I’ve been covering events for more than a decade, creating quick-turnaround stories that highlight the most important takeaways, complete with expert quotes.
ARC Gloria at the Burrard Dry Dock Pier on October 22, 2025 Photo: Christina Newberry
The ARC Gloria, official flagship of the Colombian Navy, sailed into Vancouver yesterday. As the sun set, the Ambassador of Colombia in Canada, H.E. Carlos Arturo Morales, and the ship’s Commanding Officer, Captain Luis Fernando Lara Cogollo, welcomed special guests aboard the vessel for a celebratory evening of Colombian food, drink, music and dance…
Read the rest at Medium.com
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) Canada brought 13 top partners to Vancouver last night for a full evening of sales training at the JW Marriott Parq.
In a series of roundtable meetings and panel discussions, the hotel, entertainment and shopping partners highlighted new developments and key strategies for agents to make the most effective Las Vegas bookings…
Read the rest at Travelweek.ca
A sold-out Travel Market Place wrapped up in Vancouver on Wednesday (March 6) after a packed two days of knowledge sharing and networking.
With around 300 travel advisors and 100 suppliers in attendance, this year’s conference featured more advisors presenting than ever before.
“It’s all about learning from those who walk in our shoes,” said master of ceremonies Geraldine Ree, an author and performance strategist with more than two decades of senior leadership experience in the travel industry…
Read the rest at PAXnews.com
More than 800 travel media professionals and representatives of global travel brands met at the Javits Center in New York from Jan. 24-25 for the International Media Marketplace and TravMedia Summit.
Over two action-packed days, PAX spoke to dozens of travel professionals to take the pulse of the industry…
Read the rest on the PAX website.
Air Canada welcomed Vancouver travel trade professionals to an event at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel that was packed with updates on Wednesday (April 12), including a restructuring at Air Canada Vacations (ACV) and the retirement of Lucie Guillemette, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, after 36 years with the airline…
Read the rest at PAX News
That’s how Khartoon Weiss, TikTok’s Global Head of Agency & Accounts, described the world’s most downloaded app at The Gathering, an annual business and marketing summit held in Banff, Canada.
What’s the distinction?
People don’t “check” Tiktok. They watch it. And, Weiss says, “that small pivot in behavior is everything.”
Continue reading For Hootsuite: How To Win at TikTok (According to TikTok)
For marketers, it’s important to understand apparent shifts in social behavior. After all, if you base your marketing strategy on incorrect assumptions, you’ll have a hard time meeting your goals. Unfortunately, the headlines don’t always get it right when it comes to analyzing social trends.
Enter Simon Kemp. The founder of marketing strategy consultancy Kepios examines the activity behind the headlines. He shares that data in reports produced in collaboration with Hootsuite and We Are Social.
Kemp recently shared highlights from his Q2 Digital Statshot at The Next Web’s TNW2019 conference in Amsterdam. Here are three ripped-from-the-headlines social trends that Kemp says are being reported all wrong.
Three Vancouver-based vegan influencers joined Intrepid Travel at a launch event this week to highlight the company’s first three vegan food tours, set to launch in 2019.
Zach Berman, Steph Yu and Erin Ireland joined the pilot trip to India and helped shape the final itinerary. All three agreed that the tour offered the opportunity to dive into local foods and culture in a way that’s often not available to those with dietary restrictions.
“Our guide pre-vetted the street food,” said Berman, “which was some of the best food. They use a lot of ghee, so it would otherwise be hard to know what has dairy.”
“We had four meals in the homes of Indian people,” Ireland said. “There’s nothing like a home-cooked meal. Our guide hooked it up so we were connected to the locals.”
“We stopped to eat at a highway roadside eatery,” Yu said. “I was blown away by the food.”
Berman noted that knowing all Intrepid guides are full-time employees provided an added layer of comfort. Kasi Dundas, Intrepid’s PR Coordinator for North America, added that all guides are paid fair wages in the local currency.
Mark Nessle, Senior Business Development Manager – North America, told PAX that the vegan trips are serving a clear need in the Canadian market.
“The biggest thing for agents to know is that consumers are looking for niche trips,” Nessle said. “We want to make sure that when our guests are travelling, they are able to live, eat, and be comfortable in a way that suits their lifestyle.
Response from agents has been “massive,” Nessle added. “We didn’t anticipate how much of a market there would be,” he said. “It’s really great to see, and to be on the forefront of the vegan travel movement.”
A recent study at Dalhousie University found that nearly 40 per cent of British Columbians under 35 are vegan or vegetarian.
“From the travel agent’s perspective, that means nearly half your clients under a certain age are vegetarian,” Dundas said.
While the new line of tours is specifically designed for vegan travellers, all Intrepid food tours can be customized for those with special dietary requirements, Nessle said. “We harness local leaders in the destination to bring it to life the way people want to experience it.”
“We try to make all travel inclusive to everyone,” Dundas added.
The launch event, which featured vegan food and cocktails inspired by the tour itineraries, was also a fundraiser through The Intrepid Foundation for KOTO, a vocational training program for rural and underprivileged youth in Vietnam.
Intrepid’s first three vegan food tours take travellers to India (Delhi, Jaipur, Agra), Italy (Venice, Bologna, San Gimigano, Rome), and Thailand (Chiang Mai, Ayutthaya, Kanchanaburi, Bangkok). Unveiled less than two weeks ago, the tours will appear in the 2019 brochure that launches in November. In the meantime, agents can learn more at intrepidtravel.com/ca/vegan-food-adventures.
This post originally appeared on PAXNewsWest.com in 2019.
The prevalence of mobile devices has “made traditional desktop marketing playbooks obsolete,” according to Facebook’s head of global travel strategy. Speaking at the Phocuswright Europe conference in Amsterdam, Nikhilesh Ponde outlined five key strategies marketers need to implement now to keep up with the move to mobile.
It’s important to understand where your audience is already spending time online.
Continue reading For Hootsuite: Five keys to social marketing success from a Facebook exec
Hosting the International Ice Hockey Federation Men's World Championship was a tourism boon for Copenhagen and nearby co-host city Herning.
Hotel occupancy of Copenhagen's 22,000 rooms was nearly 100 per cent for most of the tournament, which wrapped up Sunday (May 20) at Royal Arena. Compare that to 86 per cent occupancy in May of last year, according to statistics from Wonderful Copenhagen. The municipality estimates that the tournament has resulted in 60,000 bed nights…
Read the rest at PAXnews.com