The 2014 annual national Canadian tourism convention took place at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre in Vancouver in May this year. The event welcomed 475 tour operators and wholesalers from all corners of the tourism industry, including hotels, airlines, tour guide companies and tourism associations across Canada.
“We do these back-to-back meetings for three days,” said Dayna Miller, director of sales and travel trade for Tourism Vancouver. “We individually meet up with 70 different travel buyers.” The event hosted meetings among sellers and buyers from 28 different countries where they were able to trade, discuss and catalogue information in several short meetings.
Each year, Tourism Vancouver gathers the information presented at these meetings and uses it to compile marketing information about new trends among travelers and the tourism industry. While the company mainly focuses on selling Vancouver as a tourism destination, it also uses the information to promote and sell nearby destinations and locations.
