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

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/

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.
But with so much snow already on the ground, the veteran weather prognosticator said he thinks that any upcoming balmy Christmas Day temperatures will not be able to melt away the growing snowfall base.

“It may be in 40 years, the first one,” he said.

As for Sunday’s weather conditions, Phillips didn’t mince words.

“In 10 provinces, every one of them has got some weather misery out there, and an advisory,” he said.

“About the only areas not showing any advisory or warning situations are the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.”

Environment Canada snowfall warnings for Vancouver predict that up to 20 centimetres of snow will fall by Sunday evening, accompanied by bone-chilling wind-chill effects throughout the evening and into Monday.

Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson told The Canadian Press that the Prairies would see very low temperatures, falling into the -30s by Sunday evening.

The storm system that began in southwestern Ontario Sunday morning has left as much as 20 cm of additional snow in some areas, and is now making its way eastward.

However, much of the region is still under blowing snow warnings thanks to high winds that could gust up to 90 kilometres per hour.

According to the Ontario Provincial Police, the morning snowfall caused more than 100 minor collisions north of the Toronto area between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. Sunday.

And at Pearson International Airport, dozens of flights were delayed on Sunday morning — though the runways had mostly been cleared by the afternoon.

With the storm system moving eastward through Sunday afternoon, parts of eastern Ontario, Quebec and much of the Maritimes remain under winter storm or snowfall warnings.

Environment Canada predicts as much as 20 cm of snow to fall in Montreal and 30 cm of snow in other parts of Quebec by the end of the day.

Some 40 flights were cancelled at Montreal’s Trudeau Airport on Sunday, and train passengers were experiencing half-hour and hour-long delays.

The weather was bad enough on Highway 40, near L’Assomption, Que., that at least 30 cars became embroiled in chain-reaction accident.

Both New Brunswick and Newfoundland were expected to see snowfalls of between 10 and 25 cm, with high-speed winds accompanying some storms.

Phillips said some parts of the country are seeing snowfall amounts that have outpaced last year’s record and near-record totals at this point in the season.

But he also said it’s unlikely that trend will continue.

“Already in many places in eastern Canada, we’re ahead of the record from last year,” he said.

“But, you know, we have a long, long way to go. I’m thinking that, hey, there’s not enough left in nature to give us another one of those years.”

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081221/winter_storm_081221/20081221/?hub=TorontoNewHome

All trips to Vancouver should include a sightseeing trip to Stanley Park. The park can be found just outside downtown Vancouver. Other places not to miss include Granville Island, Grouse Mountain, Kitsilano Beach and the Capilano Suspension Bridge.

]]> http://bctravelguides.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/vancouver-dining/feed/ http://bctravelguides.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/whistler-mountain/ http://bctravelguides.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/whistler-mountain/#comments Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:44:09 +0000 BCTravel http://bctravelguides.com/blog/?p=74 Whistler Mountain, situated in the Fitzsimmons Range in BC, is home to the world famous Whistler Blackcomb ski resort. It is considered my many to be one of the top skiing destinations world wide, with over 1 million vacationers visiting each year.

Initially the mountain was called London Mountain with the town positioned in the valley called Alta Lake. In the 1960s a resort was built in the area and London Mountain become Whistler due to the whistling sounds the marmots create.

Whistler Skiing

The first people in BC probably traveled from Asia via great land bridge that crossed the Bering Sea. The forests advanced as the ice moved back and the varying sea levels exposed the temporary bridge from Asia to North America.Prior to European arrival, BC’s first nations population may have neared 300 000. Until 1778 their way of life remained undisturbed until the arrival of the British.
British Columbia Vacation

The Sutton Hotel Vancouver is only a few blocks from some the city’s best shopping on Robson Street which is home to numerous top boutique and fashion shops. There is always something unique about the Sutton Hotel.

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