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Tourism Vancouver
Tourism Vancouver

COVID-19 UPDATE & GOVERNMENT RESPONSE

  • The federal government announced last week an extension to the ban on most cruise ships through February 28, 2021.

  • Earlier this week, the federal government announced changes to CanExport SME program to support businesses through COVID-19
    • The business supports include:
      • The new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, which would provide direct and easy-to-access rent and mortgage interest support to tenants and property owners until June 2021 for qualifying organizations affected by COVID-19. The new rent subsidy would support businesses, charities, and non-profits that have suffered a revenue drop by providing support up to a maximum of 65% of eligible expenses until December 19, 2020. The government is proposing to allow claims retroactively for the period that began September 27th and ended October 24th, 2020.

      • The new Lockdown Support, which would provide an additional 25% through the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy for qualifying organizations that are subject to a lockdown and must shut their doors or significantly limit their activities under a public health order issued under the laws of Canada, a province or territory (including orders made by a municipality or regional health authority under one of those laws). Combined, this would mean that hard-hit businesses subject to a lockdown could receive rent support of up to 90%.

      • The extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy until June 2021, which would continue to protect jobs by helping employers keep employees on the payroll and re-hire their workers. The wage subsidy would remain at the current rate of up to 65% of eligible wages until December 19th, 2020

  • Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry released a new public order for Gatherings and Events on Friday, October 30th with changes to note:  
    • Gatherings that precede or follow an event are also considered an event, and the new order requires that people must disperse after an event to avoid this problem.
    • Cleaning between events is now based on ensuring there is adequate time to clean and ventilate, ensure people disperse after an event, and ensure that there is no mixing between groups of people coming and leaving an event, rather than the previously required one-hour.

TOURISM VANCOUVER NEWS

Tourism Vancouver Hosts Its First Hybrid AGM

For the first time in 117 years, Tourism Vancouver hosted its first 'hybrid' AGM with just under 50 people attending in-person and another 200 members joining via zoom webinar and live-stream broadcast. Held at the JW Marriot Parq Vancouver, the event was a success in two ways.

First, all motions presented, including approval of the 2019 audited financial statements, were passed unanimously and the message signalling change and a direction forward in alignment with our tourism community was clear.

Second, it was a well organized in-person meeting which followed all safety protocols led by the very dedicated staff at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver and Tourism Vancouver team members, and diligently adhered to by all attendees. Every detail was taken care of from way-finding decals and signage, to physically distanced registration and theatre style set up with chairs carefully measured to ensure 6ft separation. A facilitator carefully cleaned the podium between speakers. Everyone wore masks and sanitation stations were dispersed throughout the event space.  The hotel's chef and catering team took great care in preparing the reception food under strict covid safety guidelines. As per the Parq’s typical high standards, food stations were beautifully designed and food safely served to guests.

This AGM successfully demonstrated the professionalism of our meetings community to produce safe hybrid in-person meetings. There is tremendous value to BC’s economy in hosting meetings and events and we’ve proved we can still have them.

Click here to view the images captured by Vision Event Photography of the in-person portion of the event.

View Broadcast Recording

Tourism Vancouver's Board of Directors 2020/2021

At last week's Annual General Meeting, the 2020/21 Board of Directors was announced.  Strong leadership and guidance is provided to Tourism Vancouver by its 15-member Board of Directors, representing a broad spectrum of Greater Vancouver's tourism industry. These board members volunteer their time and contribute extensive knowledge and experience to ensure that the organization is accountable and performance-driven.

Board of Directors

BUSINESS RESOURCES & RESEARCH

YTD Overnight Visitor Volume to Vancouver

After a solid start to the year (Jan-Feb), overnight visitation fell sharply in March before increasing again over the summer - but is still far from 2019 levels. YTD overnight visitation is down by -68% compared to the same time period last year.

Although domestic visitation has declined as well, we did see over 1.7 million overnight visitors from Canada, including nearly 900,000 from the rest of BC during this time period.

View Full Report

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEMBERS

Calling All Restaurants and Culinary Experience Providers

We are still accepting registrations for restaurants to participate in Season 19 of Tourism Vancouver's Dine Out Vancouver Festival for 2021.  There is no fee to participate and all restaurants from across Metro Vancouver are invited to join.

In addition, we have launched a request for submissions for culinary experiences to be featured as part of the calendar of covid-safe food and drink-centric events.  For more information click on the links below.

Restaurant Registration
Request for Event Submissions

 

 

WTTC Safe Travels Stamp Update

Currently Tourism Vancouver has registered 33 businesses who have signed on to the WTTC Safe Travels Stamp.

This is a tremendous response in the first couple weeks of the launch of the program in Vancouver. We encourage tourism businesses who now have the stamp to speak to other partners in their supply-chain ecosystem who are customer facing to sign on for the stamp.

If your business is in one of the following categories, please click on the link below for additional details on how you too can register!

  • Hospitality (hotels and restaurants)
  • Outdoor shopping and retail
  • Aviation
  • Airports
  • Tour Operators
  • Convention Centres, Meeting, Events, and organizers
  • Attractions
  • Short Term Rentals
  • Car Rentals
  • Insurance
  • Adventure Tourism
WTTC Safe Travels Stamp Details

Start Me Up BC

St. John Ambulance (BC & Yukon) is empowering British Columbians to step in and help save lives in their local communities with the launch of their Start Me Up BC campaign.

Start Me Up BC aims to deploy 1000 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) stands across the province. The publicly accessible defibrillator (PAD) stands are a world’s first and are made right here in BC. They can be placed anywhere; whether it’s at a beach, park, or outside a workplace, and will allow bystanders of sudden cardiac arrests have the tools they need to step in and save a life.

The campaign officially launches November 21, 2020 at 1:00pm to 2:00pm with their first AED stand installation at Crescent Beach in Surrey, BC. Proceeds from the campaign directly benefits St. John Ambulance community service programs and support the charity’s first aid training courses. For more information or to get involved please contact Leanne Strachan, Strategic Partnerships & Business Development; Start Me Up campaign lead.

Share your Holiday / Winter Product Inventory

We are actively collecting information about available Vancouver Christmas Season and Winter Product Inventory to be able to effectively market the destination to potential visitors through various channels including Holiday Season campaigns.

For the purposes of this form, Winter is described as the period between November 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021. Please complete the following form to update us on your winter operation status.

Holiday & Winter Inventory Form

MEMBER ACCOLADES

 

 L'Abattoir Restaurant's Sommelier Andrew Forsyth recently won the inaugural title of Wines of British Columbia Top Sommelier 2020 following the debut of the Chef Meets BC Grape Somm Smackdown Competition Series Finale on October 21, 2020.  Top sommeliers were recruited to test their knowledge of BC’s wine industry in a written and blind tasting challenge in Victoria, Vancouver and Calgary.

The results are in and the OPUS Vancouver has been awarded Best Urban Hotel across Canada, USA, Mexico and the Caribbean in Condé Nast Johansens Awards for Excellence 2021. The Awards for Excellence were created to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across Condé Nast Johansens recommended properties and the world-renowned awards are a trusted mark of quality recognized by consumers and travel professionals alike.

The Vancouver Airport Marriott Hotel has been named the "2019 Hotel of the Year" by Marriott International, among all its hotel brands in Canada.  They were ranked based on guest and event satisfaction scores, financial performance, brand strategy, leadership, culture, fulfilling their brand promise while reaching its brand standard, and overcoming challenges and integration.  Congratulations!

INDUSTRY EVENTS

Vancouver Tourism Facility Managers Association AGM

November 18 | 12pm | Hybrid

The Vancouver Tourism Facility Managers Association will be holding its fifth annual general meeting on November 18th 2020 12pm. The meeting will be a hybrid event with board members onsite at the Westin Bayshore Hotel broadcasting virtually to the membership this year. If you are a member or are interested in becoming a member please register to join.

 

Community Safety Webinar with Constable Chris Woods

November 17 | 2pm - 3pm | Virtual | Free for DVBIA Members

The DVBIA is hosting a community safety webinar with special guest Constable Chris Woods of the Vancouver Police Department. Moderating this session will be the DVBIA’s Senior Manager of Community Safety, Arden Grant. Throughout the webinar, Chris will touch on topics like safety strategies for downtown businesses, seasonal considerations for preventing theft, and personal safety tips. He will also be able to address your most pressing questions after his presentation concludes.

Travel Trade

World Travel Market

November 9 - 11 | Virtual

Tourism Vancouver will join Destination Canada at the first virtual WTM. The focus of the show will be to meet with key trade and media accounts in the UK market and gather key research insights for global travel trends. Krista Alcazar, Sabrina Tey and Eugene Chu will be attending on behalf of Tourism Vancouver.

 

Meetings & Conventions – A Fresh Perspective on Engagement

PCMA Greater Midwest Chapter - November Hybrid Quarterly Education Event

November 10 | 2pm-5pm | Hybrid
Join title sponsor Team Canada (Vancouve,r Toronto, Montreal) for a PCMA GMC business update, networking and games!  Jackie Kavcak and Lacy Hawley will be attending on behalf of Tourism Vancouver

 

PCMA Canada East - Virtual AGM & Awards
November 18 | 4pm - 6pm | Virtual
PCMA Canada East presents: An evening guided by the stars, together shining a light on our industry. Michelle Taylor will be attending on behalf of Tourism Vancouver.

 

MPI Chicago Area Chapter - Signature Luncheon
November 24 | 11:30am - 1:45pm CST | Virtual
Join us virtually at MPI CAC's 5th Annual 2020 Signature Luncheon.  Speaker Dr. Rebecca Heiss will help attendees overcome evolutionary limitations - the ancient fears that hold us back, fears that we're often not even consciously aware we have.  Lacy Hawley will be attending on behalf of Tourism Vancouver.

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