The Travel Corporation and the Tourism Authority of Thailand hosted a media dinner in Vancouver last night to celebrate a new season of Thailand itineraries from TTC’s brands.

Citing Tourism Industry Association of Canada statistics showing that 35 per cent of current travel is based on culinary tourism, and 50 per cent of travellers say food influences their travel decisions, The Travel Corporation made food the prime focus of the evening – from the family-style Thai dinner to the presentation by Instagram food photographer and cookbook author Dennis Prescott.

“Each region of Thailand has its own distinctive cuisine,” said Kayla Shubert, the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s representative in Canada, in conversation with PAX. “Regardless of your preference, there’s something for you.”

Jeff Element, president of The Travel Corporation Canada, told PAX that TTC offers a Thailand experience for all traveller styles, each with a focus on the local cuisine. While Busabout guests may dig into Thai street food, Contiki travellers can take a cooking class in Chiang Mai, and Trafalgar guests have a Be My Guest experience at a local family’s home.

“Unless you have family there, you wouldn’t otherwise get to do that,” Element said. He told PAX the immersive culinary experiences contribute to great word of mouth about the company’s tours, leading its Thailand programs to grow year on year.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is making a big investment in the Canadian market, Shubert told PAX, with plans to open an office in Toronto by the end of the year. With another new office planned for Sao Paolo, Brazil, that will double the number of offices in the Americas to four, including the current offices in LA and New York.

Canadians are among the longest-staying visitors to Thailand, Shubert noted, with an average stay of 17.69 days in 2016. More than 244,000 Canadians visited Thailand last year, an increase of 7.31 per cent from 2015. Statistics through May of this year show that the figure is on track to increase another 5.5 per cent this year.

Dennis Prescott also highlighted discovering new foods as a critical part of the travel experience. After growing up thankful to get three meals a day but viewing eating as a functional requirement rather than an immersive experience, he said his world (and taste buds) opened up when he began to explore new foods during his travels across North America.

“When I had sushi for the first time, in Vancouver 15 years ago, it was like a Fear Factor experience,” he said. “I had never even heard of sushi.”

Food is all about community, Prescott noted, whether that’s feeding 10 people dinner at his house in the Maritimes, or tasting new dishes far across the world. His new cookbook, Eat Delicious, showcases his food photography and recipes influenced both by his home province of New Brunswick and by dishes he has come to love during his travels.

Food that brings locals and travellers together is good for everyone, Shubert noted. “Travellers are looking for unique and meaningful experiences,” she said, “and local people get to share their culture.”

This post originally appeared on PAXNewsWest.com in 2017.

Representatives of Visit San Jose met with travel media in Vancouver last night for a wine-themed dinner to highlight the region’s unique tourism opportunities as a top-notch wine region on the doorstep of Silicon Valley. Over glasses of award-winning wine from Ridge Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, PAX spoke with Laura Chmielewski, Visit San Jose’s vice president of marketing and communications, about this forward-looking Northern California destination.

“Nothing is like Silicon Valley,” Chmielewski told PAX. “It’s where people go to dream a dream. If you want to be where everybody’s thinking, you’ve got to go. You can see Mark Zuckerberg jogging, or Woz [Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak] driving his Prius down the street.”

All the major tech companies offer at least some access to visitors, she noted, from the Google Sculpture Garden to the Apple campus store designed by Jony Ive, the only location at which to buy official Apple t-shirts. The new Apple campus slated to open this year will also have a large visitor centre. The Tech Museum of Innovation gives visitors a more hands-on tech experience, including at its new Reboot Reality exhibit, where visitors can create virtual 3D art pieces using virtual reality and augmented reality.

Outside of tech tourism, the microclimate and 300 days a year of sunshine make the area a prime destination for wine tourism, where oenophiles can linger over conversations with winemakers without competing with swarms of other tourists, Chmielewski said.

“You’re not going to see any tour buses,” Chmielewski said. “You’re going to see winemakers, and probably their dogs. You’re going to get tours you never thought you’d get, and you’re not going to wait in line.”

The closest wineries are just a 10-minute drive from downtown San Jose, Chmielewski said. Ridge Vineyards, whose wines were featured at last night’s dinner, is less than an hour’s drive away, perched high on the ridge that separates the valley from the Pacific Ocean. The winery was recently named the most admired wine brand in North America by Drinks International magazine.

“No one tells the story of San Jose like a glass of this wine,” Chmielewski told PAX. “It’s the passion of 20 years in one glass.”

While trade resources are still in the works, agents wanting to learn more about San Jose can sign up for the destination’s consumer newsletter at sanjose.org, and communications manager Kyle Schatzel noted that a video blog slated for this summer will provide a closer look for consumers and agents alike. Air Canada flies direct to Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport daily from Vancouver.

This post originally appeared on PAXNewsWest.com in 2017.