46th Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting

Welcome to Tourism Vancouver Island’s Annual Conference & AGM Website!

There were some memorable moments this year at the 46th Conference and AGM held September 22 to 24 in the Westshore Communities! With some amazing first time experiences and lots of networking the 2009 conference & AGM is one to remember.

Some of our first time highlights include:

Golf Classic Hole In One Winner!!

Our biggest winner at this year’s conference was Rob Dodds of Primal Communications, one of our fantastic sponsors, who aced the 6th hole on Bear Mountain’s new Valley Course.  Lee Taal of Immediate Images, who sponsored the $10,000 Hole-in-One prize, was on hand to congratulate Dodds on the exciting achievement.  Strange, but true, Dodds’ foursome also won ‘most honest team’ for the highest score. 

Wii Olympics

The Inaugural Wii Olympics were very well received and the competitors had a blast vying for the Gold, Silver & Bronze medals in the sports of Ski Jumping, Ski Slalom and the Hula Hoop Challenge.  As an added bonus the Gold Medal winners also received a Wii Console and Wii Fit package! The Gold Medal winners of our first ever Wii Olympics were Kathleen Burton of Wildplay Element Parks for the Ski Jump, Joli White of Vancouver Island North Tourism in the Slalom event, and Lee Taal of Immediate Images for the Hula Hoop Challenge. Congratulations to our Gold Medalists!

Ministry of Tourism Culture and the Arts

Minister Krueger made one of his first presentations as the Minister of Tourism Culture and the Arts , which included assurance that the Ministry was committed to continued investment in tourism marketing.  He also defended the decision to merge the crown corporation of Tourism BC with the Ministry of Tourism Culture & The Arts to ensure maximum efficiencies and benefit during the upcoming opportunities presented by the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic games.   Minister Krueger and Deputy Minister Lori Wanamaker also spoke about other recent changes affecting the industry including the HST implementation.

2010 Conference & AGM

The location for next year’s conference and AGM will be the Oceanside Region including Parksville and Qualicum Beach.  The announcement was made by Jennifer Houtby-Ferguson of Tigh-Na-Mara Resort during the Gala Dinner evening sponsored by Canada Wide Media on September 23.

Tourism Industry Awards

The Annual Tourism Industry Awards sponsored by the Van Dop Arts & Culture Guide to BC saw some incredibly strong nominations which led to a tie in one category with an honourable mention being awarded in the newest award category.

The winners of the 2009 Annual Tourism Industry Awards are as follows:

    • Raising the Bar Award – TIE!
      • The Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre
      • Pacific Northwest Raptors – Sir Elton, one of their resident owls accepted their award
    • Power of Partners
      • Golf Vancouver Island
    • Multi-faceted Advertising Award
      • Tourism Victoria
    • Most Valuable Player
      • Blain Sepos, Oceanside Tourism Association
    • Tourism Employee of the Year
      • Trisha Larsen, Golf Vancouver Island
    • Tourism Sustainability Award
      • Arbutus Ridge Golf Club
      • Honourable Mention went to Gabriola Sea Kayaking

Speakers

The conference also included some excellent educational sessions included a Sport Tourism Panel moderated by Hugh MacDonald, Executive Director, SportHost Victoria and included panellists Norman Lee - ED Tourism Operations, Ministry of Tourism Culture & The Arts, Michelle Collens - Manager, Sport Tourism, 2010 Legacies Now, and Dan Stefanson - CEO Tourism Abbotsford, .  A very well received Social Media Marketing workshop was facilitated by Patricia Brusha, co-founder of ‘Acoupleofchicks.com’, Dr. Rick Thomas of Ambient Inc. led an insightful team building and personal profile session and delegates also heard from Rick Traer, CEO of the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance.

Travel & Tourism Auction

The Annual Travel and Tourism Auction saw a record 135 donations from very generous and supportive stakeholders and suppliers. In these somewhat challenging times Tourism Vancouver Island is more than grateful for all of the support received and this speaks greatly to our tagline of “Team Play, Engaged for Business”!

Thank You to Our Sponsors!!

An finally a special thank you goes out to all of our conference sponsors who make this event possible: Page One Publishing Inc., The Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa, Canada Wide Media Limited, Aboriginal Tourism Association of BC, Tourism Victoria, Van Dop Arts & Cultural Guide to BC, ‘A’ British Columbia, Go Roberts Professional Communications Counsel, Sharp’s Audio Visual, Primal Communications Ltd., Immediate Images Digital Signage Solutions, Redbird Communications, Stubbs Island Whale Watching, Times Colonist, go2, Island Photobooth, Black Ball Ferry Line, Teldon Print Media, Certified Folder Display Service Canada Inc., Helijet, LA Limousines, Wilson’s Transportation Ltd., Truffles Catering and Royal Roads University & Hatley Park National Historic Site,

See you next year in Oceanside!

For more information or if you have any questions, please feel free to contact

Tamara Hutchinson, Industry Services Coordinator
Phone: 250-754-3500 ext 311
Email: Tamara@tourismvi.ca