News & Resources
The latest Thompson Okanagan tourism industry news from TOTA, tourism businesses, and communities.
Measuring Sustainability: The State of the Canadian Tourism Industry | GreenStep Sustainable Tourism
GreenStep shared a report on how the Canadian tourism industry is performing in regards to sustainability based on data from hundreds of tourism businesses across Canada who completed the Sustainability Score assessment.
In 2021, GreenStep launched the Sustainable Tourism 2030 Pledge in partnership with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, encouraging tourism businesses and destinations across the country to measure their sustainability performance using the free online Sustainability Score assessment based upon the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) criteria, and to make a commitment to improving this performance each year until 2030.
The Sustainable Tourism Dashboard enables anonymous aggregation of the results to help tourism destinations, policy makers, and other industry stakeholders understand how the tourism industry is performing at a local, provincial, national, and eventually international level.
GreenStep shared a report on how the Canadian tourism industry is performing in regards to sustainability based on data from hundreds of tourism businesses across Canada who completed the Sustainability Score assessment.
In 2021, GreenStep launched the Sustainable Tourism 2030 Pledge in partnership with the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, encouraging tourism businesses and destinations across the country to measure their sustainability performance using the free online Sustainability Score assessment based upon the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) criteria, and to make a commitment to improving this performance each year until 2030.
The Sustainable Tourism Dashboard enables anonymous aggregation of the results to help tourism destinations, policy makers, and other industry stakeholders understand how the tourism industry is performing at a local, provincial, national, and eventually international level.
Myra Canyon Bicycle Rentals and Tours Welcomes Bamboo Bicycles
Biosphere Committed Company, Myra Canyon Bicycle Rentals and Tours has their focus on SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production - with the introduction of bamboo bicycles. By introducing bamboo bicycles produced and sold in a small village in Ghana, it provides a more sustainable option and education tool for their business.
Introducing Bamboo Bicycles for Myra Canyon Bicycle Rentals and Tours
Myra Canyon Bicycle Rentals and Tours is one of our Biosphere Committed Companies. The Biosphere Commitment Program aligns with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and empowers tourism stakeholders to take action within the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. The SDGs were adopted by the UN in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, reduce inequality and ensure that by 2030, all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The SDGs address global challenges and serve as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. Myra Canyon Bicycle Rentals and Tours has their focus on SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production with the introduction of bamboo bicycles.
These bamboo bicycles are being introduced to their fleet to see how they can withstand the elements and weather the beautiful Okanagan has to offer. The bamboo bicycles are created and sold from a small village in Ghana. By purchasing and supporting this small village it allows their village to create jobs and assists in building schools locally.
The hope from Myra Canyon Bicycle Rentals and Tours, is that the bicycles hold up well to the demands and allows the company to buy more bamboo bicycles to add to their fleet. A big draw to adding these bamboo bicycles to their fleet is that these bicycles are a more sustainable option and help provide insight to customers about choosing sustainable products.
The bamboo bicycles will be available through their Half Day Guided Myra Canyon Tours. The tours include transportation pick up in Kelowna or West Kelowna and drop off at guests desired location. Reservations are now open on their website, so test out these sustainable bamboo bicycles!
As tourism stakeholders it is our responsibility to support sustainability and localism in our offerings as businesses. This is important locally but also to help educate our customers and visitors. It takes not only a village but everyone working towards a better future to ensure that we have a better world for generations to come.
To learn more about the Biosphere Commitment Program and how you can join this international, world recognized certification that TOTA holds, talk to our Biosphere Team today.
CleanBC Communities Fund Intake 3 Now Open | Apply by May 25, 2022
The CleanBC Communities Fund (CCF) intake 3 is now accepting applications to fund projects that support the management of renewable energy, access to clean energy transportation, improved energy efficiency of buildings, and generation of clean energy. The fund invests in public infrastructure owned by local governments, Indigenous communities, not-for-profits and projects in partnership with for-profit entities.
The CleanBC Communities Fund (CCF) intake 3 is now accepting applications to fund projects that support the management of renewable energy, access to clean energy transportation, improved energy efficiency of buildings, and generation of clean energy. The fund invests in public infrastructure owned by local governments, Indigenous communities, not-for-profits and projects in partnership with for-profit entities.
Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association Collaborates with Green Wine Future 2022
The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) has joined with Green Wine Future (GWF) as one of its corporate sponsors and strategic partners. The event is the most ambitious environmental conference ever organized for the wine community and will launch as a fully online gathering May 23-26, 2022.
Miami, Florida, USA - The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA), to show its commitment to protecting the environment and sustainability, has joined with Green Wine Future (GWF) as one of its corporate sponsors and strategic partners. The event is the most ambitious environmental conference ever organized for the wine community and will launch as a fully online gathering May 23-26, 2022.
“Because Green Wine Future is an international summit which will be broadcast around the globe and from eight different time zones, we will be able to show the entire planet, why and how the Thompson Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada became the first destination in the Americas to successfully achieve the Biosphere Certified designation distinction from the Responsible Tourism Institute,” said Ellen Walker-Matthews, CEO for TOTA.
As part of TOTA’s participation in the conference, TOTA is supported by several provincial and regional funding partners: Destination British Columbia, Wine Growers British Columbia, Sustainable Winegrowing British Columbia; and host wineries who will showcase the Thompson Okanagan wine region: Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, CedarCreek Estate Winery, and Monte Creek Winery.
To address critical topics of sustainability, wine, and matters related to the climate crisis and the environment, Chrand Events has created Green Wine Future as the culmination of its Climate Change & Wine and Wine Future conferences. The conference will be broadcast in four languages simultaneously (English, Spanish, French, Italian) from 8 different parts of the planet in their respective time zones: USA, Chile, Portugal, Spain, France, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
In 2006, Chrand Events pioneered the world’s first international conference on Climate Change and Wine, and the first event examining the impacts of the climate crisis upon any one industry. Since that edition in Spain, Chrand Events has organized numerous other international conferences in Hong Kong, Portugal, and other parts of the world featuring the most influential names of the wine industry and such visionary global leaders as US President Barack Obama, Nobel Laureate Al Gore, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan amongst many others.
“Green Wine Future will share with wine professionals innumerable, valuable aspects of how their peers are addressing sustainability issues in creating solutions to problems in the vineyard, winery, supply, and sales streams,” said David Furer, host and co-organizer of this unique international event.
In response to current world conditions, the premiere edition of Green Wine Future will offer a totally new way to attend a conference and for speakers to present their information: a hands-on and practical approach through video footage, and documentaries. Live broadcast from vineyards, footage from innovative solutions to the climate crisis, interactive documentaries specially recorded for the event are just a few highlights of GWF.
This virtual technology will allow wineries and wine companies to be present at the GWF Virtual Expo, showcasing their wines, products, and services. The innovative technology will also allow delegates, speakers, and exhibitors to network virtually for a period of 2 weeks prior to the conference.
GWF also announces the addition of “Wine for the Planet” (W4P) docuseries which will showcase the wine industry’s work in protecting areas of the Earth most sensitive to the climate crisis, including:
Antarctica, Iceland, Greenland, the Arctic;
Coral reefs in different parts of our planet;
The Amazon and other rainforests;
Regions already suffering from water shortages and floods;
Areas implementing sustainable initiatives, such as the Thompson Okanagan region in British Columbia, Canada.
Recorded and presented by GWF and W4P founder Pancho Campo and his team from the above listed regions, W4P will stream free globally during regular breaks of GWF. Documentaries will be available through Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, where the team will highlight wine tastings in Greenland, Iceland, Antarctica, the Amazon, and the Great Coral Reef.
As part of these documentaries, Pancho will travel to the Thompson Okanagan region of British Columbia at the beginning of April to record a documentary that will showcase the region’s wine industry, sustainable tourism commitments, and environmentally friendly strategies and initiatives that are being undertaken as part of the provincial focus to address the global climate crisis.
The event has obtained the support of many key wine organizations and allies including the International Institute of Vine and Wine, Wine Institute of California, Napa Valley Vintners, Interprofesional del Vino de España, Barossa Australia, Wines of Chile, Wines of Portugal, and the Porto Protocol.
Registrations and all information regarding GWF’s speakers and program, as well as the program for W4P, are available at GreenWineFuture.com.
About Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA)
The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association is a non-profit society, governed by an elected Board of Directors, which represents business and community tourism interests throughout the region, and is supported by and representative of Destination British Columbia British Columbia Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture, & Sport. It is an industry-led organization that represents and supports all business and community tourism interests in the region, while also helping to implement provincial tourism policies.
For more information, visit TOTABC.org.
About Chrand Events
Chrand Events, founder of Green Wine Future, is an agency founded by former tennis professional and Olympic captain Pancho Campo. Chrand has organized world-class events for over 30 years in more than 20 countries. Chrand has managed and produced concerts, sporting events, summits, and conferences with some of the most important world leaders, celebrities, and Nobel Prize winners including: US President Barack Obama, US Vice-President Al Gore, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, film director Francis Ford Coppola, Sting, Pink Floyd, Andre Agassi and Enrique Iglesias amongst other notables.
For more information, contact:
Pancho Campo
Founder / Conference Director
Sponsorships
Michael Wangbickler
Publicity & Communications Director
Balzac Communications & Marketing
David Furer
Host / Program Director
DF Consults
Ellen Walker-Matthews
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA)
Kavan Vijayakumar
Industry Relations & Stewardship Specialist
Thompson Okanagan Biosphere Commitment Program Winery Virtual Trade Booths
Wendy Vallaster
Certified ISG Sommelier & Professional Wine Consultant
Green Wine Future Virtual Trade Booths