Canada and tourism (стр. 2 из 3)

Bed-and-Breakfast

Another temporary accommodation option is the bed-and-breakfast. Rooms are located in private homes or locally-run establishments, and the cost includes your own room and a generous breakfast. Many rooms do not have private toilets and baths. Bed-and-breakfast accommodation comes in a variety of forms - it can be in a heritage home, modern townhouse, rural farmhouse, or seaside home. Most establishments are registered with a professional association, and are a great way to meet local people.

Average cost of a room in a bed-and-breakfast: $35 to $105 CDN per night.

Youth Hostels/YWCA/YMCA

Hostelling is a temporary and inexpensive way to stay in major cities. Accommodation is basic but economical, and primary facilities (toilets, baths and kitchens) are shared. Rates are calculated daily, and costs are less than other accommodation choices. A Canadian hostel must be inspected and approved by the Canadian Hostelling Association.

Average cost of a room in a hostel: $10 - $20 CDN per night.

For further information, you can contact the International Youth Hostelling Association in your own country; or for information on hostels in Canada, contact:

Hostelling International - Canada

400-205 Catherine Street

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada K2P 1C3

Tel: (613) 237-7884 or 1-800-663-5777

Fax: (613) 237-7868

E-mail: info@hostellingintl.ca

The YWCA/YMCA hotels are also inexpensive, clean, safe and comfortable. Many of these establishments also have pools and fitness centres. Keep in mind, though, that hostels and YWCA/YMCAs fill up quickly during the summer months, so you should plan ahead.

Average cost of a room in a YWCA/YMCA: $24 - $45 CDN per night.

For more information contact:

YWCA of Canada

590 Jarvis Street

5th Floor

Toronto, ON

Canada M4Y 2J4

Tel: (416) 962-8881

Fax: (416) 962-8084

E-mail: national@ywcacanada.ca

Catering service

Cousine

Canadians like to eat. Recent statistics show we are some of the chubbier people on the planet. Two factors contribute to our state of girth: long, harsh winters which make it difficult to venture outside to get much exercise beyond shovelling the driveway and our, fatty, fried food diet. Here then is a tour of Canadian cuisine. Poutine - Invented in the late 1950's in Quebec, this artery clogging dish consists of thick cut french fries and cheese curds covered in turkey gravy.

Many restaurants offer imitations (the McDonald's and Burger King versions are abominable) but accept no substitutes - only turkey gravy and cheese curds will do. Doughnuts - also spelled "donuts"- this food isn't especially Canadian but a hockey player named Tim Horton opened a chain of 24 hour donut shops which have become omnipresent sight on off ramps across this land.

Bagels - other than that the best ones are, without doubt, found in Montreal, these too are more Yiddish than Canadian (not that the two are mutually exclusive of course) but another hockey great, Darryl Sittler, is attempting to outdo Tim Horton by opening up a chain of bagel shops across Canada.

Try the spinach cream cheese. It's quite good. Beer - According to the Canada Food Guide, one should have mostly grains in their diet.

The hops and barley in beer should handle that. Maple Syrup - Mrs. Butterworth and Aunt Jemima are shysters.

Real maple syrup costs, like, ten dollars a bottle and tastes far nicer on your pancakes.

Caterers

There are two main sectors within the catering industry; contract caterers and social event, or banquet caterers. The contract catering market is dominated by large national firms and chain operations, like Marriott Corporation, which manage and operate foodservice facilities such as cafeterias and camps on a contract basis. Institutions, industry and businesses comprise the main markets for contract caterers and many operations focus on serving a specific market's foodservice needs.

Industrial contract caterers specialize in providing foodservice to workers at industrial sites such as mines and oil rigs and also provide foodservice at remote sites such as tree planting locations. Business caterers focus on operating full-scale cafeterias as well as vending and mobile carts that provide foodservice to employees of a variety of businesses. Institutional caterers serve Canada's large number of hospitals and nursing homes, universities and colleges, public school and prison facilities.

A comprehensive survey of foodservice operations across the country shows a brisk demand for catering. Operators of every stripe are finding ways to exploit the trend, seeing their talented staffs and idle kitchens as sources of untapped potential. Even the most unlikely players are getting into the act. Managers of institutional feeders such as schools, hospitals, and corporate dining halls have stepped outside their traditional roles and into the world of catering.

The growing market for catered events has fueled an effort to use all available capacity. We're not just talking about weddings and bar mitzvahs. Business events now dominate the market for catering.

Catered events are increasingly taking place within walking distance from the caterer's kitchen — on premises. This surveys also shows that catering jobs come in all sizes, and most of them are relatively intimate.

So you might ask yourself: why am I not catering? Or, if you are catering to groups in your dining room or loading a truck with trays every weekend, how can you do it better?

Frequency. Catering is a volume business. Social caterers and hoteliers typically cater at least one event every day, usually more. They have a voracious appetite for bookings and the capability of handling up to 100 functions a month.

As worn out as operators of fine dining restaurants might be, more than one-third cater in excess of 13 functions per month. Most of these take place in their restaurants.

Among the non-commercial operators, hospitals, colleges, and contract employee feeders wrack up the catering jobs. They serve patients, students and employees. And, they cater events, usually for fewer than 50 people, on their premises. These kitchens are running a type of room service with small groups eating and meeting in rooms throughout the facility.

The survey also shows sharp differences in the aggressiveness of kitchens run by contract operators over those managed by the institutions themselves. Most contractors tackled more than 13 events per month; whereas, almost 60% of the self-run operations settled for less.

Who works the jobs? Entering the catering business to offer staff more hours will probably work. Restaurants and hotels rely on existing wait-staff for catering jobs, often reinforcing them with casual hires, including family members. Social caterers show an especially high tendency to tap family, since their work force must ebb and flow in response to bookings.

Busiest seasons: "If you're not prepared to take a hit in January and February and think this is a flat-line business, then you shouldn't be in this business," says Shelly Pedersen, a longtime caterer and President of the National Association of Catering Executives (NACE). But, catering's seasonality makes sense. Family restaurants, with their casual fare, see catering opportunities rise with summer temperatures. Schools respond to busy classrooms and academic activities in spring and fall. Most other catering operations post their best receipts in winter — largely due to intensive holiday catering. Balancing Pedersen's warning against the fat winter numbers, one can fully appreciate the frenzied holiday party season.

Business vs. social: Hidden in the unremarkable splits between the business and the social markets is a surprising strength among family restaurants in catering business functions. They report that more than 71 per cent of their catering dollars come from business and corporate clients.

Businesses and corporations obviously keep the catering phenomenon alive. Even schools (66 percent of them) cater business events. In fact, there are more schools handling corporate events than handling community meetings, according to the survey.

Social caterers most often answer the call for ethnic theme parties. According to Kramer, the rise in international corporate affiliations has opened the field for ethnic themes. If a firm opens a new branch in China, for instance, get ready for dragons and fireworks. She also points out the care with which ethnic themes must be executed. "Corporations have to be in tune with their audience. Once you've done enough research, you can create a theme with wonderful ambiance. Anytime you can theme an event and be socially, politically, and morally correct, you've got a hit.

On-premises vs. off: Family restaurants serve more catered meals outside than inside. And even fine dining restaurants attribute 41% of their catering sales to off-premises events.

Social caterers rely on attractive facilities and settings for their parties. With demand rising, good rooms are scarce. Therein lies an opportunity that restaurants are seizing with banquet rooms and off-night functions. Besides, off-premise catering often presents unseen dangers. "The science of the food is different," says Shelly Pedersen. "As are the equipment needs and the demands on the staff."

Average size group: The flexibility and experience of social caterers seems to allow them to handle large crowds. Volume can widen profit margins and social caterers, who fight for budget against rent and liquor costs, often make their money head by head. On the whole, gatherings of 100 or less dominate the catering service.

Table service vs. buffet: The popularity of buffets continues with one notable exception. Within these figures, resorts and hotels report serving half their catered meals at table. Family restaurants boost buffet scores among commercial operators, since they offer table service at less than ten per cent of the events they handle. Even among fine dining restaurants, however, buffets remain more popular than table service.

Ginger Kramer sees the popularity of buffets continuing and increasing along with the demand for theme parties. "Themes are hot", she says. "And it's much easier to attach a theme to a buffet than to a single plate." She also points to the greater variety available at a buffet and its effect on social dynamics. Buffets allow party-goers to mingle throughout the room. Table service confines them to one table.

Where's the money? Commercial operations vary in their commitment to catering; social caterers live by it; and non commercials seem to take care of their own people. These variations make direct analysis of profit margins hard to ascertain. But one conclusion is obvious: with 50 per cent of the commercial operators, 78 per cent of social caterers, and a 25 per cent of non-commercial operators making more than $10,000 per year, catering is alive and growing.

The future: Results show that respondents see healthy growth in every market for catering. The highest numbers in each category reflect the strength of each type of caterer. Non-commercials see potential in on-premises events, as do commercial caterers. Ginger Kramer agrees. "There simply aren't enough banquet facilities and special event sites," she says. The survey confirms Kramer's assertion that caterers who do both on and off-premises events will achieve the greatest business success.

Tourism industry

At the federal level tourism is the responsibility of the minister of state for small business and tourism through Tourism Canada in the Department of Regional Industrial Expansion. The promotion and development of tourism through a designated federal agency dates from 1934. The recognized national industry association is the Ottawa-based Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC). It is an umbrella organization representing private sector companies, organizations, institutions and individuals engaged in tourism in Canada and working in partnership with provincial and territorial tourism-industry associations. TIAC has represented the Canadian tourism industry for 69 years and exists to lobby government, to communicate with industry, and to increase public awareness of the importance of tourism and the need for public support.

Tourism dates back to the early history of Canada. Writings by the early explorers and traders contributed to the growing knowledge of the Canadian landscape, still the primary attraction of Canada's tourism industry (see EXPLORATION AND TRAVEL LITERATURE). From the mid-18th to the early 19th century TOPOGRAPHIC PAINTERS recorded an idealized landscape, scenes that were often reproduced as engravings in travel books published in Europe. The CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY, through its rail and steamship services, its hotels and publicity campaigns, attracted affluent European and American tourists to Canada. Modern travel and the opportunity for mass travel came with the jet airplane. Business travel illustrates the degree of change: travel and related expenses are the third-largest expenditure of Canadian business, after payroll and data-processing expenditures. Canadian companies spent $3 billion in 1986.

The Canadian tourism industry requires sophisticated marketing, delivering value and service. Beginning in 1984 Canada experienced a turnaround following 10 years of decline during which its balance of payments deficit on the international travel account grew from $300 million to $2.2 billion. Nineteen eighty-six was an exceptional year: foreign visitors increased 18%. The primary reasons for this growth were EXPO 86 in Vancouver, a favourable exchange rate with the US, an aggressive federal government advertising campaign in the US and negative incidents in other parts of the world which discouraged N Americans from travelling overseas. The best potential new source for travellers to Canada is likely in the Pacific Rim countries. Arrivals from Japan and Hong Kong are expected to show an increase, continuing an upward trend that started in 1979. Australia remains stable. The US continues to be Canada's primary source of visitors; they comprise over 85% of our tourism market. Traditional European markets, including the UK, France, W Germany and the Netherlands, are expected to produce moderate growth over the next few years.

Contemporary Canadian tourist attractions are often the same as those extolled by early travel writers - the fjorded coast of BC, the majestic grandeur of the Canadian Rockies, the wide open spaces of the Prairies, the lakes, forests and rivers of central Canada, the Atlantic coast in its infinite variety of bays, coves, beaches and scenic vistas, the arctic environment and people, and, of course, such old favourites as NIAGARA FALLS. The works of humans have been added to these natural assets through the development of modern and sophisticated cities, and through galleries and museums, performing arts, historic sites, FESTIVALS, and events such as Expo 86, the CALGARY STAMPEDE and winter OLYMPIC GAMES. To most of the world Canada is known as a tourist destination through its scenery, space and environment.

During the review period, the travel and tourism industry was under constant pressure beginning in 2001 with the terrorist attacks. In 2003, the industry was tainted by the war in Iraq, which caused uneasiness about travel, the SARS outbreak in Toronto and a sluggish US economy. SARS was contained within two months of the outbreak, despite a second unexpected resurgence, but the damage brought on by a WHO travel advisory was done. The impact of these events was greatest on international tourism, followed by US visitors to Canada, but was not expected to significantly influence Canadians' decisions to travel.

Domestic tourism, which accounted for the bulk of the Canadian tourism industry, remained firm during the review period, with continuing popularity particularly among the older generation, highlighting the desire to stay close to home, which resulted from security and economic concerns. However, more cautious spending patterns emerged towards the end of the review period, per capita expenditure for domestic trip fell by 6% since 2000, but a drop of less than 1% over the review period as a whole. Overall, the WTO ranked Canada as ninth in the world's top 15 destinations for travel, capturing 2. 8% of the total international travel market at its last ranking, in 2001. Demographic trends remained largely intact. Greying populations worldwide, including Canada, will mean demand for structured tourism products such as pre-packaged and all-inclusive tours and cruises and quality accommodations.

Women are also increasingly becoming a larger proportion of Canadian travellers. The accommodation market suffered towards the end of the review period. Hardest hit was Toronto, suffering losses of C$5million per day in April, as many major conventions cancelled their reservations due to SARS. Accommodations across Ontario also reported losses, but not nearly as significant as those in Toronto. Through the review period, accommodation revenue increased by 9. 7%. Hotels struggled to keep up occupancy levels and in 2003 there were tremendous value deals available in hotels. In such a competitive environment, alternative, no-frills accommodation benefited, such as hostels and guesthouses. Consumers were also more likely to stay with international brand names, such as Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Merger and acquisition activity dropped off significantly in almost all areas of the travel and tourism industry.