British Columbia Tourism "Gaining the Edge" - YouTube

British Columbia Tourism "Gaining the Edge" - YouTube
Gaining the Edge - I think not..

The state of British Columbia Travel and Tourism can be summed up in one word 'dismal.'

The Olympic 'bump' didn't materialize and today the headlines tell the story..
B.C.'s "Olympic Bump:" More like a whap upside the head - Seattle Times
Further it goes to say that...
Numbers of overnight international visitors to the province for the first eight months of 2011 were down by more than 200,000 compared to the same period in 2009, the Globe & Mail reports today. That compares to a much less-severe drop across Canada over the same period.

This after former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, an unabashed Games supporter, helped pitch the multi-billion dollar event by predicted a doubling of B.C. tourism revenue by 2015. Now, his replacement, Christy Clark, is hopeful for a meager 5-percent annual growth in the next five years, the paper reported.

As a travel professional I can sight a number of factors to why BC Tourism is in a slump and will continue to struggle even with Gaining the Edge strategy.




First BC stand for 'Bring Cash' - compared to other tourist destinations BC is very expensive, Vancouver has the highest gas prices in Canada and the high property prices also find their way into the cost of pretty well everything else such as accommodations, food and other services. Recently we paid $5.00 per hour for meter parking in downtown Vancouver.

Second.. The province is beautiful enough, but it is not exceptional. The same beauty can be found just south of the border in Washington State or Oregon and all at a lower price.

Third...British Columbia doe not offer enough 'Bang' for the travel buck. The province is large with only 4.5 million inhabitants who congregate around the Lower Mainland, Victoria and the Okanagan. The focal points of travel initiatives of the government, wine industry, golf and conventions all have stiff competition from other provinces and states south of the border.

Fourth Canadian Dollar... The strength of the Canadian dollar makes Canada less attractive to international travelers and the flip side is that it makes foreign travel by Canadians, especially to the USA more attractive. Whether it's taking the kid's to Disney or a shopping trip Canadians are flocking to the USA. Another trend that emerged is Canadians purchasing vacation or second homes in the USA, which again means Canadians travelling to the US.

Fifth..Travel and Tourism continues to struggle with marketing that worked for TV and print of yesterday, for the Olympics a glossy commercial with well known Canadians - British Columbian's such as Micheal J. Fox promoting BC all the while, where does he live, oh yeah south of the border. While talking with Thomson Okanagan Tourism the delight in their expensive travel commercial was evident because the commercial had 'helicopter shots.'

British Columbia has a major task ahead in marketing the province especially knowing that the high price of vacationing here is not a secret.

Music: Barney Bentall http://www.barneybentall.com/
Music: Jim Byrnes: http://www.jamestbyrnes.com/
Music by Williamson - glitch cowboy local and - and then its all gone

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[JCVdude]

I checked out the government tourism plan and there is nothing new or cutting edge in it, same old , same old...

Travel and tourism has and is changing. Airlines are adding more fees, documentation requirement like passports all impact travel.

We traveled 39 days through the USA in the summer of 2011 into the hottest tourist destinations, now we are going to Mexico for 7 weeks and along our travels we learn what drives tourism, who travels and why from real people.

[moonros21]

a very beautiful video,but about tourism, i have a split opinion...it is important for the region, the economic...but tourists hurt also the environment.it must be built roads and hotels etc.but it also means for example like the olympiad,that the native canadians even more land and more rights lose,like in the usa.an expansion of tourism may be made only in coordination with the native peoples..

[JCVdude]

@moonros21 I agree with you, also tourism provides low paying service sector jobs often in areas where the people working can't afford to live, like Whistler Resort. For a long time through economic good times the atmosphere was build it and they will come, today there is more competition for less tourist. Even airline fares are climbing ever higher so long term tourism will face many challenges.

[nakawick]

1:15 We don't have horseback scuba diving out here in Nova Scotia.

[MrMrtiki]

As a neighbor to BC. comming from Alta . there`s always something to see as you ride the roads cut thru the rock some might say there`s nothing to see because it`s all rock but when you see the specticals like the animals or wittnessing a river turn red like it does at Adams lake just east of Kamloops or going gold panning anywhere the Fishing is plentiful to visit the beautiful Island of Victoria the people are nice you don`t need a tourism package just go outside for a walk .nice vid .