Conexion Spain Virtual Trade Fair starts March 12

Conexion Spain Virtual Trade Fair for US and Canadian tourism operators who want to build their outbound business to the 2nd most visited destination in the world starts in 5 days: March 12, 2012

As I mentioned in my previous blogpost, I participated in this virtual tourism fair last year and I found it fascinating both from the technology stand point and as an excellent place to learn more about Spain (one of my favourite countries) and make great connections with Spanish tourism destinations and businesses. If you sell Spain, join the Conexion Spain (and maybe I'll see you there).

Conexion Spain, A meeting place to connect, plan and imagine.

Shedule

Networking Week:
March 12th to 16th

Workshops:
April 17-18: Idiomatic Tourism
May 16-17: MICE
June 19-20: LGBT
September 19-20: Golf
November 14-15: Cruises
December 12-13: Tour Operators and Travel Agencies

Register here: http://www.conexionspainvirtual.com/

Saludos,

Jaime Horwitz Rodriguez MBA
www.cactusrock.com

Better times coming? June saw good growth in inbound tourism to Canada

Statcan's Advance Travel Information Bulletin for June 2010 had good news for Canadian tourism. Visits from the United States were up 5.6% from June of last year, Europe was up 3.7%, Asia was up a stunning 33.5%. Even the beaten up Mexican inbound market did better with a drop of 38,3% compared to June 2009, but far from the disastrous drops of last year when it was down 60% in some months. It appears that Mexicans are getting used to the fact that they need visas to visit Canada and the anger of the sudden imposition of visa restrictions has subsided. Visits from South Americans were also significantly up in June 2010 with a 22.9% increase over 2009. Finally, inbound tourism from Australia and New Zealand also showed great progress with 17.9% and 21.3% growth respectively.

Let's hope that this is the beginning of a trend :-)

Jaime

Past Chair Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference

Canada should bid for the World Cup of Soccer - Top Ten Reasons

The World Cup of Soccer is the largest single sport event in the world. It is truly the only World Competition in which most nations of the world participate. The globally televised event billions of us enjoy every four years is only the finals, the top 32 of the 280 nations whose Federations are members of FIFA. Canada can and should bid to host a World Cup as soon as possible.

Top ten reasons Why Canada should bid for a World Cup:

1. A very high ROE (Return on Exposure)
2. Canada successfully hosted the U20 World Cup where many of the stars who played in South Africa 2010 got their World Cup start
3. Canada has successfully staged 3 Olympic Games
4. Canada is one of the most successful multi-cultural countries in the world
5. A large number of Canada's ethnic communities are soccer crazy
6. Canada's access to a multi-cultural, multi-lingual work force makes it an ideal country to host the Cup
7. With all the love and respect to our national obsession with Hockey, there are more Canadian kids registered in soccer programs than in hockey programs
8. While there's no way to tell where Canada's economy will be in 2018, 2022 and 2026, currently we have one of the most stable economies in the world (bids for 2018 and 2022 may be closed already, but we could go for 2022 and/or 2026 and/or 2030)
9. Because it's the "Beautiful Game" for a "Beautiful Country"
10. It's the only way in the foreseeable future that Canada's National team can participate in a World Cup (host nation gets automatic pass in the top 32)

Cheers, And Viva España!

Jaime

Don't kid yourself, the G8 and G20 Summits are not for or about tourism

Next week Ontario hosts the G8 and G20 Summits, by all accounts, the most expensive G8 and G20 Summits ever. While I can understand the importance of security for these types of gatherings, one billion dollars plus is outrageous. Maybe it's time for world leaders to start using video conferencing. As an informed citizen, I follow these summits as much as I can. One of my frustrations is that once the meetings are over and the pronouncements, announcements and photo opps are finished the media go on to the next thing, the next crises. It's very difficult to ascertain whether any of the promises made at the summits are kept. Many years ago Canada pledged over five hundred million dollars of aid to Africa. Did we deliver? I don't know.

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Some politicians say that the eyes of the world will be focused on Muskoka and Toronto and that this will benefit tourism. What? It may benefit some tourism businesses (mainly hotels) during the week the summits are held, but if you read or watch media when the G8 and the G20 meet you will see that the coverage is about politics, the economy and the protests, not about the tourism attractions of the host cities. Toronto's downtown core around the Entertainment District is starting to look like a concrete fortress. And don't get me started about the fake lake in Muskoka! Simon Houpts article in the Globe and Mail and CTV, "Will tis really sell Toronto" makes the point abundantly clear. So let's not kid ourselves, the G8 and G20 summits are not the best way to promote destinations.

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On the other hand, the coming Pan American Games in Toronto in 2015 are a great opportunity to showcase Ontario to a market of over 900 million people...

Canada-e-Connect 2010 went viral and international. Musings #CEC2010 Post #4 Cajun_Mama's video: the Travel Bloggers Forum

Shannon Hurst Lane set up her laptop to Ustream our Canada-e-Connect 2010

Travel Bloggers and Twitterers panel with her, Wendy Perrin and Kim Mance, and myself moderating

Thanks Shannon.

Spotlight on Shannon Hurst Lane of TravelingMamas.com - Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference

Shannon Hurst Lane has been a freelance travel writer for almost a decade and has always dabbled in the online world sharing her love of all things travel with her readers. She is the author of travel guides and the self-help book The Definitive Guide to Travel Writing. She is the creator and curator of the TravelingMamas.com blog. I read the Mamas every now and then to learn about various NorthAmerican destinations and little known travel spots, but it's clear to me that their content is geared to women for the most part. TravelingMamas write, among other things, about Romantic Getaways, Family Travel, Culinary Travel, Girlfriend Getaways and Adventure Travel.

One of Shannon's websites was named as a Nielsen Power Mom site, and she is proud to be able to provide valuable learning opportunities through travel to younger generations. Shannon has devoted herself to sharing social media strategies with the travel industry, through speaking engagements and one on one consults. Shannon is the CEO of Lane Media, LLC, a Louisiana-based media publishing company.

I am looking forward to moderating The International Travel Bloggers & Twitterers Forum – Presented by Ottawa Tourism and the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership at Canada-e-Connect Montreal 2010 where Shannon, Kim Mance and Wendy Perrin will be the panelists.

A bientôt,

Jaime Horwitz MBA

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Spotlight on Philippe Fabry, eTourism Manager for Atout France, speaking at Canada-e-Connect Montreal 2010

I follow Philippe Fabry on Twitter @filifab. I became a follower of his after I discovered him via my fellow Tourism T-List blogger, Claude Benard. Philippe Fabry has been working in the travel and tourism industry since 2003. He graduated from Limoges University in Knowledge Management and Online Community Management and now works as the e-tourism Manager at ATOUT FRANCE, France Tourism Development Agency. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Tourism, ATOUT France’s mission is to promote France as a destination for business and leisure and developing competitiveness in the tourism sector. It will very interesting to hear Philippe speak about the new digital era and the power of the consumer/traveler and how the new ways of communicating have impacted tourism in France, the number one destination in the world. What are the strategies that he sees growing out of the social media revolution. What is France doing in this space? Can Canada compete? Is Canada competing?

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Philippe blogs at www.tourisme-tic.com.

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Jaime Horwitz MBA

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Spotlight on Maria Ziv and Emmanuelle Legault - Canada-e-Connect 2010

Maria Ziv and Emmanuelle Legault are two of the foremost experts in the new digital marketing space. Or as experts as one can be with such a dynamic and revolutionary medium. Perhaps we can call them Digital Media practitioners and strategists. Maria is the Marketing Communications Director at VisitSweden and one of the people responsible for the fantastic and award winning social networking site CommunityofSweden (or CoS as some of us members call it). Community of Sweden is one of the most successful destination related social media websites.

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Emmanuelle is the Director of Communications at Tourisme Montreal and one of the main architects of Tourisme Montreal's Digital Strategy. Under her leadership the digital marketing team at Tourisme Montreal embarked on a bold assignment by shifting their entire budget online, 100%. Emmanuelle announced this initiative at last year's Canada-e-Connect conference in Toronto generating a lot of buzz in the eTourism blogosphere. The results for this bold move have been very positive, increasing bookings for Montreal's Sweet Deal packages by 51% and generating countless mentions, blogposts, comments and other social media goodies. Read more about this here: Tourisme Montréal: the shift to 100% Web-based advertising yields positive results.

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Maria Ziv and Emmanuelle Legault will present and discuss their respective e-tourism strategies at Canada-e-Connect 2010 in Montreal on January 28. Maria and Emmanuelle will engage in an interactive discussion over what tools and techniques have and haven't worked for their destination. It should be a not-to-be-missed session.

Register before it's sold out at www.canadaeconnect.com

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Jaime Horwitz

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

Presented by TIAC in collaboration with PhoCusWright

Spotlight on Bertrand Cesvet and Conversational Capital - Canada-e-Connect 2010

Bertrand Cesvet is brilliant. Yes, a brilliant communicator and AdMan, Cesvet is the chairman and chief strategist of award winning agency Sid Lee. The AdMan term in this day and age is not quite appropriate. The advertising business has been turned on its head by the advent of social media and the power of the consumer. Cesvet understands this better than many in the advertising and communications business. His book Conversational Capital, co-written with Tony Babinki and Eric Alper is a case in point. Cesvet understands that today conversations have more power than ever. We've always known that positive word-of-mouth is the most powerful advertising any product can have. The difference today is that this word-of-mouth can now spread virally to thousands of people (and in some cases hundreds of thousands) very quickly in social media. Enter Conversational Capital. At its simplest, I understand Conversational Capital as the value of the conversations generated by a product, service, artist, or in the case of tourism, a destination or an experience. The hard part is how to create this Conversational Capital. It's very hard. But not impossible. And, contrary to what some people may think in regards to social media, creating word of mouth does not only happen through happy accidents (Banff Squirrel, Knut the Polar Bear), but through careful planning, flexibility (you must be ready to act at a moment's notice) and lots of creativity (Dove). And it may not be inexpensive as some people think when it comes to social media.

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The challenge for tourism marketers is to translate the lessons of the book into action. Tourism is very different than most other products, especially those that are known by their brands. One of the reasons for this is that the relationship with tourism product is normally very fleeting, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Not much repeat business -except perhaps for tourism products in certain categories, like skiing and beach getaways and business trips that take a traveler to the same city over and over again. While, I don't have hard data, I tend to believe that most vacationers want to go to many places around the world, but will not necessarily go back again and again, given the myriad destinations available. Thus the relationship with a destination is not the same as with other products like a car, a smart phone, an artist who has a new movie or a new album out every so often. Once, you've been to Paris you may want to go to Rome next time.

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So how can you work with the 10 engines of Conversational Capital - Rituals, Initiation, Exclusive Product Offering, Over-Delivery, Myths, Relevant Sensory Oddity, Icons, Tribalism, Endorsement and Continuity - to attract tourists to your destination or attraction? This is the key question, one, that I'm sure Bertrand will address during his keynote presentation at Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy Conference 2010 next January in Montreal. Try not to miss it. Register at www.canadaeconnect.com .

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Jaime Horwitz

Co-Chair Canada-e-Connect 2010

A TIAC conference in cooperation with PhoCusWright

Ban the Seal Hunt. Cutting your nose to Spite your Face - The Canadian Seal Hunt and Canadian Tourism.

For the record. I am personally against the Canadian Seal Hunt. The following post reflects my opinion only and not necessarily that of anyone else in the Canadian tourism industry. I do wonder, however, why don't I hear more voices in the industry talking about this issue. What is the industry's position on the Seal Hunt? Join the conversation.

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I find it appalling and very disappointing that Parliament unanimously approved a motion to use the Winter Games to promote seal products. Talk about cutting your nose to spite your face. The way Canadian governments have defended this practice and dying industry for so long reminds me of 6 year olds, who stubbornly cling to an old useless (and potentially dangerous) toy. What they have done with this motion is provide PETA with more ammunition to bash Canada before, during and after the Games. Besides my personal opposition to the Seal Hunt, I care about the tourism industry very much and I care about Canada's image in the world as well. I know my business has been affected (because people let me know every Spring with not very polite emails or blog comments). This "brilliant" idea from Bloc Québécois MP Raynald Blais to use the Games to promote seal products is not only not helpful to the Canadian Tourism industry, but actually harmful. Expect to see PETA activists along the route of the Olympic Torch. Expect to see YouTube videos, Tweets, Blog Posts, publicity stunts and many other PETA tactics that are not limited by political concerns as much of our tourism promotion is.

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The seal products industry is an industry in fast decline. The market for seal products around the world is sinking (and I don't personally know anyone in Canada who would buy anything containing seal products). This is a fact, whatever your position on the seal hunt may be. According to a long article about the Seal Hunt on the CBC website, the expected price for a seal pelt in 2009 is $15 per pelt. This represents a 78% drop from the price in 2006! Any first year business student would tell you, "get out of this business," the ROI is just not there. Currently, even Russia has stopped the practice, "after Prime Minister Vladimir Puttin called the hunt a bloody industry." (Globe and Mail. A6)

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According to the CBC article, the Seal Hunt constitutes only a fraction of Newfoundland and Labrador's $600 million fishery. Only about 1% of the population there derives some income from the Seal Hunt. "The governments argue that's a substantial number for rural communities, and comparable to other industries." That may be so, in percentage terms, but the writing is on the wall. With the EU ban on seal products in place, notwithstanding Canadian politicians protestations, the market for seal products is just going to decline further. The Canadian Tourism Industry is a multi-billion dollar industry which depends, in good measure, on Canada's image internationally. I don't know of any studies or surveys that quantify the loss of revenue in tourism to Canada because of the seal hunt, but I get the feeling that it's not a pittance.

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Instead of throwing temper tantrums and clinging to a dying industry, Canadian politicians and Seal Hunt advocates should calm down and work to find solutions to the problem. It's not the first time that a region has to deal with changing times, changing tastes, diminishing returns and disappearing industries. In past years, there have been ideas put forth by various people regarding how to help the sealers find other occupations. They too must see clearly that the trend is clear and they better find other sources of income. Could there be opportunities in tourism? I understand that navigating the waters off Newfoundland & Labrador in early spring might be difficult, but what about modifying icebreakers and turn them into seal observation vessels for tourists to go see the seals? What about "adotpion?" I'm just brainstorming here. But I would be willing to "adopt" baby seals every year. If the price of a pelt in 2009 is $15, I'd be happy to adopt ten seals and send $150 dollars to a former sealer who would now "symbolically" protect my adopted seals. Make it 20 seals. Something like this could get traction around the world "Adopt a Canadian baby Seal." We could go out and shoot the seals (WITH a CAMERA) in their habitat and post videos on YouTube showing our "adopted" babies. Weather permitting there could be helicopter rides to go see the seals. I am sure that better minds than mind can come up with alternatives to the seal hunt that would benefit former sealer and start new industries in the region. Besides, my personal feelings about the hunt, I agree with Margartet Wente of the Globe and Mail who writes "The truth is that the hunt is a global embarrasment and nothing short of banning it will change that."

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The eyes of the world will be on Canada for the next several months leading up to the Olympics. What do we want them to see?
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Things Change. Times Change. the Seal Hunt must End. Let me know where to send my cheque.
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Jaime Horwitz MBA

Tourisme Montreal making waves in the blogosphere with its 100% digital marketing budget.

Gasps and wow's were heard during last month's Canada-e-Connect conference when Emanuelle Legault, Directrice, Communications et Publicité, mentioned during her presentation that Tourism Montreal's marketing budget was going digital 100%. Since then, the blogosphere has been abuzz with comments (mostly very positive) about this bold move. I myself am in awe that a Canadian destination has become the (as far as we know) first destination in the world to put its money where most of the worlds' travellers are today, that is in the digital space (whether accessed via a computer or a mobile device). If you can read German see what the TourismusZukunft blog had to say about it. Otherwise read the excellent article by Vicky Brock in her Tracking Tourism: The Tourism Research Blog. The also German Cofree blog blogged about this today. Canada's Marketing Magazine has also featured news about this strategy.

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I am confident that Tourism Montreal's strategy will pay off, especially in this challenging yearmuch success, and I wish them . If at all possible, we hope to see an update presentation by Tourism Montreal at Canada-e-Connect 2010.
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Jaime Horwitz MBA
www.montrealenespanol.com

Sweden, Bjorn, the Winter Games and the Big Idea

At the recently concluded Canada-e-Connect eTourism Strategy 2009 conference, Terry O'Reilly, adman, enabler, radio personality and raconteur extraordinaire, talked about the Big Idea in communications whether it's in an ad, a blog post, a prosumer video or a multi-million advertising campaign. His presentation was entitled "Ideas Move Mountains." Here's an idea on video I found on the home page of the CommunityofSweden social networking site. I don't know what the genesis of the idea is, but I think Terry would agree with me, it's good. Perhaps risqué for Canadian sensitivities, but this YouTube video makes the point in a very...well...why don't you see it and decide for yourself. Oh and by the way, this particularly idea may or may not move mountains, but it certainly went to a few mountain peaks. It certainly sparked my interest in Sweden's Åre and Östersund ski destinations.

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(unfortunately, if he goes, I may not see Bjorn in Vancouver in 2010 because I did not get a single ticket from the games' lottery, which by the way upsets me to no end)

By the way, if you have any great ideas you may want to share or any big ideas you may have seen in tourism marketing let me know and if I agree with you, I'll blog about them.

Jaime Horwitz

www.canadamigos.com