Ottawa Tourism gets creative with Holiday Wishes

Quirky Holiday message from my friends at Ottawa Tourism. I was away so I hadn't had a chance to post it. Good example of creative marketing.  

Kids ski lessons in Ontario ski area resorts north of Toronto

Kids ski lessons in Ontario ski area resorts north of Toronto:

Kids with helmets learn to ski in Ontario

Should Ski Helmets be mandatory in Canada?

If you go Skiing in Nova Scotia, You'll need a helmet!!
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty bought his own ski helmet — but said that he would not legislate helmets. Helmet use on Canadian ski hills has risen ...

See Ski Helmet Financial Post Blog

Kids learn to ski with helmets, why not wear them all the time as you grow up?

See Kids with helmets ski resort lessons near Barrie.

Canadian Tourism 2012

Will 2012 be a growth year for Canadian Tourism? What do you think? Given the global economic uncertainty, the European debt crisis, the ongoing weakness of the US economy plus presidential elections, the UK Olympics, and the high Canadian dollar, where do you see Canada's best prospects to have a good year in 2012? How are you preparing to navigate next year's challenges? What target markets will you focus on? How will your marketing strategy adapt?

Discuss on LinkedIn Canadian Tourism Professionals

Canada #1 in the Country Brand Index - yet not enough to be a compelling destination

For a 2nd year in a row, Canada tops the rankings of FutureBrand's Country Brand Index. It makes me very proud of Canada and it makes for lots of news headlines. The Canadian Tourism Commission is very happy and will milk the news in every conference this year.  Canada scores high in many reputation indices. The former champion in the United Nations' Human Development Index (several times # 1 in the early 90's), it now stands at number 6 (although the top ten countries are quite close in decimal points). Canada is also at # 6 in the 2010 Anholt-Gfk Roper Nation Brands Index.  Many of our cities rank high as the best cities for quality of life in the Mercer Consulting city rankings. The Economist ranks Vancouver as the best city in the world and Toronto as the 4th best.

I am unabashedly passionate about Canada. In spite of the many challenges we face as a country, in my opinion it is the best country in the world, the post-modern, post-nation state, 21st century country, the world is represented here. But, does all this good fortune translate into tourism growth? No. The evidence shows that it definitely translates into a huge demand for Canadian permanent residence and Canadian citizenship. At best the rankings help keep our tourism levels stable, at worst, the rankings may hurt tourism because they may reinforce the idea that Canada is great to live in, but perhaps not the most interesting or fun place for a vacation thereby instead of being a "we have to go to Canada this year" destination it becomes the "some day we'll go to Canada, it's a nice place" destination. We must note that Canada did not make the top ten in the Country Brand Index Tourism attribute (see http://www.campaignbrief.com/2011/11/futurebrand-releases-results-o.html).

If you work in or follow the Canadian tourism industry, you probably know that it's a $70 Billion industry and that we have faced many challenges to grow visits and revenue for the last 10+ years y (SARS, the War in Iraq, the weak US economy, 9/11 and its consequent security concerns, new foreign destination entering the competition, the visa imposed on Mexicans, the weakness in the EU economies, etc.).  Revenue from foreign visitors - which represents about 20% of all tourism revenue - has remained more or less stagnant in real terms (adjusted for inflation) for the last 10 years. But this is good! Given all the challenges, we would have expected a contraction. The reasons may be varied, but one important element is that for several years now, Canada has been focusing on high-yield visitors, those who stay longer and spend more money. Many of the US day-trippers that used to come in the late 90's and early 2000's are gone. But we have been welcoming more Europeans, Asians (particularly Chinese from mainland China and Chinese from Hong Kong), and Latin Americans. Most of these travelers stay longer than American visitors and spend a lot more on average than our southern neighbours.

Consider these dramatic facts:

Total visits to Canada from non-residents in 2001:  47,146,647!
Total international tourism receipts for 2001 in 2001 dollars: $12.6 Billion


Total visits to Canada from non-residents in 2010:  24,669,133!
Total international tourism receipts for 2010: $18.2 Billion

(sources: Worldbank data and StatsCan Advance Travel Information)

Once adjusted for inflation - more or less - international tourism receipts are pretty much the same, but with almost half the number of visitors!

While these numbers are a testament to the industry's resilience and creativity, it is still concerning that international visits continue a steady decline year over year and that our travel deficit continues to grow - Canadians took 43,200,559 trips abroad in 2001 and 53,619,581 trips in 2010.

Conclusion - we must be do a lot more to persuade Canadians to travel more in Canada and to attract more international tourists (particularly those who do not visas) including lobbying for a lifting of visa restrictions to Mexican visitors.

Comptoirs du eTourisme Marseille Travel Massive - DMOs, Bloggers and Digital Marketers working together.

Last week I participated in Marseille's #Travelmassive organized by my friend @claudebenard of Hotelitur. It was a fun and interactive chat among Keith Jenkins, blogger extraordinaire of VelvetEscape fame, the sweet and brilliant Fabienne Wintle of Untanglemyweb and myself. We connected to the event via Group Skype, and even thought we had a couple of technical glitches, we did have a great time. Our task was to address the question of how can digital marketers, travel bloggers, hoteliers and destination management organizations (DMOs) best work together? Not an easy topic to summarize because there are many variations on the theme. For example we talked about the different types of travel bloggers and their different objectives. A professional blogger working for a large organization (like Conde Nast, for example) would not have the same objectives that a blogger who does note depend on his or her blog to generate revenue. We commented as well on the different projects a digital marketer might encounter. Fabienne, for example specializes in assisting, training, educating and helping small tourism businesses in Australia on the various topics related to digital and social media marketing. Her challenges are very different than those a digital marketer/consultant working for a large DMO or a multi-national hotel chain might face.  Keith addressed the issue of fees for blogging - something that might have been taboo 2 years ago, but something that's very important. Some bloggers are quite happy with getting travel invitations from destinations and blogging about them without getting paid for this content hoping that they will generate revenue through advertising. Other bloggers are offering sponsored blog posts thereby getting fees per post.  Still other bloggers are now getting speaking fees at various conferences and events.

My conclusion after our very interesting chat is that there are great opportunities for bloggers, digital marketers, hoteliers and DMOs to work more effectively and strategically to achieve the ultimate goal - more satisfied visitors and guests.  One of the points we touched on was international collaborations wherein we could share our audiences with each other, offer a syndicate of bloggers (guest blog posts as well) to destinations, access our different networks to offer clients more bang for their marketing dollars - bring in our Facebook and Twitter followers.  For example, I offer my clients campaigns that include display advertising, blogging, tweeting, facebooking which reach Hispanic travellers everywhere. What if when I am pitching to them I can offer increased reach by offering them coverage from Keith who reaches another audience altogether. Destinations do this all the time with bloggers. A group of bloggers (Kim Mance, Wendy Perrin, and Shannon Hurst Lane), were invited to Toronto for Canada-e-Connect 2010 in Montreal. Since they  were going to be in Montreal, Ottawa invited them to visit there before or after the conference. So destinations and bloggers can reach out to each other to maximize social media and digital marketing opportunities. 

As for Travel Massive Marseille, I hope a group of us bloggers get together in Marseille in the near future under a strategic digital marketing plan from the DMO there. We can certainly get some traction in the blogosphere. En Français, in English y en Español.

Bon voyage,

Jaime

RIP Canada-e-Connect

I had the privilege of serving our Canadian Tourism Industry as a volunteer Chair of the national Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference in 2009 and 2010. I also served in the advisory committee of CeC 2011, superbly chaired by Emmanuelle Legault and Joel Peters.  After every conference we used to have a post-conference meeting to go over what worked and what needed more work and to begin thinking about the following year's conference. Canada-e-Connect was started by the brilliant Jens Thraenhart, former Director of eMarketing for the Canadian Toursim Commission. Jens had a dream to start a world class eTourism event in Canada. And he achieved that dream in November 2007. After Jens moved on to pursue other interests (doing great work in China for many destinations around the world, including Canada, via Dragon Trail), the Tourism Industry Association of Canada took over the conference. While I haven't seen any official announcement (and maybe I missed it),  it is very unfortunate that TIAC has quietly killed the conference without, as much as I know, any industry consultations. On the one hand, I can understand why. TIAC is a lobbying organization, the voice of the industry in Ottawa. TIAC also manages the National Tourism Conference and Rendez-vous Canada, so adding another conference was a stretch and I know it was a lot of work for TIAC's fantastic staff.  So I can understand why TIAC is not doing CeC anymore. But, I wish there had been consultations and perhaps a call for other organizations to take over the conference.  But who knows, perhaps it will come back with another name and a more ambitious agenda (maybe I should look into it - perhaps my friends at Tnooz and Comptoirs du eTourisme will be interested in collaborating in an international eTourism Strategy event within a Canadian context). Many people have confused eTourism Marketing with eTourism Strategy. Any marketing, digital or not, must be grounded in sound strategy. CeC's purpose was to focus on this strategy, to help the industry think strategically. I was not about social media or Facebook or mobile, it was about how to strategize in the new digital era - how to use (or not use) the new tools, channels, technologies, etc., of the digital era to pursue your strategy in order to achieve your organizational's objectives. RIP Canada-e-Connect.

Busy weekend in Hamilton, Ontario

This weekend belongs to Hamilton, Ontario. Tens of thousands of people are coming to Hamilton this weekend for the Supercrawl and the Locke Street Festival. In addition the Canadian Country Music Industry family is celebrating Canadian Country Music Week at the Hamilton Convention Centre and Country Music Fanfest concert will be held in Jackson Square this morning and early aft. Finally, the CCMA Awards Monday night with a special appearance by Keith Urban.




-- Post From My iPhone

News Release from the PMO - Prime Minister Harper wraps up successful visit to Latin America

As a Hispanic Canadian, I am very pleased to see Prime Minister Harper working to strengthen our trade, business, education and friendship relationships in Latin America. I am a strong believer that Latin America (all of Latin America, but particularly Mexico and Brazil) is strategically very important to Canada.  Here's the news release from the PMO about the Prime Minister's latest trip:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today wrapped up a highly successful visit to Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Honduras during which he met with political and business leaders and announced 25 initiatives in a broad range of areas, including on trade, air transportation, taxation, development co-operation, and support for human rights, peace and security. These initiatives will deepen Canada’s ties with these important hemispheric partners.

“Canada continues to be an active player in the hemisphere, strengthening economic ties with its partners, improving market access and promoting security,” said Prime Minister Harper. “The many agreements signed during the visit will support job creation and economic growth in Canada and for our trading partners, which in turn, will contribute to advancing security and democratic governance in the region.”

The objectives of the trip were to promote and enhance security in the region and to increase Canadian prosperity through trade and investment. The following results demonstrate that these objectives were met:

In Brazil, the Prime Minister announced the following 11 initiatives:

• An Air Transport Agreement


• An Agreement on Social Security


• A Memorandum of Understanding on Olympic Games Cooperation


• A Memorandum of Understanding on International Development Cooperation Effectiveness


• A Canada-Brazil Strategic Partnership Dialogue


• Renewed Funding for the International Science and Technology Partnership Program


• The development of a Science and Technology Action Plan focused on innovation


• The first scholarships granted under the “Canada-Brazil Awards: Joint Research Projects” 


• The Governor General's leading of the Canadian delegation for the next Conference of the Americas on International Education to be hosted by Brazil in April 2012 


• The creation of a Canada-Brazil CEO Forum, and the appointment of Mr. Rick Waugh as Canadian co-chair of the Forum 


• The opening of three new Visa Application Centres

In Colombia, the Prime Minister announced the following 4 initiatives:

• The entry into force of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement on August 15, 2011


• Increased Canadian international development assistance to benefit children, at-youth risk and promote human rights


• Support for new and ongoing projects that will enhance peace, security and justice in Colombia and the region


• Colombia’s accession to Canada’s Military Training and Cooperation Program (2011-2014)

In Costa Rica, the Prime Minister announced the following 7 initiatives:

• The launch of negotiations to modernize the Canada-Costa Rica Free Trade Agreement, with a commitment to conclude negotiations one year from now


• An Air Transportation agreement


• A Tax Information Exchange Agreement 


• Canadian support for the Costa Rican Police Enhancement Program to help Costa Rican national police officers gain advanced training and mentoring through the Royal Canadian Mounted Police


• Canadian contribution of equipment to the Costa Rican police academy


• Canadian support for capacity building and security training for the Costa Rican tourism industry


• The opening of a new Visa Application Centre in Costa Rica

In Honduras, the Prime Minister announced the following 3 initiatives:

• The conclusion of negotiations toward a Canada-Honduras free trade agreement


• Canadian support to increase food security in Honduras


• Canadian support to help address regional security challenges in Central America, including Honduras

The measures announced over the course of this visit are intended to enhance commercial flows, regional stability and security. They build upon the many successes of our Government’s Americas strategy, which is focused on promoting prosperity at home and in countries of the Western hemisphere, reinforcing democratic governance, increasing economic prosperity and advancing our common security

Do you Bollywood? Do you Bhangra? You've never seen Ottawa like this.

Wilbur is back!

Bhangra in the Capital from Ottawa Tourism on Vimeo.

Canada’s Travel and Tourism Industry Welcomes Introduction of Ten-Year Visas

Ottawa, July 20, 2011 — The Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) enthusiastically welcomed today’s announcement of a new, ten-year multiple-entry visa for international travelers wishing to visit Canada.

Internationally, tourism is the world’s fastest growing export sector, and much of the growth is being fuelled by a newly-mobile middle class in emerging markets such as Brazil, India, China, and Mexico. Enhancing Canada’s ability to welcome these potential visitors has the potential to mean millions of new customers and billions of dollars in foreign currency injected into the Canadian economy.

“A ten-year visa will help to put Canada back on an even footing with other destinations in the competitive international travel market,” said TIAC President and CEO David Goldstein. “This is a common sense solution that will make the visa process more efficient for our government, and more convenient for our valued international visitors.”

TIAC recognizes the work of Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney on identifying the need to facilitate legitimate travel from our key allies and trading partners where there is no threat. Increasing access to Canada is one of the tourism sector’s key priorities, and the need for modernization of our visa system has been articulated as a vital aspect of enhancing access and to help Canada’s tourism sector grow and thrive.

This simple solution will help to bring Canada in line with other destinations, and will provide both travelers and the department with the means to facilitate trade in the tourism sector. It is also a further demonstration of the Harper government’s commitment to promote growth in the tourism sector, and will help to support the interdepartmental initiatives in the forthcoming Federal Tourism Strategy.

Source: press release Tourism Industry Association of Canada

Had enough of Will and Kate? Watch them as they stroll through Ottawa (courtesy Tourism Ottawa)

Cordon Bleu Mexican Chef in Ottawa this week - great French Mexican fusion cusine.

Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa is pleased to announce that Chef Miguel Ángel Quezada, Executive Chef at Casa de Francia five diamond Le Cordon Bleu restaurant in Mexico is visiting Le Cordon Bleu Bistro at Signatures restaurant this week.

Chef Quezada  has created a fantastic Mexican French Fusion menu which will be served at our Ottawa restaurant this Thursday and Friday night only

Pulled pork tortilla, roasted pineapple garnish, achiote sauce

Coconut soup, mango and jicama dice, mint and plantain chips

Sautéed Tilapia chorizo crust, guacamole with guajillo pepper oil

Chocolate fondant from Oaxaca, vanilla ice cream, orange and cherry tomato compote

I don't know about you, but if I was in Ottawa this week, I'd definitely go to the Cordon Bleu. The soup alone looks like it's definitely worth it.

Bon apetit,

Jaime

D

Ontario reaches out to the kids to stimulate domestic tourism

Good idea.

A few days ago, on the last day of school, kids in Ontario received a booklet called the Fun Pass courtesy of the Ontario Government. Good idea to encourage staycations and vacations in the province. Every child in Ontario schools got one. Kids 14 and under get coupons included in the booklet that gives them free admission to several provincial attractions like The Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara; Ontario Place, the Ontario Science Centre and The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington and Sainte-Marie among the Hurons among many others.  So the kids get in for free, but they will have to take at least one (paying) adult with them, right? 

Cheers and happy travels,

Jaime

www.cactusrock.com 

Welcome to Canada Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Princess Catherine

Prince William and Princess Kate arrive in Canada today.  Will you be able to see them in person?  According to the CBC, these are the itinerary highlights:

• June 30 —Their first official function is laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial. They will then head to Rideau Hall where they will be greeted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Governor General and receive full military honours including a 21-gun salute.There will be a youth barbecue and reception in the garden of Government House.

• July 1 — They will attend a citizenship ceremony at the Museum of Civilization and then it's off to Parliament Hill for Canada Day celebrations, where William will briefly address the crowd.

• July 2 — After a tree planting at Rideau Hall and a reception for war veterans and war brides, the couple depart for Montreal. There, they will visit Saint-Justine Hospital, a facility for young cancer patients, and go to the Institut de tourism et d'hotelerie where they will participate in a class of chefs in training. The students will then serve them a private dinner. Amid a fireworks competition in the harbour, the couple board HMCS Montreal for the overnight journey to Quebec City.

• July 3 — The couple will meet the Royal 22nd Regiment, the Van Doos, who have just returned from Afghanistan. Expect an inspection of the guard and a walkabout. They then head to the Citadel and after some down time depart for Levi Fort to participate in a fair. They depart by plane to Charlottetown where they will stay at Government House.

• July 4 — In the morning, they will tour Province House, and be greeted by the Fathers of Confederation on the steps. There will be a welcome by Premier Robert Ghiz and then a walkabout on George Street. Then they will head to Dalvay by the Sea. After a brief rest, they attend an outdoor reception complete with BBQ, dragon boat race and music. They will be greeted by Anne of Green Gables and do a walkabout. They depart for Summerside by helicopter where they will see a search and rescue demonstration and attend a reception for fishermen rescued by such teams. They leave for Yellowknife.

• July 5 — At Somba Ke Civic Plaza, the couple will be welcomed by the premier and aboriginal leaders in a ceremony that includes prayer and drum songs. They will do a walkabout with aboriginal athletic events. At a Territorial Legislature for Youth Parliament event, young people from different ridings will come to the legislature and try to solve a problem of their choosing and report their results to William. The couple then travel by sea plane to Blatchford Lodge to meet with Canadian Rangers. After walking to Dechinta Centre, which tries to recapture the aboriginal language and culture for young people, they return to Yellowknife and retire for the night.

• July 6 —The couple depart for Calgary and have the day to themselves in a private location.

• July 7 — After visiting Foothills Hospital, they head to the BMO Centre for a reception hosted by Harper and his wife. There will be a gift presentation from the government of Canada to the couple and a speech by Harper.

• July 8 — The couple will attend the launch of the Calgary Stampede parade and watch part of the parade. Then they visit ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo. Their final stop is Challenger Rotary Park where William will do an inspection of the guard with full military honours.

Full coverage of the Royal visit on CBC.ca

A Twitter customer care experience from a brand that cares about its customers - IHG again

In my previous post I wrote about the great experience I had at the InterContinental Le Grand Paris. Speaking of IHG brands, on our last night in Paris we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Charles de Gaulle Airport in order to be at our departures gate with plenty of time to check in the next day. As I mentioned in the previous post, I usually look for IHG hotels whenever I travel, but especially when I am not very familiar with the destination. And so we booked a room at this Holiday Inn Express. But this experience did not meet my expectations. It felt short. However, the post-stay-Twitter-customer-care experience made up for it and it's a great example of how a global brand in hospitality is looking after the brand and its customers.

We arrived in the afternoon and checked in. The front desk attendant was very friendly, polite and professional and she gave us an upgrade to an executive room because of my loyalty card status, which was great. Only thing was, this executive room's bed is awful. I was not surprised that the room is very small (as they tend to be in many hotels in Europe), but my wife and I were surprised that the bed in this executive room is a Murphy bed (wall bed). The bed has two metal feet jutting out on either side which one can keep bumping into on account of very little space between the bed and the wall. But we took that in stride and even thought it was a funny thing since we kept bumping into them (as long as we didn't hit a toe, it would be alright). 

But then we tried the bed and this bed is very uncomfortable – uneven – like Murphy beds and pull out couches can be.  We decided to ask for a different room and – coincidentally at that point – there was a blackout at the hotel. All electricity went out. We went to the front desk and waited for Rommie, the front desk manager, to have a minute since she was really trying to do something about the blackout (she was on the mobile phone speaking to someone about it).  Once we were able to talk to her, she understandably told us that she couldn't tell if she had another room to do the switch because her computer was down.  Being close to dinner time – and not knowing if the electricity was coming back any time soon – we decided to go to Paris for supper and deal with the room upon our return to the hotel.  When we returned Rommie had gone home and we told the front desk person in charge about the bed and that we would like another room.  Unfortunately by then all he could offer was a regular smoking room. My wife thought that room could be worse than the exec room (because the smoking room might smell of smoking, which we don’t like at all).  So we kept the exec room and slept there as best we could.  When we checked out and the attendant asked us how our stay was, we said – ok, “but the bed in that room is terrible, really bad.” She did not know how to react and just gave us the bill for € 221.20. 

Before we left for the airport, I tweeted that the bed in question was the worst I had ever slept in at any hotel. We flew back home and several hours later when I checked my Twitter account I saw a reply by IHGCare "We would like to assist w/ your exp..." inviting me to email IHGCare to explain. So I did. Very soon after I sent the email, I got a very nice response and apology for the inconvenience from Global IHG care indicating that they would forward my comments to the appropriate people at the CDG HIE. They also said they would credit my loyalty program account with a few thousand points.  

As I said in the first paragraph, this experience is a great example of using Twitter strategically to protect and enhance a brand's reputation and of showing customers that they are important to the business. IHG is out there listening and responding to customers concerns and doing it in a timely fashion. This ensures that customers remain engaged with the brand and hopefully satisfied.  However, having said all this, I do think that in cases such as this one, it would be much better to empower front line workers to deal with issues like these. The front desk person in charge should have been able to apologize on the spot and to offer me the loyalty program points. If I wasn't a loyalty program member then she should have been able to offer a discount on the rate right there. Many customers are not on Twitter and might not be inclined to try and escalate the issue. You would just lose those customers.  So the moral of the story is: yes, use Twitter to listen, engage, respond and promote, but you should also empower your front line workers to do the same in person and on the spot.

Happy travels.

Jaime

www.cactusrock.com 

The InterContinental Le Grand Paris, a destination unto itself.

I just came back from a vacation in Europe with my wife. 3 nights in Paris and 11 days in Tuscany. My wife had been wishing for this trip for a few years and we were finally able to do it. While I am very happy just travelling in Canada (you see my wife was born here and I wasn't so we see Canada very differently - I haven't had enough of it), I do love Paris and Italy...and so we went. It was a fantastic Holiday and one of the highlights was staying at the InterContinental Le Grand Paris hotel, a historical property across from the Paris Opera.  I have been a guest at many IHG hotels - Holiday Inns, Crowne Plazas, InterContinentals and Indigos.  Way before I started working in digital marketing - before the Internet -  when I was a kid, my family used to stay at Holiday Inns or Crowne Plazas when we vacationed in Mexico. Later on, when I moved to Canada and used to travel to Mexico City on business I always stayed at the Presidente InterContinental.  I like the IHGs because I always know what I'm going to get and, for the most part, they deliver the brand promise.  

Depending on my budget, whenever I go to a new city I look for a Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express or InterContinental (and sometimes a Crowne Plaza or an Indigo).  And since I joined their Priority Club loyalty program years ago, I tend to accumulate many points over time - which are an added bonus (points nights). In Canada I will also consider Delta Hotels (which I have come to know since I came to Canada and they have been clients on my websites for a few years). And so, when we planned our trip to Italy, I wanted to stop in Paris for a few days and I looked for an IHG property. The Paris Le Grand stood out because of it's pedigree and its location. Also, the IHG website does a very good job of introducing the hotel to potential guests. 

The InterContinental Le Grand Paris did not disappoint. The building alone is worth a visit, even if you don't stay there. Have a cafe au lait or dinner at the also historical Café de la Paix. Both the Le Grand and the Café are older than Canada, having been opened to the public in 1862, but age has only enhanced their beauty. We had a fantastic room with a balcony overlooking the Paris Opera House. The bed was fantastic, the decor elegant and the view spectacular. 

I don't have a picture of the Grand Ballroom at the hotel, but it is a remarkable space. Isabelle Bouvier - sales manager - showed it to me. The space is perfect for a Canadian Tourism function.  Unfortunately, I don't have  a picture of the space, but you'll have to take my word for it, it's fantastic.

And then there's the Café de la Paix right at the hotel. Exquisite decor and delicious food.  For lunch or dinner and some good people watching. The Café's guest book is a treasure of notes and doodles by great artists, musicians, designers and the like (from Salvador Dali to Jean Paul Gauthier, to Jerry Lewis to Liza Minelli to Charles Aznavour and more).

The Paris Le Grand, like other InterContinentals caters to the international business crowd (the executive lounge is a very inviting space - on the 5th floor - with plenty of space to have a meeting over coffee or spend some quiet time reviewing documents or reading the paper -  but Le Grand is also perfect for the high end leisure traveler. If you ever want to treat yourself when in Paris, stay a couple of nights at this architectural work of art.

A bientôt,

Jaime

Go Canucks. Vancouver close to the Stanley Cup

Electrifying atmosphere in Vancouver during last the June 10, 2011 Stanley Cup game between the Canucks and the Boston Bruins. It's like the Olympics all over again (but bigger for Hockey fans).

Mexico and Canada. Is it time for Canada to lift Visa restrictions on Mexican visitors? Por supuesto que Sí!

In a rather quiet fashion, on June 29, 2010, Canada's Bill C-11, the Balanced Refugee Reform Act, received Royal Ascent and became law at approximately 5 pm that day.  This very important piece of legislation is a step forward to try and improve Canada's refugee system in order to provide protection and refuge to those who really need it and to dissuade those who make claims without merit from doing so.  Canada has had a generous refugee system for decades. The definition that has guided this system came from what is commonly called the Geneva Convention and it states: ""A person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.." 

Bill C-11 aims to prevent abuse of Canada's refugee system by also implementing a Designated Countries of Origin policy. "The purpose of the Designated Countries of Origin (DCO) policy, the faster processing timelines and the identification of manifestly unfounded claims is to reduce pressure on Canada’s asylum system by deterring unfounded claims, thus contributing to a system that is able to provide faster decisions to those who are in need of protection." Canada Gazette  It is expected that countries like Mexico will be one of these Designated Countries of Origin. Without saying as much, Prime Minister Harper implied on more than one occasion that once Canada fixed its refugee claims system, Canada would look at the issue of visas for Mexican tourists.  Recent articles and editorials in the Globe and Mail have called for the government to revisit the Mexican visa issue and lift the requirement.  The government now has the tools to control and reduce bogus refugee claims.  As other commentators have rightly pointed out, Mexico is Canada's third largest trading partner and part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. More than 2,000 Canadian companies have operations in Mexico. 

Mexico is also a strategic country for Canada in relation to its Latin American foreign policy.  Ever since the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canadian governments have paid lip service to increasing ties with Latin America. I join those who are calling on Prime Minister Harper to put some meat (ie resources) into his own stated desire to improve relationships with the countries in the Americas.  Mexico is the best starting point for Canada's Latin American policy. Over 1 million Canadians visited Mexico in 2010, despite the image problems caused by the war on drugs in that country.  Less than 200,000 Mexicans visited Canada in 2010 as a direct result - not of the visa requirement per se - but rather because of how difficult and involved the process to get one is.  If more than 13 million Mexicans visit the USA annually (with visas) - surely Canada can receive 1/2 million visitors from Mexico every year!  By the way, only Canada surpasses Mexico as top international market for the US when it comes to tourism.  

It's time for Canada to lift the visa requirement for Mexican visitors (or at the very least revisit what is required to obtain a visa and how fast it's done). 


Saludos,


Jaime Horwitz Rodriguez
www.cactusrock.com 

Are American Hispanics the new American Reality and the biggest opportunity for Canadian Tourism?

Guy García, a former Time Magazine staff writer and founder executive director and editor of AOL Latino, recently wrote a piece on the Huffington Post blog entitled "Are Hispanics the New American Reality? Claro que Sí! But Will They Get their Own Museum? Quien Sabe."  García focuses on the still growing Hispanic population in the US and the differences and similarities among the various groups of Hispanics, e.g. Mexican or Colombian and American, or Latino, black and Nuyorican - the various ways in which Hispanics describe themselves. Seen as a market, if the Hispanic population in the United States was a country, it would be the second largest Spanish speaking country in the world, after Mexico. The purchasing power of the US Hispanic population hovers around the 1 trillion $ mark.  García comments on a video produced by the Hispanic/American TV company Univision, in which we are told that Hispanic babies account for 25% of all babies born in the US every year, that in many US places Hispanic children account for 50% of all children. The numbers are impressive: Hispanics will account for 95% of the teen population growth through 2020. And so on.  The article addresses the debate happening in America as to whether Latinos should have their own Latino Museum in Washington, DC or not.  But that's a political issue. The reason I invite you to read the article as well as to see the video (embedded at the end of this post) is to consider the potential of this market for Canadian Tourism. A population of 50 million Hispanic Americans who do not need a visa to visit Canada surely must be of interest to you, if you are in the Canadian Tourism industry.  

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While many Hispanic Americans do visit Canada, we don't know how many because StatCan figures do not distinguish between white Americans, Indo Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans or Hispanic Americans, etc.  Intuitively, I think we are not getting as many US Hispanic visitors as we could.  Marketing to US Hispanics requires a specific focus on sub-markets and zeroing in on those that would be more prone to travel to Canada. The US born Hispanic population is, as Mr García rightly points out, "increasingly bilingual and bicultural" and "multicultural and multifaceted...they watch MTV3res and True Blood, they listen to rap, rock and Mexican banda, sometimes in the same song. Recent studies have shown that Latino identity is malleable, contextual and constantly evolving. Younger Latinos in particularly see no contradiction in calling themselves Dominican, American and black, or Caucasian, Hispanic-American and Colombian, or gaysian, blaxican, or any other racial-cultural-sexual amalgam that fits their nationality, genealogy, sexuality and mood."  And then there's also the non-US born Hispanic population which is also very diverse in income, language preference and education. 

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The key to marketing to Hispanics in the US, in addition to segmenting the overall market and zeroing in on your best prospects, is understanding their bi-culturalism. Your message must be tailored accordingly, but two things to remember as a basic starting point: 1) Hispanics love (need) to have fun and 2) family is paramount.  These 2 points are reflected in their travel habits. Being a Hispanic Canadian, I can attest to these points, but don't take my word for it.  One study by the Tourism Center at the University of Minnesota (with data from the 2006 US Census) found that 33% of Hispanic trips include children under 18 and that the majority (77%) of Hispanics report travelling for purposes of leisure.  And from the US Travel Association we have this little tidbit: "The Hispanic/Latino population in the U.S. is expected to reach 47.8 million by 2010 or 16 percent of the total population.  By 2050, the Hispanic/Latino population is projected to total 102.6 million, comprising 24 percent of the U.S. population.  In 2007, there were an estimated 16.2 million Hispanic adult leisure travelers who took a combined 50.4 million domestic and outbound trips and spent $58.7 billion on their travels. (Source: Profile of Hispanic/Latino Leisure Travelers, 2008 Edition)."  We now know that in 2011, the US Hispanic population is more like 50 million. Regardless of the exact number, the point I want to emphasize is that Canada is uniquely positioned as a tourism destination to attract a substantial number of Hispanic American travelers simply because we are next door, they don't need a visa to enter Canada, and we have fantastic tourism product for them.

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But don't forget Mexico, the rest of Latin America and Spain...(next blogpost)

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Saludos,

Jaime

www.cactusrock.com 

www.canadamigos.com

Princess Kate and Prince William, Duchess and Duke of Cambridge will be in Canada this summer

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Prince William and Princess Kate have chosen Canada for their first official visit as a Royal Couple. They will be in Canada from June 30 to July 8 and will celebrate Canada Day in Ottawa on July 1st. They will visit Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, Quebec and Alberta.

Niagara Falls' Fam Trip

It's been a week or so since my Fam trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario. I have been to Canada's playground many times, but I still haven't seen everything there is to see in the area. Not that I want to see everything, but there are lots of attractions I haven't experienced and many places I haven't visited. So it was a real treat to go on this Fam trip hosted by Niagara Falls Tourism and led by Laura Calaguiro, who was a fantastic hostess. If you are a tour operator, receptive or wholesaler contact Laurie, who can in turn put you in touch with the right people at several hotels and attractions in Niagara Falls.

Hotels - visited the Sheraton on the Falls (where I stayed - thank you Jorge and Wendy for your hospitality)), the Marriott Gateway (formerly Sheraton Fallsview), where we had an excellent breakfast.  Sheraton on the Falls is right around Clifton Hills and connected to a huge water park - great choice for families.  The Marriott Gateway is on the Fallsview side - the strip around the impressive Fallsview Casino.

Shoeless Joe's - had a welcome dinner at Shoeless with fellow Fam trip travellers and hosted by Andrea and Laurie of Niagara Falls Tourism. Shoeless is an excellent choice for informal dinners - in a sports bar kind of atmosphere. Food was very good.

Fallsview Casino Resort - the most impressive casino in Southern Ontario.  Not my first time visiting (and not my last). I had been there a few times before (to see shows at the Avalon Theatre), but I hadn't seen the 17 Noir restaurant, which I'm told is an excellent high-end resto (can't attest to that, since I haven't had dinner there yet). The Fallsview is a vegas style casino resort with all the games, tons of slot machines and a nice shopping galleria.

Elements - the restaurant by the Falls operated by Niagara Falls is one of the best spots to have a great meal with a view of the Horseshoe Falls. The food was excellent. Thanks to Jessica from Niagara Parks for having us.

The Fury - Niagara Falls.  The Fury is one of the newest attractions in Niagara Falls. I won't spoil the experience by telling you exactly what it is. Suffice it to say that it's a lot of fun for the whole family. I know I sound like a commercial, but if I hadn't like it, I would not be disrespectful to our Niagara Parks hosts by writing negatively about it, I just simply would not mention it at all. But I liked it! Felt like a kid again. The Fury is a multi senses experience. Another way to experience the great Niagara Falls.

The Bird Kingdom - Another great attraction for the whole family and for bird lovers everywhere. I had been there before when my daughter was younger. But the thing about the Bird Kingdom is that you may see new birds (or reptiles) if you go several months apart. This time the highlight for me was Star, the new talking parrot (I think she's a quaker parrot). She was the cutest thing (see video below). I'm sorry I don't remember the name of our guide, but she was fantastic, the kind of worker you want at any attraction: friendly, knowledgeable and very likable (I will find out her name and edit this post to include it).

The Skylon Tower - Always a great visit if you go on a sunny day. While it's half the height of the CN Tower, it's tall enough to get great views of the Falls, and both Niagara Falls (NY and Ontario).  Thanks to Lee and his staff for a great meal at the restaurant (I was pleasantly surprised at how good the steak was, accompanied by a delicious glass of Ontario red wine).

The Illumination Tower - another highlight of the fam trip. I knew about the illumination tower, but had never been there. It's not open to the public unless you go with an organized tour/group and arrangements have been made for the group to visit. The lights are operated by Peter. He's been doing this for decades and he's the nicest guy you can meet. He has great stories to tell and has welcomed all kinds of celebrities to the tower. An avid hockey fan (and player in his time) he's hosted many hockey greats at the tower.

The Imax Theatre.  Why go see a movie about the Falls in a theatre that's two blocks away from the Falls? It's a really good film and the screen is gigantic. Sound is great and the stories are engaging (the legend of the maiden indigenous woman who went over the falls instead of marrying the man her father wanted her to, the real stories - recreated - of dare devils who went over the Falls, etc.). I was skeptical about the film, but was very pleased with the experience. During some scenes in the film, I kept asking myself "how did they shoot that?" "how did the get so close?" Well, there's a DVD of the film that has a "making of" documentary where I hope to learn how they were able to make this movie. I haven't had time to watch it yet, but I will soon.

The new Niagara Falls ScotiaBank Convention Centre.  We had an unscheduled visit to the new convention centre. Quite impressive. This is a very good addition to Niagara Falls assets and is sure to bring in more visitors to the city.  The facility can accommodate many different events (from home shows, to sales meetings). It also has a multi purpose theatre that can house concerts and theatre productions.

Jackson Triggs winery.  Another highlight of the visit was the tour of the Jackson Triggs facility where thousands of gallons of wine are made.  The facility is housed in a striking modernist building, that was constructed around the massive tanks where the wine is kept. Our hostess Nina gave us a very interesting tour of the place, which also has an area with the more traditional oak barrels doing their patient wine making work. JT also has a beautiful amphitheater outdoors where they have their summer concerts series. Naturally, we had a wine tasting accompanied by excellent local cheeses - and I brought back a couple of excellent wines. 

Unfortunately I could not stay for the entire Fam trip. I missed some great attractions on the Friday. I really wanted to go the SkyWheel and get a view of the area from the top of the wheel. I also missed Niagara Helicopters - very good clients of mine. I love the helicopter ride over the Falls and I missed this one. I wanted to go the Nightmares Fear Factory because Laura said they were going to be especially scary for us. Next time...soon.

All in all, it was a productive (and fun) trip. Thank you to Niagara Falls Tourism and its participating members.

Jaime
www.cactusrock.com
http://ca.linkedin.com/in/jaimehorwitz 

Niagara Falls' newest Star

Meet Star, Niagara Falls, newest, well....Star