It was felt
by the members that numbers of employees were not an accurate
reflection of a businesses ability to pay, with some small operations
being labour intensive, and some larger operations being run
by less than five employees. The membership felt a flat fee
of $150.00/year with a menu of optional services that could
be purchased was a better way to gage a businesses ability to
pay. The Board of Directors of VINVA felt that an increase of
$100.00 was too much to ask of the membership, and proposed
that a fee of $100.00 be set for Voting Members. This fee structure
was approved unanimously at the Annual General Meeting in April.
A discussion
was held concerning the Business Plan recommendation to change
the Association’s name to Tourism North Island. It was decided
to recommend to the membership at the Annual General Meeting
the name "Tourism North Vancouver Island", as it’s
important to reflect the geographic location of the Association
in the name. This ties in well with Tourism Vancouver Island’s
current restructuring of it’s marketing brand from "The
Islands" to include "Vancouver Island" in the
branding. Tourism Vancouver Island will be launching its new
marketing brand image at their AGM in May. The name change was
approved by the membership at the Annual General Meeting, and
the new name for VINVA will be Tourism North Vancouver Island.
Quite a
bit of work has gone into updating the web site and related
materials (including the North Island Driving Guide and the
Community of Community Sign Project) reflecting the new North
Island Route highway icon that was developed. The production
of the North Island Driving Guide was a good exercise for the
Association, in that the proofing of the editorial gave us the
opportunity to identify both web-sites and printed materials
that had incorrect and out-dated information on the area, and
were able to provide correct information to those publishers.
We also identified a major gap in our collateral material, a
comprehensive, and quality image bank for use by publishers,
web-site producers and the Association itself.
A VINVA
representative has been elected to the Port Hardy & District
Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and has been asked to
sit on the Tourism Port Hardy committee of the Chamber. Additionally,
VINVA has gained some profile on a provincial level within the
tourism sector with its involvement with the Council of Tourism
Associations of BC and the Wilderness Tourism Association in
the Central Coast Land & Resource Management Planning Process
as the alternate representative for the tourism sector on the
Central Coast. As an alternative on the CCLRMP, VINVA will be
working closely with the forestry, recreation and environmental
sectors, as well as local First Nations governments. VINVA has
been working closely with the Northern Services Route Ferry
Advisory Committee members and local governments on the proposed
schedule changes for the Inside Passage and the Discovery Coast
Passage routes. BC Ferries has proposed the elimination of the
ferry route between Port Hardy and Bella Coola – a route that
carried nearly 9,000 visitors between the two communities in
2001. VINVA is also an active participant in the Vancouver Island
Tourism Manager’s committee and the Tourism Vancouver Island
marketing committee.
Driving
Guide: Distribution has begun on the Driving Guide.
Response is very positive to date; there is a sense that we’ve
truly become a professional and legitimate organization with
the production of a full gloss magazine, rather than a newsprint
guide. Copies have been forwarded to the Port Hardy and Port
McNeill Visitor Infocentres, as well as Nanaimo, Port Alberni
and Ucluelet. Distribution will continue over the next two months
to include the major Visitor Infocentres on the Island and the
mainland, as well as through Tourism Vancouver Island, the consumer
shows and inquiries to the VINVA office.
Travel
Trade Update: VINVA is currently on a waiting list for
Rendezvous Canada this year. The Rendezvous Canada committee
has accepted us; we’re just waiting for the final approval from
Tourism British Columbia. If VINVA goes, we’ll be the only DMO
other than Tourism Victoria and Tourism Vancouver Island from
the Island who attend the show.
With the
addition of travel trade shows to the VINVA budget, the Board
must decide whether to continue to focus on consumers or whether
to expand to include travel trade.
The
Travel Show, Bellevue, WA: Attendance at this year’s
Travel Show was down from last year; attendance figures are
estimated at 7,500. Changing the travel agents showcase from
Friday morning to Saturday evening was not a positive change
(number of travel agents was less than 50). Attending the show
is relatively expensive for the exposure we receive. I would
recommend that next year we ensure Tourism Vancouver Island
has a supply of each of our community brochures as well as the
Driving Guide to distribute at the show, rather than attending
ourselves. I gave out three boxes of Driving Guides (450 copies,
and approximately 50 to 75 of each of the member brochures),
a supply of Driving Guides and a selection of the member brochures
were forwarded to Ken Erickson, Canadian Tourism Commission
(based in WA) for his offices.
Vancouver
Outdoor Adventure Show: Attendance at this year’s Outdoor
& Adventure Show was down from last year (the show organizer’s
have not released the attendance figures yet). Attending the
show is relatively expensive for the exposure we receive, over
three days I gave out approximately 300 Driving Guides, and
approximately 25 – 40 of the individual brochures.
Hillside
Mall Show: This show was probably the most satisfying
of the consumer shows we attended this year. Attendance at the
show was steady throughout the weekend, and mall merchants reported
sales and crowds similar to the week prior to Christmas, although
it started out pretty slow on Friday morning due to the snowstorm!
I gave out approximately 500 Driving Guides and between 30 and
60 member brochures. I would recommend VINVA continue to participate
in this Mall Show with the other Island tourism organizations.
Additionally, I would encourage our members to participate in
this show as well!
Calgary
Outdoor Adventure Show: We started out with a fairly
good steady crowd on Friday night, it was fairly slow on Saturday,
and quite busy on Sunday. I gave out approximately 350 Driving
Guides (ran out on Sunday) and approximately 30 to 50 of each
of the member brochures. The audience in Calgary seemed particularly
interested in hiking information, particularly Cape Scott Park.
As with all of the consumer shows, they are very expensive to
attend, and I’d like to do some work with our members to evaluate
if they received any business from these shows.
Central
Coast Land & Resource Management Plan: VINVA has
been asked to participate in Phase II of the CCLRMP as a representative
on the Tourism Caucus to identify tourism issues for the Completion
Table, as a member of the Working Group Sub-Table for Tourism/Recreation/Timber
and Visuals Working Group and the Socio-Economic Assessment
Working Group, and as an alternate table representative for
the tourism seat at the Completion Table. The CCLRMP has forwarded
a map of the LRMP boundaries with a series of overlays to the
map, including recreation values, timber values, candidate protection
areas and tourism values. The map is currently being circulated
among VINVA members for their review and input into the tourism
layer.
TVI
Festivals & Events Calendar and Map: Currently working
with David Petryk, Executive Director, TVI on a deal where we’d
manage the production of their Festivals & Events Calendar
and Map for an administration fee.
Vancouver
Island Dive Association: I met with members of the Vancouver
Island Dive Association in Nanaimo at the TVI offices in early
January. The Dive Group would like to develop a marketing program
for the Island dive product in conjunction with Tourism Vancouver
Island and the Island tourism organizations. Their marketing
program would consist of a dive publication for the Island which
would be distributed through the DEMA (Dive Equipment Manufacturer’s
Association) Show, the Toronto Outdoor Adventure Show, through
response to ads in Rodale’s Diving Magazine, and Diver Magazine
(the No. 1 dive magazine in the UK). The total budget would
be approximately $50,000.00, with a variety of buy-in levels
for operators ranging from $500.00 to $3,000.00 for a two-year
program.
Cruise
Ships: Have been working with the Regional District
on a strategy for the development of a cruise ship program for
the North Island. As funding of this initiative would come from
the RD’s economic development function it would focus on the
communities that are financially participating in the program
(all except Port Hardy). A meeting was held in Alert Bay last
week to begin the development of a series of shore packages
to sell to the cruise ships, as well as gather the technical
information needed by the cruise industry (i.e. docking facilities,
etc.).
