With the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games less than a year away, almost of all of Western Canada is shaping itself up for the festivities. Although Vancouver and Whistler will host the games themselves, the torch relay will begin in the capital of Victoria, on Vancouver Island. The entire province of British Columbia is looking ahead toward what appears to be the most unforgettable February in recent history. The provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan follow accordingly, each with its own combination of urban flair and outback appeal.
With so much new infrastructure popping up before the Olympics and plenty of new conventions and conferences already booked throughout the subsequent years, planners have a comprehensive palette of options to choose from.
British Columbia
Vancouver is an eclectic waterfront destination with endless high-rises, omnipresent outdoor sportswear, constantly changing weather, a vibrant Chinatown and hockey fanaticism, all of which synergize to form a diverse area where one can go skiing, kayaking and sunbathing all on the same day. If you get lost, just look for the mountains, as they’re immediately north of the city.
The Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Center (VCEC) is already an internationally renowned meeting facility, but now with an expansion that will triple its size, the venue is positioning itself to be among the planet’s most eco-inspired facilities, wholeheartedly symbolic of the city in which it sits. Officially opening next month, the expansion will increase its meeting space to a total of 500,000 square feet. The VCEC will serve as the media headquarters for the Olympics.
Being a metropolis where big-city splendor exists literally side by side with a resolute affinity for the outdoors, Vancouver now has a convention center reflecting exactly that philosophy. While in other cases, the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, at the VCEC, the grass is now greener on the roof. An entire six-acre ecosystem exists on the tri-level roof. In order to preserve the bee population and attract birds and insects to the urban waterfront area, hives will soon be placed on the roof, complete with live “bee cams.”
Many of the interior walls and ceilings are made of hemlock and fir harvested from local B.C. forests. Walking through the facility, one gets the impression of having stepped into a giant stylized stack of interlocking, robotic-arranged lumber.
What’s more, since the building abuts the seawall, potential new marine habitats are part of the foundation design. When the tides are out, tidal pools develop and allow marine life to prosper. As a result, kelp, sea lettuce and rock crabs are establishing new homes.
For business nomads, the Loden Vancouver Hotel, a Kor Hotel Group property, opened last October. The property features high-tech finery in all the rooms. Guests can plug their entire multimedia presentations into the flat-screen TVs and even pipe the audio into the bathrooms. The property features a 1,600-square-foot penthouse suite with indoor and outdoor entertaining areas.
Another new upscale meetings retreat is the Shangri-La Vancouver, where a number of venues provide options for intimate events of up to 110 people and include state-of-the-art features and amenities.
Several other new meetings-ready hotels are also being developed, including Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver, Coast Coal Harbour Hotel and a Ritz-Carlton.
Existing properties have been undergoing renovations, including The St. Regis Hotel and The Four Seasons Hotel.
Situated right across the water from Vancouver International Airport, the municipality of Richmond is usually written off as just a gateway to Vancouver, but after more investigation, the city reveals itself as a serious locale for smaller, midsize meetings.
The new Canada Line rapid transit system will soon link Richmond to downtown Vancouver in just 20 minutes. Although planners can utilize an amazing central venue with the Fairmont Hotel, which is located inside the airport itself above the international terminals, several other Richmond alternatives exist for more eclectic meetings, besides just the obvious hotel options.
Completed and opened for the general public last December, the Richmond Oval will host the long track speed-skating events for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. After the events, the oval will function as a multipurpose community facility, with capabilities for simultaneous summer and winter sports activities. In addition to meeting spaces, the oval will feature a 9,700-square-foot athletic development center, a cycling and rowing studio, and a group fitness studio.
The historic fishing village of Steveston on Richmond’s southern coast is a laid-back, family-friendly locale, a perfect place for spouses coming along for the business trip. With whale watching, local fishing boats and plenty of eclectic retail, the area just begs for attention. The Gulf of Georgia Cannery Museum, a huge creaky old fishing cannery, holds many large meetings, events and corporate functions and is equipped with a small theater for presentations. The venue also offers a grand tour of the original cannery operations and assembly lines, straight down to the salmon-gutting machinery. Also near Steveston one finds the London Heritage Farm, a river-view 1880s restored farmhouse set in a park and a popular destination for corporate banquets and weddings.
For a more modern feeling, the John M. S. Lecky University of British Columbia Boathouse, a fresh contemporary facility housing the school’s rowing team, sits right on the middle arm of the Fraser River and is available for group events. Rowing lessons for team building are also quite popular.
Richmond is overwhelmingly Asian in population, with a plethora of foreign shopping malls offering myriad exotic cuisine. The Golden Village neighborhood is Vancouver’s New Hong Kong, featuring restaurants, hotels, shops, tea stores, karaoke bars, Asian groceries, Buddhist temples, Chinese medicine and more. For business groups, there’s nothing like learning the ins and outs of a traditional Chinese family-style meal—an event that brings everyone together.
From Vancouver, a picturesque two-hour drive up the Sea to Sky Highway lands one in Whistler, one of the most popular ski and snowboard resorts in all of North America. Whistler will be the official Host Mountain Resort for the 2010 Olympics.
Just in time for the Games, the Peak 2 Peak gondola, an unprecedented project, opened last December and now links Whistler and Blackcomb mountains together for a thoroughly staggering 2.75-mile ride. The Peak 2 Peak gondola opens up grandiose high-end possibilities for planners, as they can now plan an event in the Whistler or Blackcomb mountains, ride the gondola between the two and use the lodges at either location for private events.
The Telus Whistler Conference Center is the primary group facility, and meetings-ready resorts include The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Hilton Whistler Resort & Spa, The Westin Whistler Resort & Spa, Four Seasons Resort Whistler and the new Nita Lake Lodge.
The new Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre is available for group events.
No Olympics would be complete without the Torch Relay, and in 2010, the relay begins in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia and another internationally renowned meetings destination. On Oct. 30, the relay will embark on a 28,000-mile journey across Canada.
Thanks to the renovation of the former Crystal Garden building, a landmark heritage building across the street from the Victoria Conference Centre, the combined available space will total 73,000 square feet, making it the second-largest conference facility in the province.
Premier group properties in Victoria include Fairmont Empress, Hotel Grand Pacific, Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour and Westin Bear Mountain Victoria Golf Resort & Spa on the outskirts of the city.
Victoria is located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, which brims with a number of other unique towns and meetings-friendly properties. Options include The Sidney Pier Hotel & Spa and the new Vancouver Island Conference Centre. On nearby Pender Island is Poets Cove Resort & Spa.
Alberta
With two international airports, almost 300 golf courses and postcard scenery of the Canadian Rockies, Alberta has plenty of bragging rights. The province has no sales tax, produces 80 percent of Canada’s petroleum and lays claim to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In Alberta, one finds both the cosmopolitan glamour of big cities and the allure of the stunning outdoors.
Calgary, the Heart of the New West, is Alberta’s largest city and a renowned hub of high-tech and high finance, but also a bastion of the oil, cattle and grain industries. A place where old meets new, the city exudes a ranch hand-meets-tech support sort of vibe. Having already dealt with the 1988 Winter Olympics, the city contains numerous options for both grand-scale meetings and smaller, intimate events.
The Calgary Telus Convention Centre features a combined 130,000 square feet of space and is connected to several hotels by indoor walkways, including the Marriott Calgary, Fairmont Palliser and Hyatt Regency Calgary.
The Calgary Stampede, the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, takes place for 10 days each July, and the group-friendly exhibition and stampede facilities are being expanded.
Alberta’s capital of Edmonton is known for its festivals and for being the “Gateway to the North.”
The Shaw Conference Center (SCC), which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008, hosts 700 events annually, while other group venues include the Northlands, which is undergoing an expansion, and the Oasis Edmonton Conference Centre, in addition to standout meetings properties such as the Edmonton Marriott at River Cree Resort.
Alberta is legendary across the board for its hospitality, and Edmonton is no exception, especially when it comes to meetings. Planners get that feeling not just from the tourism employees, but sometimes all the way up to the mayor’s and city manager’s offices.
“All of those groups work very closely together to ensure that they are actually chasing events,” says Wes Scott, Calgary-based business development director for the energy sector of DMG World Media, who produced the 2008 World Heavy Oil Congress in Edmonton.
When Edmonton Mayor Steven Mandel made himself personally available for everyone involved at the congress, Scott says his efforts made a lasting impression on the international delegates.
“He actually booked his own hospitality suite at our convention center where the event was hosted, and he put in three days of his time at that congress,” Scott says. “I’ve never seen a public figure get so involved in an event and be so proud to host it.”
Both Calgary and Edmonton offer planners access to the most remote parts of the outdoors, but the former serves as the closest gateway to the Canadian Rockies, especially the gorgeous areas of Banff and Lake Louise, just a 90-minute drive from Calgary.
Planners can opt for top properties such as Fairmont Banff Springs, Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, Delta Banff Royal Canadian Lodge, Rimrock Resort Hotel, Buffalo Mountain Lodge and the IACC-certified Banff Centre.
In addition to the high-end properties, there are golf courses, hot springs and access to countless forms of wildlife and outdoor recreation year-round.
Manitoba and Saskatchewan
Although roughly 700,000 people, 60 percent of Manitoba’s population, live in the capital of Winnipeg, it still retains a small-town feel in many respects.
“Having a meeting in Winnipeg, you really feel welcome, you really feel like you’re making a difference,” says Rachelle Normand, sales manager for meetings and conventions for Destination Winnipeg. “Because we’re not one of the larger cities in our country—a conference of 300 delegates would certainly get lost in other cities—but when planners come to Winnipeg, they really feel like they’re making a difference. They can feel that we’re welcoming the delegates and making them feel special.”
The city is home to the Winnipeg Convention Centre and meetings hotels such as the recently expanded Fort Garry Hotel; Delta Winnipeg; Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre; Fairmont Winnipeg; Radisson Winnipeg, currenly being renovated; and the recently upgraded Place Louis Riel Suite Hotel.
Saskatchewan, Canada’s other Prairie Province, is about two-thirds flatland with 100,000 lakes and rivers. The sunrises and sunsets blanket the entire horizon with a vivid melange of color.
For 16 years, the Winnipeg-based Western Retail Lumber Association has held its annual winter show in Saskatoon, the largest city in the province. Executive Director Gary Hamilton says the delegates always feel like they’re welcome.
“Our show is one of the top shows in Saskatoon,” he says. “We feel appreciated, from the cab drivers to the bellhops and all the hotels—even people on the street. On a number of occasions, the mayor has actually called me. That doesn’t happen very often for any other locale.
TCU Place Arts and Convention Centre is the city’s primary group facility.
The provincial capital of Regina, Saskatchewan, is home to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the largest urban manmade park in North America.
Regina boasts Evraz Place, with several event venues spanning a total of 900,000 square feet of space. The site is being upgraded and expanded.
Meanwhile, the Delta Regina Hotel features the Saskatchewan Trade and Convention Centre.
