Canadian Dollar And Countryside Draw U.S. Incentives
<B> Canadian Dollar And Countryside Draw U.S. Incentives</B>
By Carolyn Green
Canadian officials reports that U.S. incentive houses and their clients are beginning to recognize Canada as a desirable destination for corporate programs.
"I've seen a major increase in the incentive market in the past couple of years," said Sandi Galloway, one of 11 meetings and incentive travel officers employed by the Canadian Tourism Commission working out of Canadian consulates in major U.S. cities. The CTC is a joint government/industry agency that markets Canada as a travel destination to international markets.
Describing 1998 prospects as "excellent," Galloway attributes the buoyant forecast to a number of factors, including the low Canadian dollar. "That's been a major impact for us and a major selling point when we're marketing Canada," she said.
The Canadian dollar has been gradually losing ground against the U.S. dollar. At press time, $1 US was valued at about $1.43 Cdn as opposed to $1.37 Cdn. a year ago.
Despite the favorable exchange rate, Nathalie Chabot, manager for Peregrine Inbound Services, a Toronto-based DMC, said some U.S. planners are not always aware of the difference in value. "Clients don't really understand what the saving is until you show it to them," she said. "If you say something costs $1,000 Cdn, that's really US $600. You literally have to do the conversion."
Other major drivers of U.S. incentive business is the three-year-old open skies agreement and the resulting growth in cross-border city-pairs, and more aggressive marketing efforts by the CTC.
But even more specifically, on the incentive front, is the physical attractiveness of the Canadian countryside.
Sheila Barnes, account manager for Amex Canada's group travel division, said Americans are drawn to Canada "because there is a certain mystique about the Canadian North and West."
Indeed, experts say western resort destinations like Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper in Alberta and Whistler in British Columbia are particularly attractive to U.S. incentive travel groups. One of the strongest sales tools being used by Canadian suppliers is the fam trip.
"I'd practically sell my first born to get another site inspection on the books in any given year," said Joan Pollock, manager of meeting and incentive travel programs for the CTC in Ottawa. "We can convert 50 percent of those site inspections every year into sales."
The CTC is launching a new type of fam trip this year that's linked to the agency's Great Canadian Adventure program. GCA, introduced about a year ago, is a binder distributed to U.S. incentive houses providing basic information about Canada, including geography, currency and taxes.
Each regional section in the publication contains sample incentive or combination meeting/incentive itineraries, a description of each experience, accommodations, the name of the DMC organizing the program, specific travel information, contact names, program options, minimum/maximum participants per program and suggested per-person costs.