Running head: TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT

Tourism Vancouver Audit

Isabella (Yinqi) lai

Royal Roads University

MATM

2017/5/5

TRMN505 Strategic Tourism Marketing

Instructor: Dan Stefanson

TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 2

Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3

Legislative Structures.......................................................................................................................3

Governance Practices .......................................................................................................................5

Board Composition and Roles .............................................................................................5

Accountability and Transparency ........................................................................................6

Funding Models ...............................................................................................................................7

Management Discipline ...................................................................................................................8

Strategic Planning ................................................................................................................8

Management Structure and Human Resources ....................................................................9

Financial Management .......................................................................................................11

Strategic Marketing ........................................................................................................................11

Market Research ................................................................................................................11

Marketing Planning and Implementation...........................................................................13

Recommendations ..........................................................................................................................14

References ......................................................................................................................................17
Appendix A. Present Board of Directors list in Tourism Vancouver ...........................................21
Appendix B. SWOT Analysis of Tourism Vancouver ..................................................................22
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 3

Introduction
Vancouver, the No.1 in TripAdvisors 2017 Travelers Choice Awards for Top 10

Destinations in Canada (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). Having the diverse culture, nature scenery,

mild weather, and the transportation hub, Vancouver has its inherent advantage as a tourism

destination. In 2016, Vancouver received more than 10 million visitors which is the highest

overnight visitation in the citys history (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). The top five markets

visiting Vancouver are Canada, the US, China, the UK and Australia (Tourism Vancouver,

2017). Tourism Vancouver (TVan), the citys destination marketing organization as well as the

business association focus on marketing Metro Vancouver as a destination for leisure, meeting and

event travelers (Tourism Vancouver, 2017).

The audit aims at examining the performance of TVan in terms of the legislative structures,

governance practices, funding model, management disciplines and strategic marketing. In this

audit, the legislative structures, governance practice and funding model of TVan will be identified.

The management disciplines will evaluate the strategic planning, management structure and

human resources, and financial management. In the strategic marketing, the audit will focus on

market research, marketing planning, and implementation. Recommendations to improve the

performance of TVan will be given at the end of the audit.

Legislative Structures

Tourism Vancouver, also know as Metro Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau

(MVCVB), has established since 1902 (Tourism Vancouver Executive Brief, 2013), which

incorporated under the Society Act of British Columbia (Audited Financial Statement, 2015).

TVan is a not-for-profit association aiming at marketing Vancouver region as an attractive year-

round-visit destination (Tourism Vancouver, 2017).

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According to Morrison (2013), the acts of legislation creates most DMOs which it is

necessary to have a by-law to specify the instructions and conditions of DMO operation. The

enforcement of DMO by-law assures the DMO governance following the internal rules (Morrison,

2013). The Metro Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau Consolidated Bylaws 2014

(Bylaw) mostly focuses on the regulating the detail of membership operation, organizing annual

general meetings, composition of the Board of Directors and election instructions, powers and

responsibilities of the Board and Directors, officer positions and duties, committee establishment,

finance management and parliamentary authority (Bylaw, 2014).

TVan is adapting Public-Private Partnership (PPP). From Pike (2008), DMOs have

generally shifted to the PPP structures which involve government funding and the board members

from the private sectors. According to Destination BC (n.d.), TVan received government funding

from the Municipal and Regional District Tax (MRDT) which is the public fund. From the Bylaw

(2014), the board members of TVan are elected by the voting of the internal active members. The

active members are from the private sector of the industry classifications including Vancouver

Convention Hotels and accommodation, transportation, visitor attractions and sightseeing, tourism

industry services, visitor activities and retail, tour operators, meeting incentives and group services,

restaurant and nightlife, and arts, cultural, festivals and events (Bylaw, 2014). Active members

elect directors from the industry classifications to represent their equities. Therefore, TVan

involves public funding and private board members. The critical issue of the PPP structure is to

ensure the public funds are managed properly because the government, taxpayers and tourism

stakeholders seek the transparency and equities in the board decisions (Pike & Page, 2014). Its

vital that TVan provides transparent administration through the board composing by the industry

classification and the audited financial statement. Moreover, the PPP structure offers the benefits
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 5

of professional knowledge of the industry, increased collaboration between stakeholders and

more transparency in decision making and auditing (Pike, 2016, p111) to TVan.

Governance Practices
Destination Governance is closely associated with the destination management leadership

and coordination (Morrison, 2013). Beritelli, Bieger and Laesser (2007) pointed out the definition

of governance which is setting and developing rules and mechanisms for a policy, as well as

business strategies, by involving all the institutions and individuals (P1). Destination governance

is about the administration of a DMO which ensures involving all stakeholders and the

accountability and transparency of the DMO (Morrison, 2013). In governance practices of TVan,

the Board of Directors is the group decides who does the administrating and how the organization

is administered.

Board Composition and Roles

TVan has 15-member Board of Directors who provided strong leadership and guidance to

the organization. According to Wang (2008), the role of the board of directors is responsible for

the strategic planning process and monitoring the performance in terms of reaching the goals. The

board members of TVan contribute their knowledge and experience in the Greater Vancouver

tourism industry which ensure the accountability and effective performance of the organization

(Tourism Vancouver, 2017). According to the Bylaw (2014), the responsibilities of the Board

of TVan lie in the stewardship of the organization, strategic planning process, and the approval on

the at least annual basis. The Board has the powers of establishing committees of TVan and

delegating authority for the committees (Bylaw, 2014). Also, hiring a chief executive operating

officer of TVan is included in the powers of the Board (Bylaw, 2014). The Board of TVan

composes a three-levels structure: Chairs, Director members, and support to Board of Directors.

The detail of board composition is listed in Appendix A.

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TVan is led by the listed Board of Directors which are responsible for giving the mandate

to achieve the goals of the organization (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). The composition of the

board is expected to reflect the local tourism industry and shows the interaction between

important stakeholder groups (Wang, 2008). TVans Board of Directors represented a broad

spectrum of tourism sectors of the members (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). Among the 15 Board

of Directors, there are four from accommodation sectors, four representing attractions and

recreation, two from transportation services, two events management, one representing

restaurants, one media and one from the organization itself. With the board members from various

sectors of the tourism industry, it helps TVan to make appropriate decisions because they could

consider the equity of their representative sectors and the relevant stakeholders.

Accountability and Transparency

Among various dimensions of governance, accountability and transparency were the two

core dimensions identified most frequently (Morrison, 2013). DMOs become increasingly

accountable for their activities and use of resources which are fully responsible for their actions

and results (Morrison, 2013). The DMO accountability lies in justifying programmes and activities,

measuring results from programme and activity implementation, disclosing results, accepting

responsibility for results and assuming responsibility for resource use (Morrison, 2013). TVan

demonstrates its accountability by measuring the visitor data of overall performance, evaluating

target goals and showing the financial audit to the public (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). TVans

independent audited financial statement 2015 was done by KPMG professional accountants

(Audited Financial Statement, 2015) which clearly revealed the funding sources and the status of

financial resource use.

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Transparency is another fundamental dimension of destination governance, which means

the openness in operation and communications (Morrison, 2013, p258). TVan is transparent

because the stakeholders can see the master plans, financial resources status and the wide range of

information and data from the official website. Also, the composition of the board members is

from various sectors of the tourism industry which achieve the communication openness since they

represent different tourism sectors. Therefore, each tourism sector could understand the decision-

making and have opportunities to endeavour to the equities of their sectors.

Funding Models
TVan as one of the major DMOs within British Columbia (BC), plays a vital role in

generating international and domestic visitors to BC. The funding source of TVan mainly come

from the MRDT program, membership and services, events and campaign sales, and the

sponsorship support.

MRDT program is the BC provincial government support for the local tourism marketing,

events, and projects. The program raises revenue from the tax on accommodation purchase in the

specific geographic region within the province (Destination BC, n.d.). From 1988, a stable

funding for tourism promotion in Vancouver came from the 2% hotel room tax (Vancouver City

Council, 1996). Since September 1st, 2015, TVan have become the eligible organization to receive

3% tax fund under the new MRDT program (British Columbia Government, 2015). According to

the Audited Financial Statement (2015), room tax was the major source for TVans, which

generated over 10 million dollars in 2015.

Membership dues is another major funding source to support TVan. TVan has been a

member-based association to market Vancouver as a travel destination for over a century which

represented over 1000 tourism businesses in the region (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). The annual

membership of TVan supports the tourism industry to promote Vancouver and offers opportunities
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 8

to the members to raise the profile and expose their business to new customers (Tourism

Vancouver, 2017). There are two tiers of membership which are the Standard tier with $550 plus

GST and the Premium tier with $1050 plus GST. TVan also provides non-member opportunities

for businesses to engage with visitors. They are online listing and Visitor Centre brochure racking,

both are $350 plus GST. In 2015, membership dues and events services generated the second most

revenue $907,420 for funding TVan (Audited Financial Statement, 2015).

Apart from the room tax and membership dues, TVan also funded by events and campaigns

sales in the Experience Vancouver sectors, the Meeting and Convention sales and the leisure travel

trade and consumer sales (Audited Financial Statement, 2015).

TVan also receives sponsorship support from the partners. To develop the mutual benefit

partnerships to achieve the strategic priorities, TVan operates a multi-year marketing alliance

program called Signature Partners program (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). This program aims at

leveraging marketing budgets, augment marketing reach, generating demand for products and

services, and building the business relationship (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). The well-known
TM
events in Vancouver, Dine Out Vancouver Festival and Tickets Tonight are the two major

events that TVan has been targeting to generate sponsor support. In 2015, TVan was supported

with $159,536 from marketing communication and corporate sponsorship (Audited Financial

Statement, 2015).

Management Discipline
Strategic Planning
Regarding strategic planning, feasible strategic management would provide frameworks,

tools, and techniques to achieve the goals of the organizations (Evans, 2015). According to

Chandler (1962), the strategy includes three components: the determination of the basic long-term

goals and objectives, the adoption of course of action, and the allocation of resources. TVan clearly
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 9

lays out its Vision, Mission and Core Values on the official website which shows the goals to the

relevant stakeholders and provide directions to the organization development. TVans Vision,

Mission and Core Values are as followed:

Vision Vancouver to be known as the most exciting, attractive and welcoming city
destination in North America, and a must-visit year-round destination.

Mission To attract more visitors, get them to stay longer, spend more and say
wonderful things about our destination both during and after their visit.

Core Values: We live, breathe and share Vancouver; We are powered by people;
We are adventurous;We play with purpose

(Tourism Vancouver, 2017).

In order to achieve the above strategic objectives, TVan also conducted a situation analysis

to better understand its comparative and competitive advantages which assist allocate the existent

resources effectively and hunt for the future action opportunities. According to Tourism

Vancouver official websites, TVans situation analysis in relation to strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threads can be concluded in Appendix B.

Management Structure and Human Resources

With the strategic planning and awareness of comparative and competitive advantages

from the situation analysis, a DMO needs an efficient team to accomplish the plans and goals.

TVan has a group of members and staff coordinating and working together to achieve the Vision,

Mission and Core Values of the organization. There are approximately 60 full-time, 20 part-time,

seasonal and contract positions, and over 200 volunteers working under the six program areas in

TVan. The six fields include Experience Vancouver, marketing, destination development, meeting

and conventions, leisure travel and digital marketing, corporate services, and the board of directors

(Tourism Vancouver, 2017).

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Each area has different functions and obligations. The Experience Vancouver which is the

visitor services and sales department is responsible for the visitor center, Tickets Tonight event,

and the cultural tourism. The responsibilities of marketing department are marketing consumer,

trade and meetings, digital marketing, communication and media relations, marketing research,

and marketing services. Destination development focuses on destination improvement,

membership services, corporate sponsorships and green tourism. Meeting and conventions

department aims at market development in meeting and convention sales, convention services and

the Be a Host program. The leisure travel and digital marketing targets at leisure travel trade sales

and service. The corporate services are close to the administrative departments which consist of

Finance, information technology, and human resources departments (Tourism Vancouver, 2017).

Lastly, the board of directors is as mentioned earlier in governance which administrating the whole

DMO. The CEO of TVan which report to the Board of Directors, has overall responsibility for

general management, controlling the business activities. As well, the CEO has obligation to

generate the demand for Vancouver tourism. Leading and managing the team, the CEO is

responsible for TVans performance of developing and implementing strategies and policies, the

management of human and financial resources (Tourism Vancouver Executive Brief, 2013).

As Morrison (2013) acknowledged that people are exceptionally important in the

destination product because they provide the service and influence the overall feeling of hospitality

and welcome at the destination. TVan also realized the significance of having staffs with the right

skills, knowledge, and values for the proper functioning of each department. TVan is utilizing the

core values to attract tourism talent. The core values show the passion and motivation for the

destination which encourages positive force to the city and the team. The open, respectful,

creativity pursue culture also reflected by the core values. Most importantly, TVan values work-
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 11

life balance, which is currently one of the key factors for talents recruitment and retention

(Tourism Vancouver, 2017).

Financial Management

According to the Bylaws (2014), the organization gives financial authority to the signing

officers. The Chair, the First Deputy Chair, the President, CEO and the one may be authorized by

resolution of the Board play the role of the signing officers. To issued the cheques requires the

signatures of two signing officers. The Bylaw also regulates the Board should designate various

levels of authorization for budgeted and unbudgeted expenditures. Moreover, the Board has the

power to borrow, raise or secure the payment of money under the approval of the voting from

active members (Bylaws, 2014).

From the Bylaws (2014), the organization finance accounts should be audited annually and

submitted to the annual general meeting. As mentioned before, TVan assigned KPMG professional

accountants to audit the financial statement which ensures TVans financial management is

accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations (Audited

Financial Statement, 2015). From the audited financial statement, it shows clearly the expenditure

in every sector which means TVans financial status is also monitored by the public and the related

stakeholders.

Strategic Marketing
Market Research
From Morrison (2013), research contributes enormously to and plays a fundamental role

in professional destination management. Research results provide direction for the DMO and other

stakeholders to make accurate decisions (Morrison, 2013). It is suggested a 5 Cs model including

customers, competitors, confidence, credibility and change to explain the main reasons for doing

tourism research: learning more detailed knowledge of visitors and their satisfaction level,
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 12

identifying the competitive advantages comparing to competitors, reducing perceived risk from

decision-making, increasing credibility of the DMO during marketing and promotional

programmes, and keeping the DMO and stakeholders the latest changes in tourism industry

(Morrison, 2010).

Apart from the situation analysis which has been analyzed before, TVan also conduct

marketing researches gathering visitation data. In TVans official website, the data of visitors

monitor, hotel metric and cruise data has been shown to the relevant stakeholders. According to

the data of Market Origin of Overnight Visitors to Greater Vancouver, there are 10,045,068 visitors

to Greater Vancouver in 2016. Comparing to 9,368,521 visitors in 2015, there is a 7.2 growth in

visitation. Most visitors mainly come from domestic Canada (over 5.9 million visitors), the US

(over 2.3 million), Asia Pacific (over 1 million) and Europe (nearly 48 thousand). Most noteworthy

is the growth from Taiwan, Mexico and Australia which achieve the increases from 2015 to 2016

with 42%, 33.4% and 21.1% respectively (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). The market origin visitor

metric shows the direction of segmenting potential markets for the next year, and is one of the

measurements to evaluate the yearly market performance as well.

In the hospitality data, TVan just showed the latest information about the number of

properties and number of rooms in Metro Vancouver which is 174 properties with 23,174 rooms.

The hotel data only reflects the hotel resource in the different region but do not provide more

valuable information relating to market performance (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). From the cruise

ship data, it showed there were 228 sailings, with 805,435 total cruise passengers arrived in

Vancouver in 2015, which both numbers were less than 2014s (Tourism Vancouver, 2016).

670,348 of them spent time and money in Metro Vancouver which generated over $151 million

consumption in the region (Tourism Vancouver, 2015). With the cruise ship data, it helps to
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 13

measure and analyze the economic impact in the sector especially in industry output, wages and

salaries, taxes and job generating (Tourism Vancouver, 2015).

Marketing Planning and Implementation

According to Vancouver Tourism Master Plan (Master Plan), TVan sets goals for

enhancing the visitor experience, leveraging cultural diversity and warmth welcome characteristics

of its neighbourhoods in the community, stable economic growth by foster investment expansion

and green destination sustainability, and reduce seasonality. In order to achieve the experiential,

environmental, economic and employment goals, TVan focuses on eight key area development. It

includes new product development, events, visitor experience design, neighbourhoods, tourism

infrastructure development, transportation, advocacy and public affairs, and partnerships and

alliances (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). Product and events development are the fundamental

areas to generate visitation growth directly.

In TVans product and events development strategy, it is essential to maintain the strong

partnerships with relevant stakeholders which support cultivating Vancouvers desired position as

a world city. TVan plans to develop aboriginal tourism, aquatic tourism, creative tourism, culinary

tourism, cultural tourism, cycling, health and wellness tourism, LGBT tourism, parks and nature,

seawall and beaches, shopping and Vancouverism, while for the events initiative, would emphasis

on cultural events, signature events and sports events (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). Through

developing the above products and events to grow global tourism competition necessitates,

Vancouver, enhances support of the existing resources and expand the product offering.

In creative tourism category, TED conference extends Vancouver gathering (Lederman,

2014). The TED conference is an annual event which organized five days in spring every year at

the Vancouver Convention Centre (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). TVan estimated that there is a
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 14

considerable boost for the local economy from this high-profile conference, with a $4.5 million

direct and indirect economic impact (Lederman, 2014). With the highly-regarded Vancouver

Conference Center hosting the TED conference, Vancouver can leverage the city status and

reputation of the citys creative culture (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). Most importantly, the TED

conference could generate events travellers during the off-season which optimize the seasonality

of visitation.

In the signature events, Dine Out Vancouver Festival is one of the most popular events

in the city. The festival is a 17-day culinary celebration in the city which started from 2003 with

only 57 restaurants participation (Tourism Vancouver, 2017) to 284 restaurants participating this

year (William-Ross, 2017). Along with the festival, there are over 80 events including street food

celebration, tasting tours and cooking lessons (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). The event also offers

Dine and Stay package with special hotel rate and combining the citys best hotels with exclusive

culinary experience (Tourism Vancouver, 2017). This event is a great platform for TVan to work

with the members and sponsors and generate more supports for funding and partnership. Also, the

festival has been targeted to boost tourism and economy during the shoulder season, so it is

organized every January of the year. TVan is trying to improve the seasonality effect through the

events strategy which builds year-round opportunities for the tourism industry.

However, there is no measurement to evaluate the results of the marketing campaigns.

Although the planning and the products and events improvement create certain awareness to the

public and trying to meet the strategic priorities, there is no accessible data or metric to measure

the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns.

Recommendations
After the above auditing the effectiveness of Tourism Vancouver, the organization has

acceptable performances. The legislative structure and governance are well set for the organization.
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 15

The funding model is diversified so that TVan does not only rely on government funding source.

The marketing campaigns are targeting to reach the strategic vision and mission planning. There

are policies and bylaws to regulate the management of the organization. However, some of the

elements base on the above five perspectives are not comprehensively considered which is

recommended as follow:

Legislative Structure and Governance:

Introduce the legislative structure clearly and providing linkage to the Bylaw to the

stakeholders on the official website to improve the transparency.

Justify programmes and activities, measure results from programme and activity

implementation, accept the responsible results (Morrison, 2013) from the accessible

resource to enhance accountability.

Expand the industry classification in the Board to ensure the voices from every tourism

sectors can be considered.

Funding Model:

Develop new funding sources from new products and events (i.e. Generate filming tax as

a new funding source to market Film tourism).

Work closely with other associations not limited to hotels which to generate other business

tax as the new funding source.

Generate new funding source from commercial activities.

Management Discipline:

Set up performance measurement to evaluate goals accomplishment and evaluate TVans

performance annually by the comprehensive aspects: marketing effectiveness,

organizational effectiveness and stakeholders satisfaction (Pike, 2016).

TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 16

Expand hotel supply in strategic development: uniform distribution in the city location with

convenient public transportation, not limited to the downtown area.

Help to regulate the tax and policies of Airbnb and Home-away renting to provide lower

cost accommodation options.

Optimize seasonality by offering lower cost traveling options during the first and forth

quarter.

Provide transparent HR structure with clear reporting instructions.

Strategic Marketing:

Improve the depth of marketing research by adding the data base on visitor demographic,

purpose of visiting, numbers of events and activities, numerical results of the major events

and activities.

Develop marketing campaigns for the top growing market: Taiwan, Mexico and Australia.

Integrate existing resources for product packaging to lower travelling cost (i.e. work with

public transportations to offer visitor public transport package).

Promote annual festivals and events by choosing twelve signature events to represent each

month (eg. Cherry Blossom Festival represent April), especially through social media

platforms; work with Destination BC and Destination Canada to promote the monthly

events.

Establish report of Return of Investment and other results of marketing campaigns.

TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 17

References

Audited Financial Statement. (2015). About Us. Retrieved from Tourism Vancouver:

https://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/vancouverbc/16_033_Au

dited_Financials_2015_READER_SPREADS_cra_f8ef3244-9496-493c-995a-

04da39d78148.pdf

Beritelli, P., Bieger, T., & Laesser, C. (2007). Destination governance: Using corporate

governance theories as a foundation for effective destination management. Journal of Travel

Research, 46(1), 96-107.

British Columbia Government. (2015, July 31). BC Gov News. Retrieved from British Columbia

Government: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2015JTST0100-001225

Chandler, A. D. (1962). Strategy and structure, Boston, Mass.: MIT press.

Destination BC. (n.d.). Tourism Events Program. Retrieved from Destination British Columbia:

http://www.destinationbc.ca/BC-Tourism-Industry/Municipal-and-Regional-District-Tax-

Program/Tourism-Events-Program.aspx

Evans, N. (2015). Strategic Management for Tourism, Hospitality and Events (2nd ed.). New York:

Routled

Lederman, M. (2014). TED could extend vancouver gathering. The Globe and Mail (index-

Only), S.2, 2.

Metro Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau Consolidated Bylaws. (2014). Documents.

Retrieved from Tickets Tonight:

http://www.ticketstonight.ca/includes/content/images/media/docs/BYLAWS---February-

2014.pdf
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 18

Morrison, A. M. (2013). Marketing and managing tourism destinations. New York,

NY: Routledge.

Morrison, A. M. (2010). Hospitality and travel marketing (No. Ed. 4). Clifton Park, NY: Cengage

Delmar.

Pike, S. (2008). Destination marketing. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Pike, S. (2016). Destination Marketing: Essentials, 2nd Edition. London & New York: Routledge,

Taylor, and Francis Group.

Pike, S., & Page, S. J. (2014). Destination Marketing Organizations and destination marketing: A

narrative analysis of the literature. Tourism Management, 41, 202-227.

Tourism Vancouver. (2015). Economic Impact of Cruise Passengers in Metro Vancouver.

Retrieved from Tourism Vancouver:

https://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/vancouverbc/cruise_ei_e8

722bc0-6229-4f5c-8db0-bd8e9cb7e802.pdf

Tourism Vancouver. (2016). Cruise Ship Data for Metro Vancouver. Retrieved from Tourism

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https://www.tourismvancouver.com/about/board-of-directors/

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Tourism Vancouver. (2017). Market Origin of Overnight Visitors to Greater Vancouver.

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https://res.cloudinary.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/vancouverbc/ytd_visitor_

volume_4089f1f2-20c4-4451-8cd6-a7590868fa43.pdf

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https://www.tourismvancouver.com/members/

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https://www.tourismvancouver.com/about/sponsorship/

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Vancouver: https://www.tourismvancouver.com/media/corporate-

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Tonight: http://ticketstonight.ca/includes/content/images/media/docs/FINAL-2013-Sales-

Mktg-Plan-20-Dec-12-low-res.pdf
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 20

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https://www.tourismvancouver.com/about/

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restaurants
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT 21

Appendix A. Present Board of Directors list in Tourism Vancouver

Chairs: Michael Cameron

Interim President of Grouse Mountain Resorts Ltd.
Bob Lindsay (Past Chair)
Owner/Operator of Lift Bar Grill View
Director George Bartel
Members President of Cantrav Services
Peter Catarino
General Manager of Delta Vancouver Suites
Ken Cretney
President & CEOof BC Pavilion Corporation
Michael Doyle
President, Aquilini Hospitality and Live Entertainment of Canucks Sports &
Entertainment
Stephen Geddes
President of Soaring Attractions LP (Operators of FlyOver Canada)
Monique Gomel
Vice President, Global Marketing and Communications of Rocky Mountaineer
Marion Harper Treskin
Dual General Manager of JW Marriott parq Vancouver & the DOUGLAS, an
Autograph Collection Hotel
Kari Koskla
General Manager of Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver
Robyn McVicker
Director, Marketing & Communications of Vancouver Airport Authority
Catherine Runnals
President of BRANDLIVE
Nancy Stibbard
President/Owner of Capilano Suspension Bridge
Peggie Terry
Publisher of WHERE Vancouver
Support to Ty Speer
Board of President, CEO of Tourism Vancouver
Directors:
(Tourism Vancouver, 2017)
TOURISM VANCOUVER AUDIT
Appendix B. SWOT Analysis of Tourism Vancouver
Strengths
Highly regarded tourism infrastructures
(Transportation, Vancouver Convention
Centre, BC Place, Vancouver Art Gallery)
Renovations and improvements to long-
standing attractions
Significant increases in development of
restaurant and retails space
International branding and images after 2010
Winter Olympic
Diverse population with different cultures
Increasing passenger traffic at YVR
Natural tourism resources (city parks, beaches
and seawall)
Urban sustainability development
Resident Enthusiasm in hosting tourism
Diverse spectrum of sporting and cultural
festivals and events.
Opportunities
Strong VFR markets
Global tourism growth
U.S. economy recovery
The increase of emerging markets (Brazil,
Mexico, China and India)
Travel Heads for new horizons (seeking diverse
new experiences)
Safety and Security are rated increasingly
important by travellers
Organizing the TED Conference
BC Aboriginal culture pavilion
(Tourism Vancouver Sales and Marketing Plan, 2013; Vancouver Tourism Master Plan)
22
Weaknesses
Lack of new product to drive new public
relations stories.
Lack of urgency to visit destination and
price competitiveness: high cost of
visiting Vancouver (airfare, taxes, fuel,
accommodation)
Cost of convention centre rental and
hotel rates higher than competing
destinations
Vancouvers Cruise business lost ground
to Seattle
The total supply of hotel rooms in
Vancouver is virtually the same as 10
years ago
Tourism Vancouvers gross budget lower
than competing destinations: long-term,
sustainable and legislated funding
challenges
Threads
Canadas aviation policies continue to
make Canada an expensive destination.
Canadas bilateral aviation agreements
continue to limit access to YVR Airport
Canadian border control, security and
visa policies have set unnecessary
barriers to industry growth from some
markets
Compression during peak times (e.g.,
citywides, cruiseseason, festivals) can
impact hotel availability and rates.