Have you heard of Alltop? This blog is now included in the Canada All Top Blogs

I follow a great many blogs via my Google Reader every morning. Most of the blogs I follow deal with travel and tourism topics but I also follow some news blogs like the Washington Post's and some blogs about US Hispanic business and culture. One of my favourites is 360 Digital Influence by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, one of the most respected brands in the PR space. Reading Rohit Bhargava's 6 New Social Media Tools To Track Brand Reputation post several weeks ago I came across Alltop. Never heard of Alltop? In Rohit's words: "If you haven’t been watching the rapid growth of Alltop, you need to start. It is essentially an aggregation of blogs by various categories, but there are a few things that set Alltop apart. The first is that the simple interface means you can really skim headlines for many blogs in a particular category quite easily. The second is that you no longer have to rely on relatively useless Technorati Authority figures to find top tier blogs. Alltop doesn’t have all the answers, but to see a quick view of what top bloggers are talking about in a particular category, it’s a great place to start."

-

I am honoured and very pleased that AllTop has included this blog as a top tier blog in its Canada AllTop site. We are in very impressive company with blogs from the CBC, the National Post, The Globe and Mail, Amber Mac, Calgary Herald, CanuckFlack, Montreal a Moi and BlogTo.

-

Thanks to Digital 36o for talking about AllTop and thanks to AllTop for including the Canadian Tourism blog in such distinguished digital company.

-
regards,
Jaime Horwitz

Follow the conversation at YackTrack!

What is Canada's Competitive Advantage?

Did the Globe and Mail enter into the world of Tourism marketing last week with their opinion about positioning Canada in an era of declining tourism demand. For those who may have missed the editorial comment my interpretation follows:

On Canada’s National Park Day, July 19, 2008 the Globe and Mail editorial department was astute in their recognition of the day, and even more astute in providing an opinion about Canada’s Tourism Industry. While extolling the contributions to Canada’s Nature reserves this year, and the importance the public is giving to environmental issues and wilderness protection they commented on where Canada’s tourism industry should be focused. The Globe continues to say

“Canada should work harder to make its extensive pristine wilderness a key differentiator in the intense competition for those very welcome visitors’ dollars.”

Regardless of the internal perception we as Canadians have about the image of Canada, I believe the rest of the world tends to look at Canada as one big wilderness area with a very large land mass of ‘pristine wilderness’ with a few cities carved out of border area of Southern Canada. Certainly Canada (in most cases) is far more pristine than the countries visitors are travelling from. What I believe is important here are the degrees of wilderness experiences which exist throughout the many tourist destinations north of the border and the numerous areas which provide or could provide a significant Ecotourism experience.

While many destinations throughout the world have been marketing Ecotourism as a major demand generator, Canada has been slow off the mark.

The reasons for this are many, as there is a movement against the traditional "Moose, Mounties and Mountains" branding, and we as Canadians have always had close by ecotourism experiences (even it we don't label such as ecotourism). I also believe that many of the marketing decisions being made tend to be in the political realm of supporting cities more than rural destinations.

I think the Globe and Mail have the right understanding if our tourism industry is to grow and expand in the future.

Photo: Georgian Bay looking at the Niagara Escarpment--Biosphere Reserve near Blue Mountain (rtaylor)

A world class Week this week in Toronto

Beckham, Nadal, Federer, Djocovic, Weir, Furyk, the Mariners, the Blue Jays and the Eagles. If you don't recognize any of these names it is amazing that you have access to the Internet. But you probably recognize most of them. Beckham, of course is the David Beckham formerly of the Real Madrid now of the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer club, Federer is Roger Federer and Nadal is Rafael Nadal, the number 1 and 2 tenis players in the world. Novak Djocovic is the number 3. Mike Weir is Canada's best golf player playing at the 100th edition of the Canadian Open Golf Tournament. The American Jim Furyk is the current champion and the favourite to win again. The Mariners and Blue Jays are of course major league baseball teams. The Eagles are not the NFL football team but rather the pop rock band now on a reunion tour. All of these guys are or were in Toronto this week (Federer, for example was eliminated in the first round of the tenis tourney).
-

With all of this and more going on in Toronto this week it would be hard to argue that Toronto is not a world class city. In the last 20 or so years Toronto has transformed itself into one of the most creative and happening cities in the world even though it's not recognized as such just yet. No matter, it will. Now for an encore, what's happening in August before the one of the biggest events of the year in September, the Toronto International Film Festival? Stay tuned. In the meantime I will get ready to go to the Rogers Cup tenis final on Sunday hoping to see Rafael Nadal win the title.

-

Saludos,

Jaime

www.torontoenespanol.com
www.canadamigos.com

Mexican inbound tourism to Canada continues to grow at a consistent 15% rate

Statistics Canada published its service bulletin International Travel: Advance Information for May 2008 today. While the news about US visits continues to be dismal with a further 10% decline for the month compared to May 2007, Mexico continues to grow at a 15% rate. 21,658 Mexican visitors came to Canada in May 2008 compared to 18,840 for the same period last year. Total numbers from Jan to May: 86,238.

-

Spain remained flat for the month, but South America, excluding Brazil grew 7.2% for the month. and is up 8% for the period from Jan to May.

-

Given the global credit crunch and the fuel debacle among airlines it is all the more remarkable that the Mexican inbound market continues to grow at this clip. In my opinion, it is confirmation that there continues to be pent-up demand in Mexico for travel to Canada. The success of the Canadamigos Social Network to date (over 5,000 visits per months and reaching 1,700 active members since December '07) and continuing growth in traffic for the Canadá en Español websites (over 200,000 monthly visits) leads me to reassert my belief that with the right marketing mix going forward Mexican inbound tourism to Canada could reach 350,000 visitors by the end of 2010. Furthermore, once Canada begins to market itself in Spain we could see a dramatic increase of Spanish visitors to this country.

-

Saludos,

Jaime Horwitz MBA

www.cactusrock.com

Acknowledge the guest's concerns or issues and do something about it

A few minutes after I wrote the last post (see below) a gentleman from maintenance came to the room to make sure all the lamps are working. A few mintues after that a nice woman server from the hotel came to the room with a beautiful tray of chocolates and a card that reads:

-

"Nous sommes sincèrement désolés pour les inconvenients. En espérant que vous passerez un séjour inoubliable parmi nous. L'equipe du Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu."

-

In this case, the hotel did what you should do if one of your guests has a legitimate concern or problem caused by an oversight or mistake on your part (e.g. lamps not working). The manager had acknowledged the issue, maintenance fixed the problem and the hotel sent a small token of compensation for your inconvenience. The chocolates are beautiful (haven't tasted one yet) but the gesture is what matters. It tells me, "yes, we listened to you and we are willing to do somehting about it and compensate you in some way for the trouble." This kind of gesture restores the trust in the brand. After all no one can be perfect all the time.

-

Jaime

www.canadaenespanol.ca

Share on Facebook
Follow the conversation at YackTrack!

"Turning Moments into Memories" Fulfill your promise and don't overpromise

The Fairmont Resorts are arguably the best high end hotel/resorts in Canada. Famous for their architecture and historical value the Fairmont resorts are located in unique places in Canada such as Lake Louise, Alberta; Old Quebec City and La Malbaie in Quebec. Near the reception area of the Fairmont Manoir Richelieu there is a sign that reads "Our Mission: Turning Moments into Memories." Indeed great memories is what most travelers want to take away from their visits. But they don't want to take away bad memories. Sometimes the "devil is in the details." After a wonderful day and night at the Manoir, my wife and I returned to our spacious room for a good night sleep because we had to get up early to drive to Tadoussac for a whale watching tour. I, as my wife and millions of people, like to read before going to sleep. Buy my bedside lamp was not working. Being late I did not want a maintenance person to come up and fix it, but I did tell the person who answered my call to this Fairmont's "Royal Service" to make sure that all lamps in the room were working the next day. It's close to 5pm as I write this having come back from the whale watching tour and my lamp is still not working. Of course, I have gone down to talk to the manager in charge to tell her about this issue (and in passing also mention that when we arrived at the hotel yesterday there was no one at the President's Club desk, another promise broken). She was apologetic and said she would send someone up right away (no one has shown up yet) and was there anything she could do for us. What does one answer to that? "Give us a free night?" I said "no, just have the lamp fixed, please."

-

The point of this is not to criticize this particular Fairmont Hotel - I do love the Fairmonts and have stayed at nine of the properties (so far). The point is to illustrate an issue of expectations - those created by the hotel company and those in the guests' minds. I always expect the highest level of service and quality at luxury hotels. After all their rates reflect these expectations. So I (and my wife too) will not accept any less than the fulfillment of those expectations. Whatever your category of accomodation you must always manage your guests expectations and fulfill your brand's promise. Otherwise your guests will find somewhere else to stay the next time.

-

For the record I must also mention that everyone at the Fairmont Manoir Richelieu has been very very friendly and professional and we've had a great time for the most part. I hope to come back in the future.

-

Jaime

www.canadaenespanol.ca

Quebec City's 400th Anniversary continued.

L'Esprit du Québec. 1608 - 2008

Voilá

Follow the conversation at YackTrack!

Share on Facebook

Québec, la plus belle ville de l'Amerique du Nord. Really the most beautiful city

Quebec City knows how to throw a party. It's good that not all of Canada is here to celebrate because there would be no space. However, I hope millions of canadians are here in spirit. Having been to pretty much all the great cities in North America (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Chicago, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and many more), I have to conclude that Quebec City is indeed the most beautiful city in North America. And visiting during the Festival d'Eté and the celebrations for the 400th Anniversary just makes it all the much better. Felicitations Québec.
-
The Commemorative show for the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Quebec was a veritable theatrical, musical and historical extravaganza attended by thousands and thousands of people near and around the Assemblée nationale du Québec Building in Quebec City. Many musical acts entertained the public and even drew a tear or two - especially Marie-Jo Thériault's singing Evangeline about the character created by the American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that tells the tale of a woman exiled from her home in Acadia.

-

Jaime
www.quebecenespanol.com
www.demexicoacanada.ca
www.canadamigos.com

On Holidays in Quebec City. Celebrating 400 years!

I'm in Quebec City on Holidays with my wife and my daughter (they're in the pool and I am blogging for five minutes). Quebec City is as beautiful as ever and all dressed up for a huge party. Last night we went to see Robert LePage's the Image Mill, an immense and brilliant work about the history and culture of this great city. LePage's Image Mill is quite impressive as it involves projecting the piece onto the silos at the old port. The silos comprise a screen that's 600 metres long by 80 metres high I believe. Just awesome.

-

Today, after some R&R by the hotel's pool, I will be going to the Quebec 400th Commemorative show by the Quebec Parliament's building. It should be a lot of fun.

-

A bientôt,

Jaime

www.quebecenespanol.com

Joyeux Fête du Canada - Happy Canada Day

"Our Dreams for this Beautiful Country will never die." Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1984
Canada turns 141 today. Happy Birthday dear Canada, Happy Birthday to You

Jaime
Share on Facebook