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www.vicnews.com
City tourism in good shape: outgoing CEO Tourism Victoria’s Rob Gialloreto encouraged by industry cohesiveness
Hangin’ around
Daniel Palmer News staff
Jonathan Bell hangs by one arm as he applies climbing chalk on his free hand while bouldering on the Fleming Beach cliffs last week in Esquimalt. A warm sunny day had both warmed and dried the cliffs, making them safer for rock climbing. Bouldering is a type of climbing usually done at the base of a larger rock face and practised without the use of a climbing rope. The chalk is used to enhance the climber’s grip. Don Denton/News staff
Candidates forums set for Victoria-Beacon Hill Looking for a chance to put local MLA candidates under the microscope before voting? Three upcoming forums offer the public a chance to hear the three Victoria-Beacon Hill candidates in the run-up to the May 14 B.C. election. Tonight (May 1) at the James
Bay Horizons Centre (234 Menzies St.), incumbent MLA and NDP candidate Carole James faces off against rivals Jane Sterk, leader of the B.C. Green Party, and Elizabeth Bill of the B.C. Liberals. Seating is limited, so arrive early. On May 7 at First Metropolitan United Church (932 Balmoral Rd.),
the topics are homelessness, poverty and harm reduction. And on May 9, the Fairfield-Gonzales Community Association is hosting a candidates forum in the Garry Oak Room at Fairfield Community Place, 1335 Thurlow Rd. Start time for all three is 7 p.m. dpalmer@vicnews.com
For the first time in five years, the tourism industry in Victoria is poised for an upturn. That positive picture is painted just as the man who navigated Tourism Victoria through its most tumultuous years is stepping down. But don’t let that coincidence fool you. Chief executive officer Rob Gialloreto, who will assume the same position with Consumer Protection B.C. this summer, is leaving behind a more cohesive tourism industry and stronger Victoria brand than when he took the helm in 2008. “Victoria’s actually come out looking pretty good, considering the global picture,” said Brian White, director of Royal Roads University’s school of tourism and hospitality management. “What Rob has done is he kept people with him. People are quite worried about his leaving.” Gialloreto said the decision to resign was difficult, but he’s particularly proud of the culture he leaves behind with a “deep pool of talent” at Tourism Victoria. “When the recession hit, it hit everybody,” he said. “So the role for us changed a little bit,
which was to keep our industry together and members focused on their core business.” The impact of the 2008 global recession meant the torrent of international travellers to the Island dried up. Around the same time, the provincial government axed Crown corporation Tourism B.C. along with the steady, reliable funding it had been providing to tourism boards across the province. “We used to have $500,000 (annually) from the province and then that went to zero,” Gialloreto said. Last fall, Premier Christy Clark remedied the lack of a provincial tourism board by creating Destination B.C., a Crown corporation Gialloreto has high hopes for. “When you blow something up, it’s going to take a while to rebuild it,” he said. One of his biggest frustrations has been trying to convince the B.C. government to adopt a leveraging marketing model used by Alberta and other tourism boards across the world. “Instead of (government) just pouring money into tourism, you leverage with (private) organizations and say, ‘We have $1 million to invest,’” he said.
PLEASE SEE:
Tourism industry strong, Page A8
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