HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween!

October Events Transforming Canadian Tourism

Two events in October are linked to the building Canada’s future global position as a leading sustainable “Eco Destination”. One is the publication of the second issue of EcoTourism Canada Magazine, published by Vern Telford, Professor Emeritus at Georgian College in Barrie; and secondly, The Ecotourism & Sustainable Tourism Conference in Vancouver October 27-29.

EcoTourism Magazine Canada features Canadian Ecology Centre, the Bear Whisperer, a new Eco Lodge on James Bay, a new environmental language “Eco-Eigo”, and Whistler—a destination determined to be a world leader in sustainability. A major feature of the Second Edition is the printing using Warren’s Waterless Printing.

Featured in the new issue are details on the Ecotourism & Sustainable Tourism Conference in Vancouver October 27-29 hosted by The British Columbia Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and The International Ecotourism Society located in Washington D.C. EcoTourism Canada Magazine is an official sponsor of the 2008 conference.

Stay tuned for updates…………Ron Taylor

I love Fashion and so do millions of Hispanics around the world

I am doubly busy this week because I am personally covering Toronto's L'Oreal Fashion Week for my Spanish language blog and www.blogdecanada.com and my social networking site, www.canadamigos.com. Fashion is very important to Latin Americans and Spaniards. Especially women, although men also like to indulge in a certain sartorial eloquence. Rare is the Latin or Spanish tourist who travels and does not purchase clothes (except of course those on a limited budget like the backpacker crowd, but even them will rather buy a new pair of jeans than pay for a hotel room). Part of Canadá en Español's mission is to educate my fellow Spanish speaking travelers about great things we have in Canada besides the obvious attractions like the Rockies and Niagara Falls. While we don't yet have truly global fashion brands, we do have great fashion talent in Canada and the Toronto and Montréal Fashion Weeks prove it.

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In the last two days I have seen fantastic Spring 2009 collections starting with Alfred Sung's White Collection, which opened this year's Fashion Week. Today I saw a great and sexy women's fashion collection by rising star Jason Meyers and a splendidly elegant swimwear collection from Aqua di Lara's Reyhan Sofraci.

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Cheers,

Jaime

It's that time of the month. StatCan's Advance Travel Information numbers for August 2008 are out. USA? Still down. But Overseas doing very well.

Statistics Canada released inbound tourism numbers for August 2008. Not surprisingly, inbound from the US continues to decline. Since August 2001, visits from the US have dropped approximately 50%, a staggering number, that's about sixteen million less visitors.

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While not making up completely for lost US visits, Overseas inbound markets continue to do rather well, except for Asia, where Japan also continues to drop (down about 30% since 2001). All regions showed growth except Asia which saw a drop of 3.2% in August compared to August 2007.

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The Stars

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What single country showed the highest growth rate in August 2008 compared to the same month last year? Mexico? Good guess, but no. Mexico slowed down a bit this past August growing only 4.4% (11.2% Jan to Aug). The UK? Not at all. The UK is showing signs of stress. It was down 7.3% compared to Aug 2007. Germany? Nope. While it did well growing 6.1% this past August, Germany is not the big star. France you say, it must be France. Good guess, given all the promotion and publicity there generated by Quebec's 400th Birthday. France grew an amazing 30.7% in August. But no, it was not France. The country that showed the biggest percentage increase in inbound tourism to Canada last August was SPAIN. Spaniards are taking a liking to Canada. It must be word of mouth and online properties like CanadaenEspanol and CanadAmigos, since very little marketing is being done there by Canadian tourism organizations. SPAIN grew a staggering 31% in August 2008 compared to August 2007. While the absolute numbers are not huge. This is just a signal of what future numbers could be. SPAIN can become another Mexico for Canadian Tourism if enough Canadian Tourism organizatons get together to market our destinations properly. Canadá en Español (Cactus Rock New Media Ltd.) is forming an alliance with a Destination PR and Marketing firm in Madrid in order to offer cost accessible PR, Marketing and sales representation services in Spain.

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Olé
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Jaime Horwitz
www.cactusrock.com
www.canadamigos.com

Jaime Horwitz with his daughter Madison in Ronda, Andalucía, Spain. Summer 2005

Presentations from the Ontario Tourism Marketing Summit Available.

If you were not able to attend the Ontario Tourism Marketing Summit event this year, you can take a look at the presentations by visiting the OTMP's Summit webpage. Given the economic situation around the world, I particularly recommend taking a look at Warren Jestin, Senior VP & Chief Economist, Scotiabank's presentation, Ontario Tourism - Don't Expect a Return to Business as Usual

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Regards,

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Jaime

Conclusion of the Travelocity - Howard Johnson zaga

In my next to last previous post I related the extremely frustrating experience of trying to help the Mexican Shotokan Karate team who were booked in the wrong city (Brampton) last week (the booking was fone over the telephone and not online - the phone agent recommended the HJ in Brampton, obviously not knowing how far from downtown it is). The team came to Toronto to compete in the World Shotokan Karate Cup at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto. Brampton is about 40 kms from downtown Toronto, a very long trek in rush hour. After hours on the phone we were able to get them moved to a Howard Johnson hotel in Toronto not far from Ryerson. In the end it took several calls (over four and a half hours) to Travelocity and the Howard Johnson hotel to straighten things out. Needless to say, the team has no plans to ever book travel with Travelocity again. On the bright side, they were able to enjoy the city of Toronto on their spare time and went home with three gold medals and three silver medals.
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Jaime

Happy Thanksgiving Bonne Action de Grâce

Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias, Happy Thanksgiving, Bonne Action de grâce


Saludos,
Jaime

Why is travel related customer service so hard to do well? What is the problem? It's not neurosurgery!

In my previous post, I related the issue of a hotel mix-up that happened to the Mexican Karate Team in Toronto to compete in a world tournament. Travelocity made the mistake of booking them at a Brampton, Ontario Howard Johnson's when they should have been booked in Toronto. After several calls back and forth with Travelocity they did the right thing and cancelled the bookings in Brampton and made a new reservation for the team at the Howard Johnson's in Toronto at no additional charge. Everthing seemed fine, but a half hour ago I got a call from one of the coaches (my friend) that the hotel wanted to charge them for the whole stay again! I am back on the phone with Travelocity customer service call centre again and somewhere, somehow communication broke down because even though the reservation was made it was not made clear to Howard Johnson's downtown that there were to be no charges! I cannot believe one has to do this more than once. Quality control is a big issue here.

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One SUPERVISOR gave us the new reservation confirmation numbers yesterday. She made it clear that the new hotel would not make any charges that Travelocity was going to take care of this. Now the hotel in Toronto tells the Travelocity customer service agent they cannot allow the guests to enter their rooms before someone at some headoffice tells them to do so. So now I am on hold waiting for a Travelocity agent who appears to be on hold with Howard Johnson's head office in order to solve this problem. All the while there is a team of karate kids as young as 8 years old who have spent the entire day at a gruelling tournament and need to get into their rooms to take showers and get some rest! This is so unacceptable to me. I am certain that this will be the very last time these travelers ever book anything with Travelocity.....Well, Travelocity is back on the phone telling me that head office is calling the Howard Johnson's to inform them that Travelocity is picking up any charges that apply and to let the guests into their rooms. THE INCOMPETENCE! I just called the Hotel and even though someone from HJ called the woman still has no idea what's going on. She says her system does not show who pays for the rez. I am livid. Back on the phone with Travelocity! Wating for a supervisor... to be continued.

(read the tweets related to this experience at www.twitter.com/jaimehorwitz)

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Jaime

Canadá en Español happy to help the Mexican Shotokan Karate Team with a hotel mixup

The past couple of days I played the role of "cruise director" of sorts to the Mexican Shotokan Karate team (in photo), in Toronto to compete at the World Shoto Cup taking place at Ryerson University this Thanksgiving weekend (over 20 countries participating). I have known Alvaro Ruiz, Black Belt Fifth Dan and one of the head coaches, for many many years (we were karate buddies in our youth). What was supposed to be just a friendly reunion last Wednesday with Canadá en Español hosting the team (treating them to some sightseeing in Toronto, etc.) turned into a mission to help the team fix a major hotel mix-up. One of the members of the team made their reservations by phone with Travelocity in Texas (interesting insight into another way Mexicans are booking travel to Canada). The assignment was to book a flight and hotel in Toronto for the team of about 20 competitors and coaches at the least expensive price. According to the person who booked the trip, the agent in Texas recommended the Howard Johnson's hotel saying it was in an accessible location to downtown Toronto at a very reasonable price. Problem is, this particular hotel is not in Toronto but in Brampton, Ontario. Big mistake. The Karate tournament starts at 8 am in downtown Toronto. Brampton is about 30 miles away from downtown T.O. How were these people going to get there on time over the course of four days? The cost of transportation alone makes staying in that hotel expensive. Furthermore, there's really nothing to do or see in Brampton for these visitors after the daily competitions. I made several calls to Travelocity speaking to agents and finally to a supervisor. I was very pleased with their attitude and service realizing that their agent made a mistake in the first place by recommending a hotel so far away from the tournament. Travelocity did the right thing, and while the team had to spend last night in Brampton they will be staying at the Howard Johson's in the Yorkville area of Toronto very close to Ryerson University and the tournament. They will be able to sightsee and shop after hours and will certainly have a great time. So kudos to Travelocity for doing the right thing and making the necessary changes to the team's reservations.

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From a Canadian Tourism perspective I find it very interesting that these travellers called Travelocity in Texas instead of calling a local Mexican travel agent or going online. It is an example of the variety of ways Mexicans are booking travel to Canada. I am also encouraged to see that if Mexicans have a reason to travel to Canada, even if they don't have a lot of money, they will do everything they can to make that trip. This is encouraging at the moment, given the global financial crisis that is also affecting Mexico by devaluing the peso. I am confident we will see good numbers from Mexico this coming December, albeit not as good as last year's. As for tthe Karate team I wish them the best and hope to see some of them in the finals on Thanksgiving Monday. Mexico, Mexico, Mexico!
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Jaime
www.demexicoacanada.ca
www.canadamigos.com
www.cactusrock.com

While Europe and the US are scrambling to save banks the World Economic Forum's survey finds that Canada has the world's soundest Banking system

Doing a quick visit to the blogoshphere I found an interesting and reassuring note in the Foreign Policy Blog. Canada has the soundest banking system in the world. In order to confirm this assertion I went to the source: The World Economic Forum's 2008-2009 Competitiveness Report. And indeed, the document's Section VIII, Financial Market Sophistication does list Canada at the top when it comes to a sound banking system. By comparison, the US banking system was ranked 40th in the world and the UK's 44th. This survey was conducted prior to the current meltdown, but it does give Canadians some reassurance nonetheless. As for the Competitiveness index Canada gained three spots to break the top ten going from 13th to 10th. What will be very interesting to see will be the 2009-2010 Competitiveness Report in a year's time once the current financial crisis plays out. I suspect Canada will do much much better.

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Jaime

www.cactusrock.com

The Ontario Tourism Marketing Summit begins this evening. Now more than ever good effective marketing is critical to our tourism industry's health.

aI'm going to the Ontario Tourism Marketing Summit this week. The event starts tonight with a reception at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre followed by a visit to the 500 m tall CN Tower. The weather promises a clear night so the view from the tower should be spectacular. The view of the tourism industry going forward however is not that clear. Financial markets around the world are reeling from problems caused by irresponsible lending pratices in the United States in the last several years. Banks are failing in Europe and businesses are beginning to really feel the pressure of a frozen credit market. It does not take a degree in Economics or an MBA to realize that the situation will hit the travel industry hard. Marriott international came out a few days ago with a warning going forward that earnings will decline.

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Given the situation, should we give up on tourism marketing efforts? Caution is called for, yes, but not a stop to our marketing. It is in difficult times when marketing becomes that much more important. In high tides all boats are lifted, but in low tides, only those water crafts with the right configuration can navigate a shrinking ocean. There will be many people who will postpone their trips in the next little while (how long it's hard to tell, but at least for the next 12 months). But many more people will continue to travel. Their plans may change to go to less expensive destinations perhaps closer to home, but they will still travel. The challenge for every tourism business will be how to stay afloat by attracting sufficient guests in the coming months. In my opinion, the best way to do this, will be with good, focused, cost-effective Digital Marketing. The key is to find the right niche, the right segment, and better yet to make it easy for that niche of travelers to find you online.

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Affluent consumers, whether in the US, Europe or Mexico, will still travel. The question for us, really, is whether they will come to our Canadian Destination or will choose somewhere else. This is why this Ontario Tourism Summit and the coming TIAC Tourism Leadership Summit in Gatineau and the PhoCusWright Travel Innovaton Conference in Los Angeles are so important this year. And why Canada-e-Connect 2009 (Jan 21-23) in Toronto is a must-attend to begin 2009 with the right tools to navigate the low tide that's coming.

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saludos,
Jaime
www.cactusrock.com

Nuit Blanche in Toronto promises to be a refreshing experience.

Given all the bad news lately, I am looking forward to tonight's Nuit Blanche experience in Toronto. If you don't know what Nuit Blanche is, well, it's an all night celebration of Art, described by the organizers as "a free all-night contemporary art thing." Only a few cities in the world stage this event, Paris and Madrid being the biggest. But Toronto is right up there now. Last year's success convinced organizers (City of Toronto and sponsor ScotiaBank) that this type of event is not only great for us residents of Toronto, but also for visitors from all over the world. I am looking forward to visiting two of the three Art Zones tonight. I will be experiencing the exhibits and installations around Yorkville, Dundas Square and the Financial District.
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I hope to lose myself in new worlds provided by the imagination from some of the most creative artists from around the world. I hope to see, among others, Ricardo Ocaranza, the photographer from San Sebastian, Spain's exhibit Toronto Nocturnes I, 2008; Mexican artists' Nahum Flores, Erik Jerezano and Ilyana Martinez' Z'otz* Collective at Mexican Days of the Dead: Food for Thought; New Yorker Marisela La Grave's Business Class 2008; Japan's Fujiwara Takahashi 's Into the Blue, Daniel Olson's Fifteen Seconds; Michel de Broin's Overflow and Kelly Mark's Horroridor.

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Jaime

(images courtesy City of Toronto)