The Great Canadian Tourism Thread! - Page 10

SignalHillHiker · #**181** Posted **Nov 28, 2014, 12:33 AM**

Web series nets Nine Island Productions a gold award

Quote:

Local company Nine Island Productions has won an award for a 12-part web series featuring one-minute videos of tourist destinations across Newfoundland and Labrador.

The company was awarded a gold MarcCom award in the Web Video/Marketing category for “Tourism Road Movies,” a partnership between the provincial Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation and travel tourism company Globus.

The MarCom awards is an international competition for individuals/companies involved in developing, designing and producing audio, visual and web materials.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Business/...a-gold-award/1

Video Link

craneSpotter · #**182** Posted **Jan 6, 2015, 7:46 AM**

A few BC tourism vids for Vancouver Island:

Tofino

• Video Link

Victoria

• Video Link

Victoria (for Chinese Market)

• Video Link

Cheers

craneSpotter · #**183** Posted **Jan 14, 2015, 7:42 PM**

Well, looks like Vancouver had a record year for tourism with nearly 9 million overnight visits (the industry metric used). Growth came from the US, China, India and Mexico.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/12/t...-olympic-year/

Victoria also had a very strong tourism year...after slowing down after the 2008 financial crunch.

Forecasts are looking good for 2015. They expect BC will see a sizeable increase in US visitors due to the CAD dollar dropping against the greenback.

kwoldtimer · #**184** Posted **Jan 14, 2015, 9:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

Well, looks like Vancouver had a record year for tourism with nearly 9 million overnight visits (the industry metric used). Growth came from the US, China, India and Mexico.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/12/t...-olympic-year/

Victoria also had a very strong tourism year...after slowing down after the 2008 financial crunch.

Forecasts are looking good for 2015. They expect BC will see a sizeable increase in US visitors due to the CAD dollar dropping against the greenback.

The drop in the $CAD should give a big boost to tourist across the country this year, with more folks visiting from the USA and more Canadians choosing to travel within Canada. Plus the extra boost in Toronto from the PanAmerican Games.

eternallyme · #**185** Posted **Jan 14, 2015, 10:21 PM**

There needs to be a big push for US tourism this summer. After all, it is quite possible this drop in the $CDN could be temporary if oil prices climb again, say in 2016, once OPEC blinks or if the European or Asian markets strengthen again. Consider the collapse in both in October 2008...the Canadian dollar lost about 25% of its value that month. It stayed low through most of 2009 but quickly climbed back and was near parity by late 2010.

Denscity · #**186** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 7:56 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

Well, looks like Vancouver had a record year for tourism with nearly 9 million overnight visits (the industry metric used). Growth came from the US, China, India and Mexico.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/12/t...-olympic-year/

Victoria also had a very strong tourism year...after slowing down after the 2008 financial crunch.

Forecasts are looking good for 2015. They expect BC will see a sizeable increase in US visitors due to the CAD dollar dropping against the greenback.

Looks like BC's outlook is pretty good on a few fronts. It's our turn haha.

MolsonExport · #**187** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 1:51 PM**

Just about every single place outside of Antarctica has 9000 (or more) years of human history. The people at USA Today (and Forbes) are complete dolts.

Those TV commercials produced by the gov't of Newfoundland & Labrador are really great. My family is planning a trip at the earliest opportunity (I will probably piggyback it onto a conference if possible). Not this year, as we are going to Italy...partly to celebrate our 10th-year marriage anniversary. Also, I happen to have a conference scheduled this summer in the Southern Italian city that is reputedly experiencing a shopping mall crisis (guess).

esquire · #**188** Posted **Jan 15, 2015, 3:26 PM**

^ NL has really done a good job of marketing their province. They are always in the national papers reminding you of their charms, and the TV commercials are exceptional. Selling NL as basically some sort of old world basically-Ireland-but-closer kind of place is a good hook.

SignalHillHiker · #**189** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 5:31 PM**

National Geographic has included us in its list of Top 10 Oceanfront Cities. Literally laughed out loud at #10.

They are:

Tel Aviv
Tallinn
St. John's
San Diego
Marseille
Perth
Brisbane
Durban
Portland (Maine)
Vladivostok

Their description of us was nice, though. Dublin with a frontier personality, basically.

Gotta agree about Portland, though. And the European choices, of course.

le calmar · #**190** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 6:00 PM**

No Miami? Maybe this list was supposed to be "underground", but I fail to see how a city combining the largest concentration of art deco buildings in the world and one of North's America most vibrant districts wouldn't crack the top 10. And Portland ME waterfront is nice but is sure never struck me as something exceptional.

SignalHillHiker · #**191** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 6:07 PM**

Everyone I know who has been to Portland, Maine, has raved about it BUT all of them were either from here or had spent time here first.

And yeah if has to be underground if we're on it. San Diego seems to be the big west coast pick for purposefully underground lists.

harls · #**192** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 6:44 PM**

Newfoundland is definitely on my 'places to visit before I die' list.

Somewhere near the top. It's a long list.

harls · #**193** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 6:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Everyone I know who has been to Portland, Maine, has raved about it BUT all of them were either from here or had spent time here first.

Speaking of Portland..Out of all the Quebecers that I know that vacation in Old Orchard.. practically none of them visited Portland... and it's like right next door..

(Maybe Acajack can corroborate?)

le calmar · #**194** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 6:52 PM**

Quebecers who go on the coast in the summer want to stay in a motel on the beach. Portland may be close to Old Orchard (it is actually a suburb of the former) but people looking for urbanity often choose to go to Boston, which is not too far either. Besides myself and my friends who happened to be with me, I don't know anybody else who have visited Portland ME because there is few reasons to go there.

harls · #**195** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 7:05 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by le calmar

Quebecers who go on the coast in the summer want to stay on a motel on the beach. Portland may be close to Old Orchard (it is actually a suburb of the former) but people looking for urbanity often choose to go to Boston, which is not too far either. Besides myself and my friends who happened to be with me, I don't know anybody else who have visited Portland ME because there is few reasons to go there.

Yeah, I know. but I am kind of surprised at the effort these places go to attract Quebec tourists.

Last summer I went to the Powder Horn campsite, probably 50% of the people were from Quebec. When we arrived in the dead of night, they even had some guy at the gate that could speak french (sorta..). They even have a French website, because they know how important those clients are.. i think that's pretty cool (even if it's full of mistakes.. who cares... effort!)

http://mainecampgrounds.com/?lang=fr

Acajack · #**196** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 7:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by harls

Speaking of Portland..Out of all the Quebecers that I know that vacation in Old Orchard.. practically none of them visited Portland... and it's like right next door..

(Maybe Acajack can corroborate?)

Didn't know I was a reference, but sure I'll chime in!

Never heard of anyone going to Portland as part of their trip to that area.

I've heard of people going to Kittery which I think is a suburb of Portland and where there are factory outlets I think.

As has been said, for an urban foray, people travelling in that area generally go to Boston. It's not that far.

Acajack · #**197** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 8:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by harls

Yeah, I know. but I am kind of surprised at the effort these places go to attract Quebec tourists.

Last summer I went to the Powder Horn campsite, probably 50% of the people were from Quebec. When we arrived in the dead of night, they even had some guy at the gate that could speak french (sorta..). They even have a French website, because they know how important those clients are.. i think that's pretty cool (even if it's full of mistakes.. who cares... effort!)

http://mainecampgrounds.com/?lang=fr

When I've been down there I have also observed that a lot of tourism businesses seem to be owned by people of Franco-American origin. They are almost never native francophones, but there is sometimes some latent French lingering within the family.

Note however that these people's presence is not the result of tourists from Quebec who simply decided to stick around.

hipster duck · #**198** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 8:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by le calmar

No Miami? Maybe this list was supposed to be "underground", but I fail to see how a city combining the largest concentration of art deco buildings in the world and one of North's America most vibrant districts wouldn't crack the top 10. And Portland ME waterfront is nice but is sure never struck me as something exceptional.

Yeah, no offence to St. John's, but this strikes me as a list that primarily takes pride in non-conformity.

So you get Durban instead of Cape Town, Brisbane instead of the Gold Coast or Sydney, Tallinn instead of St. Petersburg, Marseille instead of Nice, etc.

begratto · #**199** Posted **Feb 4, 2015, 9:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

I've heard of people going to Kittery which I think is a suburb of Portland and where there are factory outlets I think.

Actually, Kittery is 80km south of Portland, right before the Maine / New Hampshire border.

coolcanadian · #**200** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 8:02 PM**

It has been a great year for tourism in Toronto! Whether we like it or not, the world is starting to discover Toronto as the great city that it is.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sigma/9321315250/

Quote:

Toronto sets tourism record with 14.3M visitors last year

Read more: http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-se...#ixzz3RXy7CXX0

Key reasons for the growth were an increase in visitors from the U.S. and the highest number of overseas visitors ever. Toronto also led the country in hotel occupancy and room nights sold, according to a statement released Thursday.

"The world is continuing to take notice of Toronto's emergence as an exciting leisure travel and meetings hot spot," Tourism Toronto President and CEO David Whitaker said in the statement.

The report from Tourism Toronto also said that Toronto was the most-visited destination by fellow Canadians, with 10.5 million people making overnight visits. Canadians' visits generated spending of $2.44 billion.

Quote:

U.S Tourists Favor London, Paris and Toronto, Hotels.com Report Says

Read more: http://www.travelerstoday.com/articl...eport,says.htm

Toronto was the 3rd most popular international destination for U.S. travelers in 2013, according to Hotels.com.

The Canadian city of Toronto surpassed Rome to become the third most popular international destination for American tourists in 2013. It joins the ranks of London and Paris, who retained their popularity among travellers...

Toronto was ranked one of the best cities to visit in 2015 by lonely planet and Vaycay.ca. There have also been many articles promoting Toronto's coolness recently!

Quote:

ORBITZ: HOT DESTINATIONS FOR 2015

While Toronto has remained a constant on global tourism destination lists over the past 12 months, Orbitz.com has seen a nearly 40 percent growth in travelers to the city, and a wealth of events in 2015 are helping this fan-favorite destination shine even brighter this year.

The Toronto International Film Festival, Sept. 10-20, 2015, is the largest publicly attended festival of its kind. Drawing tourists from all over the globe, many films that debut at the Festival often become the talk of Hollywood during awards season. The festival generates about $230 million in tourism revenue and brings in more than 27,000 out-of-town visitors.

For those craving the thrill of sport, the 2015 Pan American Games taking place July 10-26, deemed "the single-largest multi-sport event ever held in Canada," are sure to deliver. The Games are expected to bring as many as 350,000 visitors to the province of Ontario.

Quote:

Be cool, Toronto: Ontario’s capital having a moment as world’s latest ‘It’ city — which even Montrealers admit

Read more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/05...#__federated=1

Marie-Claude Lortie, a columnist at La Presse in Montreal, posed a question the other day that no Québecois has dared ask: “Toronto plus cool que Montréal?” Translation, for those who need one: Is Toronto now cooler than Montreal?

“With its vintage boutiques, its 100% Canadian designers, funky Asian restaurants, and revisited anglo pubs, Toronto has been for a longtime reinventing the art of being a modern-day urban hippie, a hipster,”

Quote:

BBC: When did Toronto get so cool?

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20...to-get-so-cool

As far as Toronto’s coolness goes, that’s just the start. After all, the definitive, if circular logic of coolness is that cool things don’t need to convince anyone. They don’t even care. Because they’re cool.
That’s why Toronto is cool: it has been for a long time, and since it doesn’t feel the need to advertise the fact, most of the world doesn’t even know. Canada in general is understated in this way; it’s not very Canadian to point out one’s own awesomeness. Toronto is so cool, it might not even know it is.

Tucked into the northwest corner of Lake Ontario, one of North America’s Great Lakes, the charm of Toronto is found in microcosms of hipness: in relaxing coffee houses, arty hotels, eclectic shops and quiet bars. None are obvious. All must be sought out.

Quote:

Vogue names Toronto’s Queen Street West world’s second-hippest district

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle20488696/

Vogue has named Toronto’s "West Queen West" the second-hippest district in the world.

In a study of the globe’s 15 coolest neighbourhoods, the magazine ranks the Canadian district as second only to Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa.

There have also been articles in the NY Times, French newspapers, and others promoting the city recently.