WHAT'S NEW

Meeting planners know that Canada is much more than mountains, moose, and Mounties. The country's varied group destinations offer good value, world-class convention facilities, convenient access, and the added bonus of spectacular settings.

Several Canadian destinations are luring convention business at a healthy clip. In 2004, Toronto hosted 46,000 delegates during the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous — one of the largest conferences held anywhere in the world — and announced that 20,000 Shriners will descend on the city in 2010. Vancouver had a record-breaking year for meeting and convention business, with two dozen citywide conventions. And in 2006, Montréal will be the site of the first World Outgames, an athletic and cultural event expected to bring more than 250,000 visitors to the city.

FACILITY UPDATE

ALBERTA

• The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise has developed a quintessentially Canadian menu of activities for large and small group teambuilding. Team challenge possibilities include snow golf, igloo construction, geocaching (a scavenger hunt using a global positioning unit), and mini “Olympic” games such as an obstacle relay on snowshoes, bocce ball on snow, and a hockey shootout.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

• The first phase of the Westin Bear Mountain Victoria Resort & Spa opened adjacent to Victoria's new Bear Mountain Golf and Country Club, which has the first Jack Nicklaus — designed course on Vancouver Island.

• An expansion under way at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre will add 359,000 square feet of functional waterfront meeting space, bringing the total to 492,000 square feet. It is scheduled for completion in 2008.

• Vancouver International Airport will add nine gates to the international terminal and equip the airport to handle new, larger passenger aircraft. The work will take a decade.

• Fairmont Hotels and Resorts is developing a hotel/condo project adjacent to the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. It is expected to open in mid-2009 and have 415 guest rooms.

• The Pan Pacific Vancouver recently debuted a new Galley Level, part of an $8 million expansion and renovation that increased the hotel's event space to 42,000 square feet and 20 rooms.

• Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts plans to open a new five-star hotel in Vancouver in early 2007. It will occupy 15 floors of a new 60-story downtown building.

• The Pacific Whistler Village Centre opened in July 2005 with 83 suites and 920 square feet of meeting space.

ONTARIO

• The Cosmopolitan Toronto has opened with 97 suites and three boardrooms.

• The National Trade Centre in Toronto is adding a 75,000-square-foot conference facility and a hotel; both are expected to open in 2007. The centre now has 24 meeting rooms and more than one million square feet of space.

• The 53-story Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences, Toronto, will have a 267-room hotel, conference and meeting facilities, restaurants, and a spa. It is slated for completion in 2009.

• The Sheraton Centre Toronto is in the midst of a major overhaul of the public spaces. A new lobby and other public spaces debuted in May 2005; this winter, the convention facility will be shut down for several months for a complete refurbishment and an expansion of the exhibit hall to 27,000 square feet.

• Pantages Suites Hotel and Spa, which opened last year in Toronto's entertainment district, has completed a 6,400-square-foot conference facility with six boardrooms and banquet space for 200.

QUÉBEC

• The Hyatt Regency Montréal spent more than $16 million to upgrade all 605 rooms and suites, pool, fitness facility, and public areas. A new outdoor pavilion on its patio has room for 200 guests.

• The Hotel Gouverneur Place Dupuis in Montréal's Quartier Latin upgraded its guest rooms and five meeting rooms.

• The Delta Montréal completed a complete rooms renovation; a 66-room executive floor was designed and public spaces were revamped.

• Hotel Place d'Armes in Old Montréal has added 39 new rooms and 48 suites, as well as a spa with four treatment rooms.

• All 126 rooms and seven meeting rooms at Québec City's Hotel Germaindes-Pres are currently under renovation; work should be completed in mid-2006.

ASK THE CVB

ALBERTA

Travel Alberta
(866) 511-1200; www.travelalberta.com
Total Hotel Tax: 11%*

Banff/Lake Louise Tourism Bureau
(403) 762-8421
www.banfflakelouise.com
Total Hotel Tax: 11%*

Calgary Convention & Visitors Bureau
(800) 661-1678, (403) 750-2370
www.tourismcalgary.com
www.visitor.calgary.ab.ca
Total Hotel Tax: 11%*

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Tourism British Columbia
1-800- HELLO BC / 1-800-435-5622
www.hellobc.com; Total Hotel Tax: 17%*

ONTARIO

Tourism Toronto
(416) 203-2600; Total Hotel Tax: 15%*
www.torontotourism.com

QUÉBEC

Québec City & Area Tourism and Convention Bureau
(418) 522-3511
www.quebecregion.com/e/
Total Hotel Tax: $2 night plus 15%*

Tourisme Montréal
(514) 844-5400
www.tourisme-montreal.org
Total Hotel Tax: 17.5%*
*includes 7% rebatable GST

Phantom Planner

• Tourism Toronto recently introduced an Attendance Building Toolkit, a customizable, ready-made marketing campaign for meetings and conventions. Planners with confirmed Toronto region bookings receive an ID and password for the online service, which provides press-ready ads and Web banners, postcards, newsletters, a mapping tool, an attraction “special deals” section and more.

• In Toronto, several new event venues are about to come on line: The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is under construction in the heart of the city; its 2,000-seat auditorium is designed expressly to showcase productions by the Canadian Royal Opera Company, which first performed there in September 2005. The Gardiner Museum will remain closed until the end of 2005 for a renovation involving a new third floor, three galleries, and additional educational facilities. The Royal Ontario Museum is opening up its original grand spaces to create space for additional collections; construction should be completed at the end of 2006. The Art Galley of Ontario is also being enlarged by 75,000 square feet as part of a Frank Gehry-designed addition that will include new meeting spaces and improved amenities. It will be completed in 2007.

• Experienced scuba divers consistently rank British Columbia's waters, known as the Emerald Sea, among the top dive sites in the world. Winter is considered prime diving time.

• Montréal is the largest French-speaking city, after Paris. It is also the most bilingual city in North America: 52 percent of Montréalers speak English and French.

Special Venues

• The HR MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver is a high-tech spot for events and meetings. Facilities include a 217-seat auditorium, an 87-seat multimedia theater, and an 800-square-foot lounge and courtyard. www.hrmacmillanspacecentre.com

• The Francis Winspear Centre for Music, home of the Edmonton (Alberta) Symphony Orchestra, houses a dramatic performance chamber, practice hall, and several smaller spaces for large or small events. www.winspearcentre.com

• The Acadian Court, located on the 8th Floor of the Hudson Bay Co.'s flagship department store in downtown Toronto, provides an elegant setting for a meeting or social event. www.arcadiancourt.ca

• Burnaby Village Museum in Vancouver offers a special site for groups ranging in size from 20 to 2,000. Choose from traditional meeting rooms, a 1920s-style ice cream parlor, a carousel pavilion, or a grassy meadow. The entire site can be booked for a “step back in time” experience. www.burnabyvillagemuseum.ca