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From our team to yours, we hope you had a fantastic holiday season and we wish you all the best for a happy, healthy and successful 2007!
With fond 2006 memories in tow, Tourism Victoria’s Meeting and Incentive Travel Team is looking ahead to a fun and busy 2007. We’ve got plenty of exciting activities, world-class exhibits and brand new hotels opening this year – all of which are sure to provide your group with a unique, world-class meeting experience! We thank you for your continued support of Victoria, BC and look forward to showcasing our beautiful piece of “Paradise on the Pacific” to you all.
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IMPORTANT - Passport Requirement update
Beginning January 23, 2007, all persons – including U.S. citizens – traveling by AIR from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda will be required to present a passport, Merchant Mariner document or NEXUS air card to enter the United States. http://ottawa.usembassy.gov |
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BC Named Golf Destination of the Year
The International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO) has selected British Columbia as the “2007 Golf Destination of the Year” for North America. Votes for these awards were cast by IAGTO’s 260 golf tour operators from 40 different countries. Each operator was asked to nominate what they considered to be the best performing golf destinations this year according to their clients. A winner was named in five regional categories; North America, Latin America and Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Gulf States and Asia and Australasia. Criteria for the Award included; customer satisfaction, quality of golf courses and accommodation, value for money, professional conduct of suppliers, support from the local tourism industry and accessibility to tee times. http://www.iagto.com/ |
Hollyhock
A visit to Hollyhock, a not for profit Educational Retreat Centre located in a spectacular natural setting on Cortes Island, is the start of a journey. An internationally renowned centre for learning and well-being, Hollyhock impacts personal, professional and social development and also happens to offer visitors a fantastic island holiday. The Hollyhock curriculum, taught by experts in their field, includes subjects as diverse as wellness and wisdom practices, arts and culture, business and leadership development. Hollyhock complements its beautiful natural setting with environmentally sound, world-class conference facilities where you can host meetings, facilitate dialogue and presentations. However, some of your group's most powerful discussions and insights will occur outside your conference room, during dinner conversations with workshop-mates or while contemplating the beauty of the ocean. Hollyhock offers up to 3000 sq. ft of meeting space with a minimum group size of 15 and a maximum of 105. The Retreat Centre will be of exclusive use for groups of 60-105 with a minimum requirement of a three night stay. www.hollyhock.ca
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Meetings on BC Ferries
BC Ferries now offers a meeting room on board their Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay route (connecting Southern Vancouver Island with the Mainland). The meeting room on board has a capacity for 20 people and is ideal for corporate groups. Groups can use the space for internal board or department meetings or perhaps for a quick gathering before an Incentive trip to Victoria. The journey is approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes (24 Nautical Miles) and the scenery is dramatic and second to none; allowing your group the opportunity to view whales, seals, seabirds, various ships and stunning islands. The meeting room is also equipped for AV requirements as well as catering options. Booking in advance is required and passenger and vehicle fares are not included in the room fee. . . . . . . . http://www.bcferries.com/about/fleet/SOBC/confroom.html |
Mister Salsa Dine and Dance Place
Mister Salsa Dine & Dance Place offers Latin American Cuisine, salsa dancing, swing dancing as well as salsa and swing lessons during the day. Dining options include an all you can eat buffet made with free range and local ingredients (all of the food is homemade and authentic Latin American). They can accommodate 55 people for a sit down dinner and 78 people for a reception. www.mistersalsa.ca |
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Oak Bay Beach Hotel update
As of November 6, 2006, the Oak Bay Beach Hotel is on vacation. The much loved landmark hotel is being rebuilt on its historic waterfront site and is scheduled to re-open on May 1, 2009 as a beautiful Tudor-style, five-star, boutique resort and spa. Featuring many familiar elements of the original hotel, such as the re-created grand lobby and fireplace, the original part of the Snug Pub and several wonderful antiques, it will be a grand new hotel and a true legacy to its past. If you are currently planning your next trip to Victoria and would like to enjoy the same warm and genuine hospitality that you have come to appreciate at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, please visit Miraloma on the Cove located in Sidney, B.C. This west coast seaside boutique hotel is nestled on a beautiful heritage property with lovely gardens. www.miraloma.ca |
Ocean Station at the Royal BC Museum
Visitors to the Royal BC Museum now have a new British Columbia environment to explore, the ocean floor. Ocean Station, the museum’s newest permanent gallery, plumbs the depths of the province’s off-shore habitat and introduces some of the marine life that call our region home. Upon entering the Captain Nemo-esque ‘submarine’, guests will peer through portholes at kelp beds, watch live animals in the central 360-litre (95-gallon) aquarium and check out underwater vistas via a moveable periscope. The centerpiece of the gallery is a giant hexagonal hatch, offering a window onto an underwater seawall, a diorama populated by sea stars, fish, anemones, sea cucumbers and other creatures of the deep. Computer games and videos, animal skeletons, microscopes, specimen jars and a hands-on zone where visitors can explore seashells, dry sea stars and crab shells, add to the ocean experience. www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
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Poets Cove Resort & Spa
Winter Corporate Meeting Package
Poets Cove Resort & Spa, located just east of Victoria, BC overlooking Bedwell Harbour on Pender Island, brings a different view to meetings. In only 20 minutes a floatplane can transport executives to the relaxed, but upscale resort. Ties come off, jeans replace Armani’s and the stress and busy-ness of the city and corporate grind is left a world away. Poets Cove Resort & Spa's Winter Corporate Meetings Package makes a retreat easy to plan. For $185.00 CDN/$161.00 US per person, per day, plus tax and gratuities, the package includes single overnight accommodation in a Lodge room with fireplace, high speed internet and balcony with ocean view, meeting room rental, a continental breakfast, morning and afternoon coffee break, and lunch. This package will be offered until April 15, 2007 and is ideal for groups of 8 to 22. www.poetscove.com |
Seaplane service from Victoria to Whistler
Beginning in February 2007, Howe Sound Seaplanes will start scheduled service from Victoria to the Whistler area. Passengers will fly from Victoria’s Inner Harbour via the Vancouver Airport to Squamish, located just 30 minutes south of Whistler. A courtesy shuttle will then transfer passengers to their destination in Whistler. Howe Sound Seaplanes will offer two flights daily. The flight from Victoria to Vancouver is 35 minutes and Vancouver to Squamish is 30 minutes. Fares begin at $149.00 CDN/$127.00 US. Howe Sound Seaplanes has two de Havilland Beaver aircraft with seating for five passengers each. Flights to the Whistler area will allow Howe Sound Seaplanes to service this market leading up to and during the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. www.howesoundseaplanes.com
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Swan’s Brewpub recognized as “2006 National Brewpub of the Year”
The Canadian Brewing Association recently recognized Victoria’s Swans Brewpub as the National winner for the coveted title of “Brewpub of the Year”. The Canadian Brewing Awards have emerged as the premiere competition for judging the quality of Canadian-brewed beer and it is the only competition that invites breweries of all sizes from across the country to compete in a blind testing to determine who brews the best beer in 21 style categories. Swan’s Brewpub received 7 National Awards/Medals for their beer, the only brewery to receive so many awards. Swan’s Brewpub not only received the Brewpub of the Year for 2006 because of the number of awards given in 2006, but also over the past 4 years. Swan’s Buckerfields Brewery has received an impressive 16 awards since 2002 when the Canadian Brewing Awards began. www.swanshotel.com |
Wharfside Kayak Tours
Enjoy a seaside exploration with Wharfside Kayak Tours along with learning the basic techniques of this popular sport. Corporate Group Team Building options are available ($65.00 CDN) and will encourage your group to think “outside of the box”. Day trips along the Strait of Juan De Fuca include a tour through a mysterious lagoon, a Castle (many will recognize the Castle as a film location) and lunch at the oldest lighthouse in Western Canada. This day tour is approximately 6 hours and the costs are $125 for adults and $90 for children under 14 when accompanied by an adult. Another tour option available will lead your group from Victoria to Seal Island. Along the way your naturalist guide will point out shore and sea birds, otters, seals and if you are lucky, the occasional porpoise or whale. The tour is approximately 2 ½ hours and the costs are $59 for adults and$45 for children under 14 when accompanied by an adult. www.victoriakayak.com
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Dundas Collection of Pacific Northwest First Nations Art
A collection of significant First Nations artifacts purchased at a New York auction last fall will be coming to the Royal BC Museum April 27 – July 4, 2007. The 36 artifacts to be exhibited on behalf of nine owners are the most significant and spectacular items from the Dundas Collection, and include two wooden face masks, two rare clubs made of carved antler and a clan hat. The collection, acquired by Rev. Robert James Dundas in 1863, in Old Metlakatla, near present-day Prince Rupert, was auctioned by Sotheby’s in October 2006. Representatives from the Royal BC Museum and the Museum of Northern BC have worked closely with chiefs and elders of the Allied Tsimshian Tribes of Lax Kw' Alaams and Metlakatla to develop this exhibition. www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca |
Frontier to launch Vancouver to Denver service
Frontier Airlines will become the first low cost U.S. airline to serve Vancouver next year when it launches a year-round, daily non-stop service between Vancouver and Denver. Denver based Frontier will begin its new Vancouver service on May 5, 2007 with a 132 passenger Airbus A319 aircraft and will offer introductory fares as low as $218 US (round trip), excluding fees and taxes. The winter schedule will change for the convenience of Vancouver passengers who want to connect with Denver flights bound for Mexican destinations such as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Guadalajara. Frontier Airlines, which began operations in 1994, serves 49 destinations with a fleet of 55 aircraft. http://www.frontierairlines.com |
Horizon Air increases flight capacity from Seattle and Victoria
Beginning April 8, 2007, Horizon Air will use larger aircraft on its flights between Seattle, WA and Victoria, BC. The larger aircraft will boost the overall number of seats on the route by 43 per cent. The current schedule of seven daily flights using 37-seat Q200 turboprop aircraft will be replaced with four flights operated with 74-seat Q400 turboprops and two with Q200 aircraft. From Seattle, passengers can connect to Horizon’s new non-stop routes to Los Angeles, Sonoma County Santa Rosa as well as all routes throughout North America served by its sister carrier Alaska Airlines. The Q400 flies at nearly jet aircraft speed yet is a relatively quiet aircraft. Horizon operates 20 Q400 aircraft and will be adding an additional 12. www.horizonair.com |
The Oswego Hotel
Scheduled to open in April 2007, the Oswego Hotel will be Victoria’s newest contemporary boutique hotel. Located on Oswego Street in Victoria’s residential neighbourhood of James Bay, the 80 room Oswego Hotel is only two blocks from the Inner Harbour. It will consist of 16 studio, 49 one bedroom and 15 two bedroom suites, all with fully equipped kitchens, luxurious bathrooms and comfortable living areas; making it perfect for long-stay guests. The hotel will also feature the “O” Bistro, Pacific Great Room with a stunning, two-sided natural stone fireplace, garden terrace, 20-seat boardroom, state-of-the-art fitness facilities, evening wine tastings and continental breakfast. The hotel design is contemporary with just enough west coast influence to remind guests of their location. The airy colours of sea and sky are grounded by rich earthy tones underfoot, large windows allow plenty of natural light and west coast artwork will adorn the walls. Until May 31, 2007, The Oswego Hotel is offering a special rate starting at $129.00 CDN/$110.00 US per night for a Studio Suite including a deluxe continental breakfast for two. www.oswegovictoria.com
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We will be on the road for many of our 2007 Sales Activities. If we will be in your area and you would like to meet with us, please contact us!
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April |
Ottawa Sales Calls
February 5 - 8, 2007 |
Alberta Sales Mission
March 5 - 8, 2007 |
Montreal Sales Mission
April 16-20 |
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We would love to hear from you. Please contact us with any inquiries you may have or if we can help you plan your meeting, conference or incentive trip here in Victoria! www.tourismvictoria.com/meetings
For further information, please visit our website www.tourismvictoria.com |
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© Copyright 2004-2006 Tourism Victoria
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