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Hockey game on Gates Lake, north of Pemberton | Destination BC/Mason Mashon
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Marsha Walden, President and CEO, Destination British Columbia.
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A Message From Marsha Walden: 2019 Year in Review
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It has been a tremendous year growing tourism together. Guided by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture’s strategic framework, Welcoming Visitors, Benefiting Locals, Working Together: A Strategic Framework for Tourism in British Columbia tourism in BC has continued on its upward trajectory, with increasing revenues, employment, wages, and visitors.
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As another busy year draws to a close, and before we embark on the next one, I’d like to thank all of our industry partners for creating a tourism success story in British Columbia. Through powerful partnerships, our collective efforts have made tourism one of the fastest growing industries in the province, outpacing GDP growth in our economy as a whole by almost double. And, despite some headwinds from geo-political and economic uncertainty, future prospects for our visitor economy remain strong.
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L-R: Hon. Shane Simpson, Nancy Harris of Spinal Cord Injury BC, Marsha Walden, Hon. Lisa Beare, and MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert announced the framework on Dec 6.
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Accessibility Framework for BC Tourism
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On December 6, 2019, The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and Destination BC announced a multi-phased plan to make BC tourism more accessible and inclusive. The framework aims to build capacity within the industry and champion meaningful tourism employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Phase one focuses on improving the visitor experience by creating an accessibility resources page on DestinationBC.ca and mobility-focused travel itineraries on HelloBC.com.
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Slopeside chalets at SilverStar Mountain Resort
| Destination BC/Andrew Strain
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Better Together: Destination Development
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A vibrant and resilient tourism economy that provides long-term, sustainable tourism growth for visitors and BC residents in all areas of the province requires thoughtful planning and collaboration. Destination BC and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture have been working collaboratively with partners across BC to create 10-year destination development strategies for each area of the province. These plans will help to guide the long-term growth of tourism experiences and revenues in BC.
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Surfing at Chesterman Beach in Tofino | Photo Credit: Power To Be
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Creating Accessible Travel Experiences
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Destination BC has developed accessible tourism resources for its industry Learning Centre to provide BC tourism businesses with practical information to improve their accessible product and service offerings, as well as highlight the business case for hiring inclusively. These include:
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Educational videos;
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Case studies of BC businesses championing accessible travel;
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Articles about the importance of using inclusive language; and
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Recommendations for making buildings more accessible.
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Grow with Google workshop in Cranbrook, June 2019.
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New Year, New Workshop Dates
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| Whether your interest is developing new tourism experiences for your guests, catching up on all things Google, or learning about Content Marketing Strategy, we have a workshop for you in 2020. New dates and locations for workshops across the province are now available on the Learning Centre. Register and claim your seat today! |
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Accessible features on HelloBC.com business listing.
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New Accessibility Features Available for Businesses on HelloBC.com
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BC tourism businesses can now add accessibility features across four categories—mobility, vision, hearing and general—to their business listing on HelloBC.com. We encourage all businesses to update their listings to help improve and enhance accessibility planning and travel information for visitors. For more information, visit our Accessibility page, where you will find "Toward an Inclusive and Accessible British Columbia Tourism Industry", our three-year strategic framework and action plan.
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Harbour Air makes aviation history on 10 December, 2019.
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Harbour Air: Seaplane to ePlane
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The world’s first all-electric commercial aircraft has successfully completed a test flight! Operated by Harbour Air, the inaugural flight from the company's YVR South location marks the first step in becoming the world's first all-electric commercial fleet. Congratulations Harbour Air and MagniX for your commitment to clean travel, launching the world into the electric aviation era and making history here in British Columbia.
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Every fall, Destination BC and BC ski partners travel to Denver, Boulder, Seattle and Toronto to host a series of media events. These events help foster collaboration across the sector and create opportunities for partners to network with key media, pitch ski stories and generate earned coverage for the season ahead. One event alone attracted 48 media, with attendees commenting that they look forward to these event each year.
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The pair relived memories in Vancouver and Richmond, as well as exploring Victoria and Whistler.
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Destination Canada and Destination BC hosted a filming trip last December to create winter content for this year. A two-part video story of China’s top figure skating pair, Pang Qing and Tong Jian, who were the champions in 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, was promoted across social media platforms in China following the pair's debut at the World Winter Sports Expo in Beijing in October. Results to date include 70K video views on Qyer and +1.5M views on Toutiao.
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Meet The Locals - Soren Farenholtz.
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'Meet the Locals' Campaign Wins Award
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Tourism Kamloops took home the Best Visual Storytelling Award at Crowdriff’s SEE 2019 conference in Toronto in November. The Award recognizes Tourism Kamloops’ inspirational "Meet the Locals" campaign, which is helping to bring the Kamloops story to life through partnerships with local content creators, told through the lens of Kamloops residents using video, photos, blogs and social media.
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Destination BC's Joanne Motta introduces the IMAX film to 400+ attendees .
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Aussie Premier of Great Bear Rainforest Film
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Earlier this month, Destination BC invited 50 travel trade, media and airline partners to co-host the Australian premiere of the Great Bear Rainforest film in partnership with IMAX Melbourne, welcoming over 400 industry guests to the event. The film will be open to the public from January 2, 2020, to coincide with Australian schools holidays and the peak of summer, when people will be looking for indoor activities out of the sunshine. This release forms part of Destination BC's British Columbia Effect global brand campaign in Australia.
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The Vancouver Convention Centre.
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Vancouver Welcomes One of its Largest Conferences To Date
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In November, Vancouver Convention Centre and Tourism Vancouver welcomed one of the city's largest conferences to date, with an estimated 14,000 attendees, contributing approximately $32.5 million in direct spending to the local economy. It is the eleventh time the conference—NeurIPS 2019—has been held in Vancouver and the first time it will take place at the Vancouver Convention Centre, which it is set to return to in 2020.
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Hart Farm campsite on Kitsumkalam Lake | Destination BC/Grant Harder
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New Discover Camping System Live
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BC Parks has launched the new Discover Camping reservation system, offering additional services and user-friendly features to make the booking experience more enjoyable. More features will be added in stages, including: add-on options, such as firewood, ice and park related merchandise; and an option to purchase and send e-gift cards to family and friends for use on the Discover Camping system. Learn more about the new system on the FAQ page.
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Winter tire and chains in effect on BC highways until April 30, 2020
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Shift Into Winter with TranBC
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TranBC's goal is to provide useful, timely, accessible, relevant information to anyone using BC's roads and highways. They use a range of online communications platforms, including the @DriveBC and @TranBC Twitter accounts, but the main content hub is the TranBC blog. The blog is regularly updated and an excellent source for driver education and safety, with topics like Visiting BC during the Winter? Here’s What You Need to Know, Before You Go.
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Share your thoughts by January 10, 2020
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BC is Getting Climate Ready—Get Involved
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As part of the CleanBC initiative, The Province is taking steps to prepare and respond to the impacts of climate change. Share your thoughts on how climate change is affecting you, along with your visions on how we can build a resilient, climate-ready future. Your input will help The Province better understand how to develop policies and programs that support communities across BC.
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Help modernize British Columbia's EPA | Province of BC
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BC's Emergency Program Act Modernization
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Emergency Management BC (EMBC) is modernizing the Emergency Program Act (EPA) to support more effective management of emergencies in BC. The Province is seeking input from its many emergency management partners and the public on the recently released discussion paper, which explains the need for new legislation and outlines the proposed policy direction. We encourage all tourism partners to provide feedback by 4PM on January 31, 2020.
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BC Tourism Industry Awards, nominations open
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Recognize excellence in BC's tourism industry by nominating an industry individual or organization in one of seven award categories. Winners will be announced at the Tourism Industry Conference, March 4-6.
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BC Tourism Industry Conference, register now
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Registration is open for BC's Tourism Industry Conference 2020! Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with experts and partners from across the province to explore key issues, challenges and best practices in BC tourism.
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Global Sustainable Tourism Conference, Kelowna 2020
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The 2020 GSTC Global Conference will take place in Kelowna from November 19-22, 2020, which will be the first time the conference is hosted in Canada!
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