Luring the world at a German travel fair: Hagen pitching B.C.'s First Nations' brand at Berlin's tourism megashow
By David Obee
Victoria
Times Colonist
March 13, 2007, A10
BERLIN - He spotted my name tag, which identified me as a German travel agent, and stuck out his hand to shake mine.
"Hello, I'm Stan," he said with a warm smile.
I quickly blew my cover. I confessed to Stan Hagen, B.C.'s minister of tourism, that I am a lowly journalist from the Times Colonist, despite the identification provided by a German friend.
The tag was just a way to tour the Internationale Tourismus-Borse, one of the largest travel trade shows in the world, to find out some of the ways countries are selling themselves to the travel industry.
Hagen chatted with me for a moment, then went off to do yet another interview with a German journalist. And then another after that, followed by talks with some German tour operators.
Toward the end of the day, we got together to talk about what B.C. has to offer tourists from Europe.
At the top of Hagen's list? Our First Nations, which the minister describes as B.C.'s most powerful brand in Europe. It is important, he says, to tap into the German curiosity about the Indian bands of B.C., especially because many of the native communities are well off the beaten path.
During the five-day trade show, Hagen did his best to sell the Germans on some of the new indigenous attractions throughout the province, including the cultural centre under construction in Skidegate, the First Nations-themed cruise ship terminal at Campbell River and the aboriginal centre at Whistler that will feature more than 10,000 artifacts.
Centres such as these offer the potential for related activities such as cultural tours. They also put tourists in the right outdoors-oriented neighbourhoods for everything from kayaking and canoeing to whale watching.
These cultural centres don't come cheap -- the one in Whistler's Upper Village, for example, is expected to cost about $30 million. But they could be critical to the government achieving its goal of doubling the value of tourism, to $18 billion a year, in the decade from 2005 to 2015.
There are other benefits as well. It would be important to preserve and celebrate our native cultures even if we didn't have tourism. The fact that Europeans are willing to spend their euros and pounds to visit is a bonus that brings an economic blessing to us, especially our rural areas, through increased investment and employment.
Hagen, who says B.C. has been seeing steady growth in the German market of about three per cent per year, stressed several key events and anniversaries in his chats in Berlin.
These include the North American Indigenous Games in Cowichan in 2008, the police and fire games in Vancouver in 2009, the Winter Olympics in 2010 and Vancouver's 125th anniversary in 2011. The Olympics have the highest profile, but they won't necessarily bring as many people to B.C. as the games in 2008 and 2009.
One dark cloud hanging over the international travel industry is the notion of climate change. Airplanes are responsible for many of the greenhouse gases in the sky above us.
Hagen sees that as a positive, rather than a negative, thanks to his government's efforts to get ahead of other countries in reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that we put into the air. He says that initiative will create opportunities because more people will want to see what B.C. is doing.
Many of Hagen's words were echoed by Denise Le Gal of Tourism Vancouver Island, who came to Berlin from Nanaimo to take part in the trade show.
She says whale watching, wildlife and wilderness -- primarily on the north Island -- help to set us apart from all those other potential tourist destinations around the world.
Tourism Vancouver Island has had a display at the trade show for several years and Le Gal says the organization keeps coming back because the Berlin fair has helped to create awareness and interest in the Island.
It would be easy to question Hagen's presence here, or to write off his trip as nothing more than an excuse to travel the world with taxpayers picking up the tab. Easy, but unfair.
If our goal is to make the Europeans believe that Canadians are quiet, unassuming people living in the shadow of the United States, we can certainly count the Internationale Tourismus-Borse as a success.
Attendees could relax in the California area, have fun in the Las Vegas area, have some ice cream courtesy of the Florida bunch and stuff all sorts of American literature into bags provided by United Airlines. Then, they could walk over to the Canadian area and, um, talk. Assuming they could find the entrance, that is.
And the Americans weren't the glitziest by far. The Sultanate of Oman, for example, had a two-level lounge shaped like the front of an Airbus A380. Wandering through the 26 exhibition halls, a person could see musicians and dancers and celebrities such as Boris Becker. The Azerbaijanis offered their specialty teas. And so on.
Hagen spent his time at the fair hustling from one meeting or interview to another. Hagen's enthusiasm helped to give the Canadian corner a buzz that it sorely needed.
Hagen is right: Tourists from Europe represent great potential for British Columbia. To realize that potential, quite frankly, we've got to follow his example, and learn to be more aggressive about all that we have to offer.
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