Pat Bell's Top Ten - Oct 29th

1. With over 50 types of tourism products found in six distinct regions and countless communities province wide, tourism epitomizes how small and medium-sized businesses contribute to the economy:
o B.C. has nearly 18,000 tourism-related businesses province wide.
o 77 per cent of all tourism businesses have fewer than 20 employees.
o 56 per cent have fewer than 10 employees.
o 43 per cent of all tourism businesses are outside the Greater Vancouver area.

2. The tourism division budget is approximately $52 million for 2011-12, up from $24 million in 2001. This budget includes resources for marketing, partnerships, and policy and research.

3. In 2010, the tourism sector employed 127,000 British Columbians, generated over $13.4 billion in revenue for tourism-related businesses and contributed over $1.2 billion to provincial government revenues.

4. The ski industry generates annual revenues of about $500 million dollars.

5. With the tagline ‘Get Above it All in British Columbia’, the 2011-12 North America winter ski campaign has for the first time been developed in collaboration with members of the Canada’s West Ski Areas Association, which includes representatives from B.C.’s 13 export-ready ski resorts. The $1.1-million campaign, which runs from November to March, will focus primarily on the Ontario market (largely Greater Toronto). For four weeks starting Monday, Nov. 14, the city will be inundated with transit shelter ads, subway and underground walkway posters, and elevator wraps in key buildings that provide a link to a B.C. ski microsite and contest.

6. A key priority over the next five years will be attracting more tourists from countries with large emerging middle classes, such as China and India, while maintaining strength in traditional markets such as the Ontario, California/Washington, the U.K., Germany, Australia and Japan. In 2010, China was B.C.’s fifth-largest international market for direct customs entries with 118,481 visitors to the province, an increase of 18.9 per cent over 2009.

7. As I said earlier “Gaining The Edge”: A Five-Year Strategy for Tourism in British Columbia’ also calls for a bigger push to provide marketing products in areas that most motivate people to choose BC. These areas include: touring vacations, city experiences, skiing-snowboarding, Aboriginal tourism, outdoor adventure/ecotourism, and meetings and conventions.

8. The strategy will target a five per cent annual growth in revenue in the tourism sector, expected to reach $18 billion annually by 2016.

9. We will also be implementing stable and predictable funding and working with the Tourism Industry Association of BC towards a new multi-faceted tourism marketing partnership including provincial, regional and community marketing organizations, with clear roles and accountabilities.

10. In addition we will be removing barriers to industry growth by working with the federal government to address challenges to international air access with key existing and emerging tourism markets, and to promote timely air, marine and land border access. The Province will work with the tourism sector to ensure labour market strategies are in place that identify and address the sector’s unique labour market pressures.