean, spacious apartments) in Suites Galería is decorated in the style of a famous Mexican painter. This simple yet creative idea gives the apartments a flavour and ambience that makes them more attractive than other accommodations in their class.
-
Then there’s the sno limo, a Canadian innovation for non-skiers. Someone had the creative
idea to come up with a comfortable sleigh/lounge-chair on skis that allows non-skiers to enjoy the slopes and magnificent vistas of Canadian ski resorts (available also in Japan).-
In my business (Canada en Español) I rely on creativity to attract more visitors to my websites and those of my customers/clients/partners in order to generate business. Constrained by limited resources I cannot afford to hire expensive designers and/or software programmers. I need to rely on creative content, creative SEO techniques as well as affordable SEM on occasion. By far the most important element of the above is creative content. This can take many forms. As Steve Wright (of Radar DDB), correctly pointed out during his presentation at the first Canada-e-Connect conference (Nov 2007), people are not thinking about travel all the time. They are going about their lives.
In my business (Canada en Español) I rely on creativity to attract more visitors to my websites and those of my customers/clients/partners in order to generate business. Constrained by limited resources I cannot afford to hire expensive designers and/or software programmers. I need to rely on creative content, creative SEO techniques as well as affordable SEM on occasion. By far the most important element of the above is creative content. This can take many forms. As Steve Wright (of Radar DDB), correctly pointed out during his presentation at the first Canada-e-Connect conference (Nov 2007), people are not thinking about travel all the time. They are going about their lives.
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My websites’ focus is Canada in Spanish (www.canadaenespanol.ca), but not just travel to and within Canada. I know that my audience is interested in many aspects of the country, thus articles about Canadian hockey or Canadian politics or Canadian business attract Hispanic readers who may not necessarily be thinking about a vacation in Canada at the time, but once they’re on my site they may navigate to the tourism section. Another example, of creativity as I use it is to feature non-stereotypical “tourist attractions” in my content. For example, in my recently launched community Canadamigos.com (www.canadamigos.com) I featured a video about me and my wife buying food for New Year’s Eve dinner at Toronto’s St Lawrence market. I knew this would be of interest because I know my audience (potential travelers to Canada) and their culture. Showing them the market and relating what I saw to their culture or country (e.g. the fantastic Spanish cheeses one can find there) is a creative way of introducing them to Toronto as oppose to doing a video of the CN Tower.
Here's the video and a couple of Canadamigos comments:
Encuentra más videos como este en Canadamigos Network
Encuentra más videos como este en Canadamigos Network
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“Sabes? En el 2007 viaje de vacaciones a Canada...y es una làstima que en los recorridos no incluyan cosas como lo que muestras en este video! Me parece que seria atractivo que asi fuera...Gracias por mostrarlo” (“You know? In 2007 I went on vacaction to Canada…and it is too bad that the city tours don’t include things like these you show on your video! I think it would be good if they did…thanks for showing this”)
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“Excelente video Jaime, en unas dos semanas estare por alla de vacaciones y me asegurare de visitar este mercado, el poder apreciar tu video me provoca un deseo irresistible de conocerlo. Gracias.” (“Excellent video Jaime, in a couple of weeks I will be there for vacation and I will make sure to visit this market. Being able to appreciate your video gives me an incredible urge to see it”)
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In conclusion, my “secret” marketing tip is to use creativity whenever possible and in accordance to your tourism business objectives. Creativity calls for taking risks. If you are not willing to take risks you’re risking making your business (destination) vulnerable to the competition and putting it in danger of sinking into a sea of mediocrity whose bottom is called oblivion. This applies equally to small businesses, DMO’s and governments. Whether it’s a hotel like the 21C, a DMO like Australian tourism (“Where the bloody hell are you?”) or a city like Bilbao (Guggenheim Museum) the leaders in tourism will be those who make the best use of creativity.
Jaime Horwitz MBA
“Sabes? En el 2007 viaje de vacaciones a Canada...y es una làstima que en los recorridos no incluyan cosas como lo que muestras en este video! Me parece que seria atractivo que asi fuera...Gracias por mostrarlo” (“You know? In 2007 I went on vacaction to Canada…and it is too bad that the city tours don’t include things like these you show on your video! I think it would be good if they did…thanks for showing this”)
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“Excelente video Jaime, en unas dos semanas estare por alla de vacaciones y me asegurare de visitar este mercado, el poder apreciar tu video me provoca un deseo irresistible de conocerlo. Gracias.” (“Excellent video Jaime, in a couple of weeks I will be there for vacation and I will make sure to visit this market. Being able to appreciate your video gives me an incredible urge to see it”)
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In conclusion, my “secret” marketing tip is to use creativity whenever possible and in accordance to your tourism business objectives. Creativity calls for taking risks. If you are not willing to take risks you’re risking making your business (destination) vulnerable to the competition and putting it in danger of sinking into a sea of mediocrity whose bottom is called oblivion. This applies equally to small businesses, DMO’s and governments. Whether it’s a hotel like the 21C, a DMO like Australian tourism (“Where the bloody hell are you?”) or a city like Bilbao (Guggenheim Museum) the leaders in tourism will be those who make the best use of creativity.
Jaime Horwitz MBA
Thursday 21 February 2008
How to get exposure for your tourism business or destination using RSS feeds.
Few days ago I explained how you can stay informed using RSS feeds. Now I want to write about how you can get more exposure (and ultimately more customers/guests/clients) for your Canadian Tourism business using RSS feeds.
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First you need content to RSS, so start blogging. It does not have to be all time consuming to blog about your business and destination. Say you have a Bed & Breakfast. Launch your blog and anywhere from one to five times a week (as much as you can but at least once a week) post an entry on your blog. You can use platforms like Blogger or Wordpress that are very easy to use. Add pictures or videos if you want. What do you blog about? It does not have to be about your specific offering all the time. Be creative, perhaps a brief story about the goings on in your town or a comment on something you read in the paper related to your business. It does not always need to be a "selling" proposition. I always like to use Terri's Bay of Fundy's blog as a good example. Terri always has little bits of interesting or fun information. Visit her blog for ideas as to what to do with yours. Another blog that you may look at as an example is the Romany Rest B&B blog from PEI. Once you have a blog make sure to have RSS links. Visit Feedburner to learn about adding the RSS links to your blog.
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IMPORTANT: If you cannot maintain the blog with fresh content at least once a week or once every ten days, in my opinion, you should not have a blog. Once people find your blog, if they like it, they will return to it and/or subscribe via an RSS feed. If content is not fresh and current you will lose your potential customer because your blog will reflect on your offline business or attraction in some measure.
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DMO's in Canada are still behind in the area of Blogs and Web 2.0 initiatives. There may be many reasons for this, but it is better not to have blogs if the content is not looked after and the blog is not maintained. For example, Niagara Falls Tourism launched a great redesign of their site a few months ago that includes video and a blog. However as of this writing the last entry on that blog is from August 29, 2007! It would be better to take down the blog until they have someone adding content on a regular basis. Perhaps the DMO's should consider creating a new position, that of resident blogger, who could be in-house or off-site, full-time or part-time /freelance bloggers.
Even though most destination marketing organizations do not have blogs, there are two DMOs Canada that are doing a great job in the area of Web 2.0 such as blogs and podcasts. Hello BC has implemented a blog area where travellers themselves can blog. Tourism BC's Hello BC website makes sure that the blog has content continuously by also having members of their staff contribute to the blog. There may not necessarily be new content every day, but there is enough continuity that one may want to check it out every now and then. It of course allows people to subsribe to an RSS feed making it easier to know when new content has been added. Hello BC's blog is more of a compendium where many people may add an entry as a Traveller's tip as oppose to what you see in most blogs where the point of view is usually from one of a few persons, but it works (similar to posts or comments one might see on TripAdvisor).
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The other DMO making good use of Web 2.0 tools is Tourism Montreal with its Play-Montreal Podcasts blog to which one can subscribe via RSS. The podcasts are audio pieces that complement the written blog entries. A visitor may choose to read or listen or both. It's quite informative. My only comment is that the tone of the blog and the podcasts is a bit to serious (and institutional). But nonetheless, it is a great step by the folks of Tourism Montreal to get closer to potential visitors to that fabulous city.
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The next step in your Bloggin, RSS Feed, Web 2.0 marketing path would be to participate in social networks. But that's a topic for a future post. Stay tuned (subscribe to this blog's RSS feed to stay in touch).
Cheers, Jaime
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Monday 18 February 2008
Canada's Heritage Day--Who Knew?
AND WHO KNOWS?? Dose the Tourism Industry support cultural tourism? Has the industry missed an opportunity to get behind
It would appear the media are either poorly informed, or wish to dwell only on the "whines" about who is not getting the day off. It would appear the Media have missed the original intent with the creation of the 3rd Monday in February as
The Canada Heritage Foundation have actually developed a theme for today February 18, “Work that Endures, Careers in Built Heritage”, http://www.heritagecanada.org/eng/h_day.html, along with a 43 page PDF supporting contributors from various trades, professions, and volunteers. Again, WHO KNEW? It is worth checking out as there are great human interest stories.
There is a second possibility for the lack of publicity and information on
Whichever the case, we as Canadians are losing an opportunity to celebrate our culture and heritage.
According to the Federal Government press release on Friday February 15 2008, “February 15 marks the day, in 1965, when our red and white maple leaf flag was first raised over Parliament Hill, in
Canada's Heritage Day, which appears to have evolved from “Flag Day”, has been expanded by several provinces into Family Day, or Louis Riel Day in Manitoba.....Perhaps Manitoba is the only Province that has got it right and is delving into the origins of the history of the Province....expanding on the theme of the history of one of Canada's former leaders, and focusing on a significant part of Canada's History. The title of the day in fact makes one curious and might motivate further exploration.
In trying to stimulate tourism demand north of
Where is
As a believer that culture is a major demand generator to optimize tourist visits, we must look at an expanded communication and promotion program for Heritage Day in
Photo Credit. Simcoe County Museum--Near Barrie, Minesing Ontario: Snowshoeing Experience Part of Family Day and Canada's Heritage Day, Ontario Heritage Week.
Thursday 14 February 2008
What is an RSS Feed and how can it help your Canadian Tourism business?
There is an awful lot of information out there in cyberspace about the Web 2.0 and its implications for tourism around the world. Web 2.0 refers to the interactive capabilities of the Internet to connect people with people, people with businesses and businesses with businesses. One small, but important element of this Web 2.0 environment is the RSS Feed. RSS stands for really simple syndication. An article on Wikipedia defines it as "RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts."
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Given our time constraints many of us want to find ways to be more productive and be more efficient. Many of us want or need to stay abreast of news and information that can help in our careers or businesses. RSS feeds are a great way to do this efficiently. First you need an RSS reader. I use Google Reader for its ease of use. All you need is to sign up (you will need to get a Google account which is easy to get). Once you have your Google Reader account then you can begin to add RSS Feeds to this Reader Webpage. I subscribe to over 60 RSS Feeds that I scan every morning for news or helpful articles.
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Given our time constraints many of us want to find ways to be more productive and be more efficient. Many of us want or need to stay abreast of news and information that can help in our careers or businesses. RSS feeds are a great way to do this efficiently. First you need an RSS reader. I use Google Reader for its ease of use. All you need is to sign up (you will need to get a Google account which is easy to get). Once you have your Google Reader account then you can begin to add RSS Feeds to this Reader Webpage. I subscribe to over 60 RSS Feeds that I scan every morning for news or helpful articles.
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My Google Reader homepage. Newest blog posts or news (from newspaper feeds, for example) are featured in the centre of the page. On the left side is a list of all blogs, newspapers and other orgs' feeds I subscribe to with the number of new entries in parenthesis.
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Subscribing to feeds is also easy. For example if you want to subscribe to this blog, you just click on the link at the bottom that says "Subscribe to the Canadian Tourism Blog" or the one on the left of this page with the RSS icon. Once you click you will be taken to another webpage that looks like the following:
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All you need to do is copy the URL (internet address), go back to your Google Reader page click on the Add Subscription link, paste the URL and click on Add. Et voilá, you will be subscribed. Everytime you logon to your reader you will see if there are new entries on this blog. The RSS feeder is really only helpful if you want to subscribe and keep track of many blogs, newspapers or other organizations that use RSS, since the beauty of the technology is that you can have all of these in one place.
RSS feeds not only can be added to and RSS reader but now they can be added to many websites such as Facebook and other social networks like Canadamigos Network (www.canadamigos.com)
Next post: How can you make use of an RSS feed to market your product or service?
Cheers,
Jaime
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Tuesday 5 February 2008
Dog Sledding--The Perfect Canadian Metaphor?
Long Tail Tourism--Economics gives us reason to speculate! Rick Mercers entree into the world of sled dog racing or dog sledding in the Haliburton Highlands gives new meaning to chasing the long tail. I will let the reader expand on this? However for those who are avid and passionate Canadians and love our winters, or are just curious, you will be asking"Where is Haliburton Ontario?" (Please Note--only one "el")
The Haliburton Higlands are a little east of Muskoka, above the Kawarthas, West of the Ottawa Valley borders on and includes a bit of Algonquin Park to the North.
For more information on the Haliburton Highlands see Haliburton, and Minden.
See dog sledding getaways and discover the excitement of a dog sledding experience in Ontario.
Photo by R.Taylor--Halburton Dog Sled Races
Monday 4 February 2008
Canadian Tourism. The Little Pleasures of Toronto. What little pleasures do you know in your area?
We all know about the big pleasures, the "hits," the icons. In my Canada en Español website there is a page with the "Top (more than ten) Canadian things to do (or things Canadians must do at least once in a lifetime)." These include going to a Calgary Stampede, attending a Juste Pour Rire Festival in Montréal, skating the Rideau Canal, visiting polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba, driving around Cape Breton Island, going to the Yukon Quest in Whitehorse, and many others. But what about the small pleasures of a destination? Those hidden gems that may not be spectacular, but nonetheless can make a vacation more memorable. I am thinking of things like a smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz in Montréal or a quiet moment of rest in Stanley Park, the Halifax Public Gardens or Mont Royal in Montréal.
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This past Saturday afternoon I had to take my daughter to downtown Toronto for one of her many extra curricular activities. This particular lessons are held in a studio 4 minutes aw
ay from the Distillery District in Toronto. Once I dropped her off and made sure everything was fine, I made my way to the DD and walked to the locally famous Café Balzac. This coffee shop occupies one of the spaces in this 19th century distillery - turned arts and entertainment spot - that is also growing into the hub of a nice neighbourhood as well. The interior of Café Balzac is warm and cozy with its exposed brick and beautiful paintings and its comfortable loft area. But the best part of Café Balzac is its coffee. I ordered a double latte and a couple of croissants. Going up the stairs to the loft area I was happy to find a place to sit down and enjoy my coffee and re-read the Tips from the T-List (travel and tourism bloggers) while my daughter was taking her class. Nowadays one can learn about many of these lesser known holiday pleasures from many blogs out there in the blogosphere (I will write a related post for the Hispanic traveller in my BlogdeCanada.com).
ay from the Distillery District in Toronto. Once I dropped her off and made sure everything was fine, I made my way to the DD and walked to the locally famous Café Balzac. This coffee shop occupies one of the spaces in this 19th century distillery - turned arts and entertainment spot - that is also growing into the hub of a nice neighbourhood as well. The interior of Café Balzac is warm and cozy with its exposed brick and beautiful paintings and its comfortable loft area. But the best part of Café Balzac is its coffee. I ordered a double latte and a couple of croissants. Going up the stairs to the loft area I was happy to find a place to sit down and enjoy my coffee and re-read the Tips from the T-List (travel and tourism bloggers) while my daughter was taking her class. Nowadays one can learn about many of these lesser known holiday pleasures from many blogs out there in the blogosphere (I will write a related post for the Hispanic traveller in my BlogdeCanada.com). -
I spent about an hour at the Café Balzac and loved it. The latte was superb and the croissants were quite good. Nothing spectacular, just one of those little pleasures.
saludos,
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Jaime
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