TOTA has had a strong relationship with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport, and extends congratulations to the Honourable Lana Popham on her new role. We look forward to working together to build a strong, sustainable and vibrant tourism industry in the Thompson Okanagan region and throughout British Columbia.
Minister Popham has been the MLA for Saanich South since 2009 and served as the Minister of Agriculture from 2017 to 2022. Previously, she has served as the Official Opposition critic for agriculture and food, and small business and as the Official Opposition critic for tourism, arts, and culture.
Before her election, Lana co-founded and operated Barking Dog Vineyard, the first certified organic vineyard on Vancouver Island. She also managed a crew of vineyard workers and was a strong advocate for food producers in Saanich for many years, including as president of the Vancouver Island Grape Growers Association, chair of the Certification Committee for the Islands Organic Producers Association, and a member of the Investment Agriculture Board.
Please join us in welcoming Minister Popham to her new role as Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport.
If you wish to connect with her directly, her public email address is [email protected].
Like many industries, the hospitality and tourism sector has been hard hit by staff shortages, with a declining youth population and an aging workforce combining to create significant challenges.
The first of four new cohorts of students enrolled in the Hospitality Professional Program this fall. The next cohort will be from February 13 to June 9, 2023, with the work experience from June 12 to August 11, 2023.
This is an excellent opportunity to offer to seasonal employees to gain skills and advanced knowledge in preparation for full-time employment in the summer season.
There will be a Virtual Information Session on Thursday, January 12 at 12 PM.
Feel free to share this opportunity with potential employees of the Thompson Okanagan hospitality industry, particularly professionals looking to expand their career into full-time regular employment, such as a supervisory role.
We have provided sample content to easily spread the word through bulletin boards, email newsletters, website listings, and social media.
Read on to learn about Travel Penticton’s role as a destination marketing organization, including their current sustainability initiatives and motivation for joining Biosphere.
Three finalists who made winning pitches for the Thompson Nicola “Spark” Program were each awarded a $3,000 seed grant and mentorship to help them get started with their new tourism ideas.
November 2022 marked the 1 year anniversary of the 2021 BC Flood, an event that caused damage to infrastructure across the province, including the Kettle Valley Rail (KVR) Trail. The trail experienced extreme washouts and damage to historical infrastructure that are not yet repaired.
Many residents, visitors, and business professionals are concerned about the Kettle Valley Rail Trail and the uncertainty of the plan to repair the flood-damaged sections of the trail. The KVR Trail Preservation Alliance has sent a letter to request a plan to repair the flood-damaged sections of the trail and created a Letter Writing Tool Kit to make it easy for others to request support for trail repairs.
We encourage you to write a letter to the Province of BC if you would like to express your support for the restoration of the KVR
TOTA’s Energy Analyst hosted a webinar with Jordan Fisher, Chief Decarbonization Officer of FRESCo, on how hotels and tourism businesses can access Energy Efficiency updates, support, and financial savings.
This webinar showcased:
How to access FortisBC rebates and government tax credits
Two Free FortisBC programs that can help reduce building operation costs
Free energy assessment to identify opportunities
Free engineering support to implement building upgrades
PacifiCan funding for 17 projects in the Thompson Okanagan through the Canada Community Revitalization Fund and the Tourism Relief Fund. Communities benefiting from funding include Kelowna, Penticton, Peachland, Vernon, Summerland, Keremeos, and Osoyoos.
TOTA received funding to conduct sustainability assessments for tourism businesses to help them implement sustainable and environmentally responsible operational practices. More details will be shared shortly.
WORTH Association’s 2023 Mentorship program is now taking applications for mentors and mentees around British Columbia. The Mentorship Program enables a relationship with a professional in the recreation, tourism, and hospitality field. Two mentees will be matched with a leader for a 6-month period beginning in January 2023.
Mentees will have the opportunity to engage with a positive role model, build leadership skills, and develop connections within the community with the goal of accelerating their leadership ambitions.
In addition to regular mentorship conversations, the program includes access to WORTH Association events and workshops.
With: Matthew Thomas, CEO, Tourism Technology Co. Learn how businesses and tourism boards can work together to create better digital guest experiences, which lead to more bookings and happier travellers. This session uncovers the four main technology problems that travel businesses are faced with today and how some destinations are working to solve them for an easy, high quality guest experience.
We all have limited resources, so how do some people just seem to always get the right things done when it comes to digital marketing? The answer is that they focus ruthlessly on the things that matter most, and discard the rest. This lesson covers how you can apply a simple system of prioritization to your own work to get dramatically more output from the same inputs.
What's New in Web Design?
With: Mike Jacobs, CEO, The New BusinessWhat drives traffic, what retains and what converts seems to be constantly changing. Learn from an industry veteran about which trends are for real and which are worth taking a pass on. Mike talked about building and maintaining one of Ontario's most popular travel websites and the advice that he gives to small businesses that are looking to maximize the value that they're getting from their sites.
5 Practical Ways to use Digital Marketing
With: Conner Galway, President of Junction Consulting & eLearningU
Conner Galway presented practical digital marketing advice at the BC Craft Beer Conference, including key learnings from a major pandemic-recovery project where the team worked directly with 16 local tourism businesses to help them to embrace digital as a key next phase in their businesses. He shared the 5 practical ways that effective digital tourism businesses set themselves up for success, and how you can follow these same practices.
Register for eLearningU
These lessons and more can be accessed through eLearningU, a virtual platform that provides tourism marketing lessons to the Canadian tourism industry.
Thompson Okanagan tourism professionals get 50% off a three month subscription. Sign up with the link below to access weekly Webinar Lessons, the Recording Library, and downloadable presentations, resources, templates, and handouts.
Trans Canada Trail (TCT) users, those with an interest, and those who use or are stewards of surrounding trail systems, are invited to learn more about the Trans Canada Trail (TCT) in the Kelowna area and the forthcoming Exceptional Trail Experience program and accreditation.
Leading the online session will be TCT Director, Policies and Stakeholder Relations, Michael Goodyear. He will discuss TCT's Six Strategies for Success and National Trail Tourism Strategy, as well as its destination development funding stream and the Exceptional Trail Experience program and accreditation.
The TCT team is working to build connections with trail groups and local communities to develop the trail as a premier tourism destination in Canada. The session will allow attendees to learn how their work can tie into the program and the six strategies of success for mutual benefit.
The TOTA Indigenous Tourism Specialist is hosting a 3-hour virtual workshop featuring Westbank First Nation Elders, Pamela and Grouse Barnes, to empower tourism professionals to engage with Indigenous neighbours, businesses, and communities within Canada.
The workshop will include:
A glimpse into the Syilx Indigenous world view
History from the Syilx perspective and the impacts of Truth and Reconciliation
IMPACT is the first conference in Canada to bring together a wide variety of leaders from travel and tourism, government, academia, First Nations, and NGOs to share knowledge and dive deep into the issues of tourism sustainability and innovation.
IMPACT is for people who:
Care about tourism’s positive or negative impacts on communities
Believe the positive, sustainable growth of tourism in Canada is a key economic driver
March 1 - 3, 2022 | Prince George | Early Bird Rate $749 Ends January 19
Host: BC Hotel Association and Tourism Industry Association of BC (TIABC)
The 2023 conference theme is All Systems Go! After navigating through many pandemic-related challenges, the BC tourism and hospitality industry is ready to launch into a new season with strategies and tactics to build business, expand into new markets, develop new products and services, nurture relationships, and tackle issues such as sustainability, diversity/equity/inclusion, reconciliation, and other priorities as a strong, resilient and determined sector.
Sunday, March 26, 2023 | Rotary Centre of the Arts
Host: University Victoria Gustavson School of Business and National Consortium for Indigenous Economic Development
The Indigenous Resilience Festival will bring attention to Indigenous experience and knowledge that has not currently been utilized to its capacity and shared multiculturally, to work through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The festival has two ways to get involved:
1. Virtual Workshops and coaching (fully funded) to assist Indigenous Elders, youth, leaders, artists, and entrepreneurs in composing a 15 minute presentation expressing their personal perspective on cultural resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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