Best of BC

By Bruce Constantineau

B.C. tourism marketers face budget cutbacks that will challenge their ability to take advantage of the global exposure coming their way from the 2010 Olympics.

Tourism Vancouver has lost 14 people — nearly 20 per cent of its workforce — through attrition and layoffs in the past two months.

Tourism Victoria has cut 4.5 full-time positions through attrition the past six months and will review staffing levels on a quarterly basis.

Tourism Whistler expects to maintain its 75-person workforce, but will cut overhead costs such as travel expenses wherever it can.

Falling corporate sponsorship and hotel tax revenues this year are forcing tourism marketers to scramble to offset expected revenue shortfalls.

Tourism Vancouver president Rick Antonson expects his organization’s 2009 budget will be about $1.6 million less than its $13-million budget last year.

“Everybody has fewer dollars to work with now and nobody seems to be sure how or when it’s going to end,” he said. “It just seems prudent to maintain a practical financial situation.

“That means looking at everything you’re doing and making sure it’s the right use of program resources and human resources.”

Antonson said the budget cutbacks will force all tourism agencies to engage in more joint marketing efforts.

“We have to become a lot more efficient and learn how to drive new partnerships,” he said.

Tourism Victoria president Robert Gialloreto said staff salaries have been frozen and staff attrition combined with cuts to non-core programs — such as consulting for professional development — have already cut about $200,000 from his organization’s $4-million annual budget.

“We’re still faithful to the core mission to market our destination and bring people here,” he said. “2009 is not a time to hide your head in the sand. We’re blessed with a great brand and we have to be out there swinging hard.”

Tourism BC president Rod Harris said the provincial tourism marketing agency will cut overhead costs where it can but it won’t reduce staffing levels. He said Tourism BC’s 2009-2010 budget will benefit from a March 31 year-end that includes a surge in revenues from Games-related activities.

“The opportunity we’re about to embrace with the Olympics will be unsurpassed and we will never get as great an opportunity to showcase British Columbia to the world,” Harris said.

Tourism Whistler president Barrett Fisher said her agency won’t face the severe cutbacks faced by some others this year because about 70 per cent of its funding comes from member assessments, which have increased by two per cent this year.

The rest comes from sources such as hotel taxes, corporate sponsorship and operations.

Fisher expects hotel tax revenues will decline this year but plans to offset that decline with overhead cuts that won’t affect marketing programs.

“Here we are looking at probably our biggest positive opportunity, yet we have this [budget] challenge,” she said. “We have some pretty aggressive 2010 plans and we don’t want to put those items at risk.”

Fisher said Tourism Whistler may save money by backing away from new market segments such as health and wellness, and arts and culture, to focus on traditional lucrative core markets such as skiing and summer activities.

http://www.canada.com/Travel/Layoffs+tourism+industry/1252207/story.html

BURNABY, BC, Jan. 22 /CNW/ - The British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA) achieved new highs in membership, home insurance policies and operating revenues, making 2008 the most successful year in the association’s 102-year history.
Consolidated net revenues climbed to a record $130 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2008, an increase of 3.3 per cent over the fiscal 2007 figure of $126 million. Membership in the association reached 793,104, a two per cent rise over the previous record set in 2007.
Despite softening travel revenues, BCAA’s net income exceeded last year’s figure, due primarily to higher insurance revenues, lower than expected claims costs, mild weather conditions, and careful cost management. Net income for 2008 was $10.1 million compared to $5.7 million a year earlier.
President and CEO Bill Bullis says while BCAA had plenty to celebrate in 2008, the celebration has been short lived as the Association experiences the impact of a global economic downturn. “There’s no question that 2009 is going to be very different from 2008,” says Bullis. “Like many other businesses, BCAA will be challenged in 2009 to match our recent growth and financial performance. Nonetheless, we’re confident that what we’ve built over the past few years puts us in a very good position to continue meeting the needs of members and customers, and to respond quickly to opportunities as they arise.”
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2009/22/c9689.html

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 26 (UPI) — Travel improved in parts of Canada Friday after being significantly hampered by heavy winter storms during the Christmas holiday, forecasters say.

As more winter weather bore down on British Columbia, both the TransLink and West Coast Express transport groups announced operations were finally running normally. the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said Thursday.

The improvement comes after reports of road, air and railway delays during the holiday week in parts of Canada hit worst by winter weather.

Nova Scotia residents had electrical power once again after inclement weather on Christmas Day left nearly 10,000 Nova Scotia Power customers in the dark.

Canwest News Service said the holiday airline backlog was also finally clearing up.

“Today, all runways are clear and operational,” Vancouver Airport Authority spokeswoman Rebecca Catley said.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/26/Canadian_travel_regroups_from_icy_weather/UPI-46711230320882/

The first day of winter brought wind-chill warnings, snow and a bevy of storms to cities across Canada on Sunday, potentially laying the groundwork for the first cross-country white Christmas in nearly four decades.

Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips told CTV Newsnet that “it looks like a very good chance” it will be a white Christmas for all parts of Canada for the first time since 1971.

“It’s just sort of the beginning of winter, and it’s a little much to expect when we have so many different climatic types in this country for it to be frozen and snow-covered from right across the huge country,” he told CTV Newsnet on Sunday. (more…)

The magnificent west coast of Canada is famous for its mild climate with some of the warmest weather in Canada. The weather of BC differs from marine to continental and is influenced by its position east of the relatively warm Pacific Ocean, the north-south location of its huge mountain chains, the westerly winds and BC’s northerly latitude.

The summer months bring a weakening in the west to east air flow in combination with the persistent high pressure off the coast means less rain throughout the province. As a result, summers tend to be dry throughout most of BC. In winter, the province is affected occasionally by much colder, drier air from the Arctic. British Columbia Travel

PEMBERTON, B.C. — “Oh my God, it smells like cows.” And with that comment, as she stepped off the shuttle bus yesterday from one of the dusty festival parking lots, an urban hipster began her three-day Pemberton Festival experience. Indeed, there are many cows in this lush valley, but their “essence” was quickly replaced with the scent of young humanity: beer, barbecue and B.C. Bud.

The giant, inaugural music festival, featuring international acts such as Coldplay (one of the festival’s producers), Jay-Z and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, has invaded the quiet village of Pemberton, about 150 kilometres north of Vancouver. The population of slightly more than 2,000 has swelled to about 40,000 this weekend, wreaking havoc on the roads - and at the festival site.
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A senior Canadian border official says traffic at the Canada-U.S. border will be no busier during the 2010 Winter Olympics than a summer Saturday, raising concerns that the Canadian government isn’t taking border issues around the Games seriously.

New technologies similar to what the U.S. is already implementing will be in place on the Canadian side by Games time, said Blake Delgaty, the Pacific Regional Director for the Canadian Border Services Agency.
(more…)

The streets of Canadian cities are crowded with bicycles, scooters, mopeds and even bicycle-powered taxis, as well as the streams of traditionally powered cars. What we seldom see are small, low-speed, electrically powered vehicles.

That should change, as more provinces encourage these environmentally friendly vehicles to operate on city streets. Just yesterday, Quebec began a three-year pilot project that will permit two models of slow-speed electric vehicles to travel on roads that have speed limits under 50 kilometres per hour. British Columbia recently changed its laws to let electric cars operate on any road in the province with speed limits of 40 kilometres an hour or less. Manitoba will soon introduce legislation to encourage low-speed electric cars, and other provinces are expected to follow suit.

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VANCOUVER — A gruesome discovery awaits the B.C. Conservation Officer Service near a small island off B.C.’s central coast.

Officers were told by a witness last week that staff at the Lagoon Cove Marina on Cracroft Island had shot a young grizzly bear, dragged its carcass down to a boat, tied a few car batteries around its neck and threw it overboard.

Baden Cross, a researcher with the Valhalla Wilderness Society who is often contracted by the government to map bear-human conflict zones, was canoeing with his wife nearby when he heard the shot fired at the marina.
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Western Canada Bureau Chief

Vancouver–Last August, a 12-year-old girl found a sneaker on the beach and, intrigued at her discovery, she sat down, untied the laces and out fell the remains of a human foot.

She was likely the last person in British Columbia to pick up a shoe along the shoreline without fearing what they would find.

Since then, four other feet have washed ashore. What was thought to be a sixth foot was found on the shores of Vancouver Island on Wednesday, but investigators quickly discovered it was a hoax, a skeletonized animal paw, packed with seaweed and stuffed inside a sock and a running shoe.
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