Travel to Nova Scotia

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TIAC, The Tourism Industry Association of Canada, is presenting Canada-e-Connect (CEC), an e-Tourism Strategy Conference for Canadian tourism on January 21-23, 2009 in Toronto, ON.

In order to kick-start a flailing tourism industry the CEC will bring the tourism industry and technology together for a conference featuring keynote speakers including Google’s Rob Torres as well as Terry O’Reilly, the founder of Pirate Radio and Television, the largest audio production company in Canada. He is also the host of CBC Radio One’s Age of Persuasion. In hs career,  O’Reilly has won over 400 national and international awards for directing and writing and has been named as one of “Most Influential” figures in Marketing magazine’s annual “Power 100 List.”

In all, Rob Torres has logged more than 15 years of travel industry experience.  As Google’s Industry Director of Advertising and Marketing for the North American travel sector, Rob oversees the development and growth with integrated and innovative advertising campaigns. Before joining Google, Rob held a seven year position in a then-u”upstart Travel site” called Expedia.ca where he was Vice President of Strategic Hotel Partnerships.

The heavy hitters as well as those who are eager to learn at CEC discussing the emerging trends in e-tourism, including digital marketing, social media, mobile technology and Web 3.0. As social media is hotter than a forge fire right now you can bet Facebook and Twitter, as well as the top video sites like YouTube, will be on the forefront. TIAC President and CEO, Randy Williams, and Chairperson of the CEC Advisory Committee, Jaime Horwitz, guarantee that this will be a watershed event.

These type of events are usually booked a year in advance. Back in the spring of 2008 tourism was in a shallow slide but I don’t think anyone could have foreseen the economic distress that awaits the 2009 season. However, with all these bright people in attendance this convention will certainly be afire with new strategies and precepts that were probably never discussed last summer. In other words, this one is for a ll the marbles and I imagine that the unique proposals on tourism for these economic times will make this an amazing event.

Here is the Canada-e-Connect 2009 FaceBook group.

canadian tourism, cbc radio one, digital marketing, google, north american travel, o reilly, tiac, tourism industry association, tourism strategy, travel industry experience

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Every November the Tourism Association of Nova Scotia, or TIANS, has a large trade show and gathering of the tourism industry. The purpose of this annual convergence of tourism operators has never been more important to the industry as it is right now. When you think that over 6500 businesses are in operation in the province supporting 6500 jobs the importance of the TIANS annual event should never be understated.

The title of this year’s summit is called Shaping the Future, a great name for going forward. Since September 2001 the rise of the tourism boom stopped abruptly and the province’s tourism businesses have been searching out new markets ever since.

When you take a look at the people who work in most industries it is almost always for the money and the challenge. However, most employees in the Nova Scotia tourism industry accept that, although tourism can sometimes be lucrative, in most cases the jobs are not high-paying and so the challenge and the love of showing the province to visitors is their driving force. And when you take in a TIANS conference you can feel this emotion. There is an atmosphere about the place that is brimming with excitement even in tough times.

The Tourism Expo is a great way to meet the people in the industry. It is on Level One of the World Trade and Convention Center and for information on becoming an exhibitor please visit www.masterpromotions.ca or contact Nick Dufor at 506-649-7663 or ndufour@mpltd.ca I always like to walk around and meet old acquaintances and see what their up to these days. It always amazes me how resiliant many of them are. If something doesn’t work this year try something else next year! They never say die.

It’s nice to see the government getting more involves again. For a while there they had forgotten the industry thinking that it could run on its own. Not that they should prop up the industry but tourism brings in millions in taxes so they shouldn’t forget this.

If you are not a member, that’s okay. The rate is $455+tax which includes the three days of sessions and the Gala dinner. Each additional person is $295+tax.

So, if you are in the area check it out. The email for the TIANS rep is: kieu_lam@tians.org

nova scotia tourism, tians, tourism businesses, tourism industry, tourism operators

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1.00 CAD = .84 US

Just when we though the U.S. greenback was going to tank even further against the Canadian dollar it was the Canuck buck that dove like a leaky submarine. In fact it went from 1.08 U.S. in January to .77 in October before settling at around 84 cents.

So what gives? The U.S. economy is in rougher shape that the Canadian one, their industries needing 3/4 Trillion dollars for a bail-out to the financial sector. However, we have to remember that Canada has a strange relationship with the U.S. As one politician stated long ago, “We are like a mouse sleeping with an elephant. They like each other but the mouse has to respond to the elephant’s every twitch or be squashed.”

It all started in 2005 when the U.S. spent $723.6 billion more on goods and services oversees than it sold. Along with fighting two wars and spending billions on starting a new missile defense system the U.S. had to sell off the greenback to afford oil and other staples.

So what did the low U.S. buck do for travel? Well, it started a surge in Canadians visiting the U.S. because they were enjoying a better exchange or, at worst, par for many services that were cheaper. However, the Canadian tourism market has been in steady decline since 2001following the weakening U.S. dollar.

The financial pundits have now blamed the diving act of the Canadian dollar on its strength. Confused? Well, many American companies bought Canadian goods before the surge because they could buy them cheaper. When the U.S. dollar fell Canadian goods and services became more expensive and so American companies bought them at home or Mexico. Add to the this the adoption of WHTI, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative – which states that trans-border travels have to use passports, and now there is a growing unwillingness of even America’s staunchest tourists to stay in the Lower 48.

Enter the decline in demand for oil. Next to OPEC, Canada is one of the biggest exporters of oil to the U.S. and the rising Canadian dollar against the U.S. currency was tied to the price of oil. So when demand fell, the Candian dollar fell with it.

So what does this mean for travel? Well, with Canadian tour wholesalers and retailers hurting U.S. travelers can get great deals in Canada right now. So, if you fly into Halifax you can rent a car, get gas that’s down to .90CDN a litre (a little over $3.00 a gallon) and stay in accommodations that are back to 1995 prices.

And this is a good thing.

currency forex, rate currency, tourism market, travel nova scotia, us currency, us currency exchange, western hemisphere travel initiative

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“We have an enticing combination of the world’s leading eTourism researchers joined by industry champions describing their solutions and their visions for the future.”

Prof. Andy Frew, IFITT-President

Based in Austria,IFITT is a not-for-profit organization which promotes information and communication technologies in conjunction with tourism.

We all know what Reservac and Sabre did for booking 25 years ago. Besides its monopolistic style it took the type-written, phoned-in airplane ticket to an almost instantaneous process. Today, the many advances in the use and development of new toy, technologies and processes have led to more streamlined way to travel. It’s like WalMart in a way: An item checked out at the till is automatically noted at the factory in China and another one is made. IFITT members then are a think-tank, taking a hypothetical look at where tourism is going.

Here are their objectives

• To provide a lively forum for discussion, assessment and transfer of know-how and experience amongst its members.
• To contribute to the process of research and development in this growing and most important field of international travel.
• To promote the free interchange of information and ideas about this field both among specialists and amongst the consumers at large.
• To develop and maintain the integrity and competence of individuals and organizations engaged in the practices and sciences of information and communication technologies and travel & tourism.

I think that any company or organization dedicated to the promotion of people traveling is a great thing. When more people meet each other the less they distrust and want to go to war. For example, look at Europe. When the walls came down between each country and the citizens were allowed to mingle they accomplished great things: EU, Euro.

I’m not saying that the whole tourism industry should be run in such a formal mode. After all, it does sound pretty mechanical. But they are a dedicated well-educated bunch who have great goals. And who can do anything but admire this?

I’ll have a toast to the IFITT at my next pub night.

airplane ticket, communication technologies, free interchange, ifitt, international travel, lively forum, profit organization, sabre, tourism, Tourism Organizations

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Under the guidance of Michelle Sears the Nova Scotia Masterclass Series is returning for a 2nd year. This series of courses is designed to educate Nova Scotia’s tourism operators and businesses provide a great product and reap the rewards. This is especially designed for the management teams.

In 2008 the Masterclass Series will be made up of three sessions and they brought in  facilitators from some of the top operations in the world.

Here are some of the programs:

• Learn how to communicate and manage more effectively
• Develop, deliver and demonstrate a leadership style which will allow you to effectively manage change.
• Todd Lucier of TourismClicks.com will demonstrate the latest e-marketing trends to help market business websites and increase online market share to attract customers
• Disney: A rep from the Disney Institute will show how their management style has made them the largest tourism attraction in the world

To register for these educational training sessions,

please visit www.tourismhrc.com or www.tians.org.

This should be a great series!

business websites, disney institute, leadership style, management teams, market business, Tourism Organizations, tourism attraction