Canada

To follow-up from my recent post about the new Canada Film at Epcot at Disney World in Florida, the new version is now live at Epcot and launched on September 1. Have a look at the YouTube video below. If you are in a hurry, jump directly to Part 2.

Great News!!!   CANADIAN e-TOURISM AWARDS DEADLINES EXTENSION

MORE TIME TO GET YOUR ENTRIES READY BUT DON'T DELAY...

INDUSTRY CATEGORIES AWARDS - September 14, 2007 (Midnight PDT)

TRAVELLERS CATEGORIES AWARDS - October 14, 2007 (Midnight PDT)

We have decided to extend the deadline for the Canadian e-Tourism Awards due to vacation time. We received lots of requests from tourism organizations to get more time to submit their work.  Please see the new deadlines. After September 14th, the finalists in the Industry Categories will be uploaded to Yahoo.ca for Consumer Voting until October 14th.  This will be unique as the winners will actually be determined by a combination of industry experts as well as consumers.

Please visit the Canadien e-Tourism Awards to enter. You can also get more information about the awards on this blog, as well as the Canada-e-Connect Blog.  The C$95 entry fee is waived for non-marketing agency companies, so entries are free when submitted by the travel and tourism organization, as well as the individual traveller itself.

We will have an exciting program planned with our prime partners, Yahoo! Canada and the Canadian Tourism Commission, and will also exclusively pre-screen the first-ever Canadian Destination IMAX movie during the Awards Ceremony at Telus World of Science, before heading to trendy Yaletown in Vancouver to the After-Awards Party at Coast Restaurant.  You will not want to miss this "Once in a Lifetime Event". Tickets to the Canadian e-Tourism Awards are included in the Canada-e-Connect Conference Registration. Additonal tickets maybe available at limited capacity at a first come basis.

As a marketing tip for Canadian travel organizations, such as hotels, lodges, restaurants, attractions, parks, golf courses, ski resorts, trains, destination marketing organizations, tours, etc. - this is a great opportunity to encourage your current and past guests to tell and enter their travel experience in the first-ever Canadian e-Tourism Awards.  If they talk about your operation or destination, and the entry wins, your product or service will get some great exposure. For the winning entries in the Traveller Category, there will exciting Canadian travel experiences as the prizes.  

Every so often, you just have to smile...according to surveys, Americans have stronger trust, and loyalty to comic characters than with business and philiosophical thought leaders.  A few years ago, a survey proved that educated teens had a higher awareness of Ronald McDonald (the mascott of the fast food chain McDonald's) than with literary figures.

The Canadian Tourism Commission is looking to leverage this phenomenon in changing the way American perceive Canada. Many people south of Canada's border think the northern neighbor is cold, boring, and there is little to do when it comes to travel, except get lost in the wilderness.

Since 1982 guests from around the world have been taken on a tour of beautiful Canadian landscapes and diverse cultures as they watched the film O Canada! in the Canada pavilion at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, FL.  The current film is outdated and actually support the notion that Canada does not have much more to offer than mountain, mountains, and lots of moose.  The CTC has partnered with tourism industry partners to invest in a remake of the Canada film, produced by Disney Imagineering.

Instead of cars, clothes and cityscapes, the new film that will launch this fall takes in acrobatic Cirque du Soleil performances and rowdy rodeo action at the Calgary Stampede. Actor Martin Short, a Hamilton, ON native, confronts Canadian misconceptions head-on and demystifies them. Viewers take a journey through a country they thought they knew, but discover Canada is so much more than vast landscapes. The new

Personally, I think it is funny that Americans will go to get travel advice from Mickey Mouse, instead of just visitin the "real thing" - but on the other hand, I personally think that Epcot Center is a wonderful way to get a taste of a lot of countries in one afternoon. Not being biased since I currently work for the Canadian Tourism Commission, I think it wise for any national tourism brand to leverage all possible media channels  - online and offline - when it comes to brand building.

I found the current Canada film at Epcot on YouTube (enjoy!), and I also found these enlightening comments on YouTube:

People are so full of it. This was probably my favorite video in Epcot's World Showcase because of its sweeping visuals and it was reliably there every time I went to Epcot. Now, due in part to complaining Canadians, it's gone. Pisses me off.

So what's the problem with this film? I love it. And if I'm ignorant & love it, does that mean once I see the "real" Canada, I'll hate it?

It may be old, but it still portrays a beautiful country. Wouldn't it be best to keep it that way rather than update and show the disaster that country has become?

They have got to update this film from the 70's. It's making Americans even more ignorant than they otherwise would be about Canada.

 

The new Canada film at Epcot is just one of many initiatives the CTC is taking to reach Americans. Most recently, the CTC and its Canadian tourism partners launched an aggressive print and billboard campaign in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.

With a projected opening in mid August of this year, Toronto will finally get its first and only 5-star boutique hotel.

Located in trendy Yorkville, I was able to get a sneak preview a few months back to get a tour through the construction site of The Hazelton Hotel by fellow German and former colleague Sebastian Moritz, who is the Director of Operations.

My other connection at this special hotel is President and COO Klaus Tenter, who comes from the same very very small town in Germany, and used to be the General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto.

With only 77 rooms and 16 residences, the hotel is designed by world-class hotel designers Yabu-Pushelberg, and will host Mark McEwans new restaurant "One". The hotel also some some other special features, such as a Silver Screening Room, which is a state-of-the-art 25-seat movie theatre.

This will be a very special hotel, and will probably rise to become one of the best hotels in North America.  Having a hotel of such caliber in Toronto, will be great addition for this bustling Canadian city...

This weekend Canada kicks offs its hosting duties for the FIFA-U20 World Cup with players all aged under 20 years arriving from 24 different countries around the world to compete in a series of 52 soccer games planned across six different Canadian cities (click on the map to explore the locations). Its expected there will be over 700,000 international visitors in total and when they arrive they will all find that their cellphone and wireless internet needs will be supplied by Bell Canada. For fans with Bell Mobility cellphones equipped with the ability to play video over the network, Bell is going to offer a number of video highlights and “other exclusive highlights” during the event. Also, free webcasts are available online. As a side note, it is surprising that some of the major European teams did not qualify, including Germany (!!!!), Italy, England, France, and Holland.