March 26, 2013
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Report # 985
The weather here has improved greatly over the last few days, from a chilly Friday that was only 7 C (45 F) to yesterday which was super sunny and 15 C (60 F) so it seems that spring is off to a great start here. Yesterday had to have been the warmest day here since I returned from Mexico, and shockingly it was actually warmer than in Monterrey. I talked to one of my friends there and she had told me it was only 11 C (52 F) which was really surprising seeing as they were at 36 C (97 F) just a few days ago…. crazy weather.
My weekend was pretty boring as I didn’t do anything aside from running and going to Tim Hortons and taking a bunch of walks. Yesterday morning I ran all the way to Willowbrook Mall as I wanted to go to the book store to get some books for my mom’s birthday. I wasn’t able to find anything that really stood out, so I just bought two romance type books for her as she always enjoys those. Afterwards I ran home, stopping at Tim Hortons along the way.
In total I must have run around 10 km, so that was definitely my longest run since I had left Monterrey. The Vancouver Sun run is in less than a month, but I haven’t registered yet. I’ll probably wait another week and then sign up. I got a call from a lady from a company yesterday, which I missed, but I was able to call her back and I had an interview over the phone. She asked me what position I was applying for, and I couldn’t even remember as I had applied for so many and a lot of times on Craigslist it won’t actually say the name of the company.
She just asked me a whole bunch of questions regarding my past work experiences, what my duties were, why I left my jobs, and what I would like to learn more of. In fact I think that was the first time I’d ever had a real interview over the phone before. She told me that she had some more phone interviews to do but would get back to me by Thursday. I don’t really know if she will or not, because a lot of times people from companies say that but they never do call back.
At the very least it was a start and I did get one interview so I just have to keep at it. I didn’t get to apply for any jobs yesterday as my grandmother came over to make dinner and I ended up washing and vacuuming out her car. I went for a good walk afterwards before returning home and eating. We had some chicken with an onion sauce and mashed potatoes.. it was very good. It was my mom’s 56th birthday and my grandmother had brought cake as well, so it was a good day for her I’m sure.
This morning I’ve already done my short run to Tim Hortons and vacuumed the upstairs portion of the house… I’ll be doing the downstairs portion on Thursday like I have the previous two weeks. And after I get all of this Xanga stuff typed up it will be on to applying for jobs. So as I said in my last entry I wanted to discuss tourism here in Canada which I think has taken a beating in the last 10 years. From what I have read, around 2002 Canada was the 6th most visited country in the world, and in recent years we’ve dropped to around the 17th most visited country in the world.
Now I’m sure there are a few uncontrollable reasons for this as well so I’ll give the tourism people and the government of Canada the benefit of the doubt to start. As we all know, the economy has been absolute garbage in the past few years, and while the worst years seem to have been around 2008/2009 and Canada never has been hit anywhere close to as hard as many other countries, many people have been affected by this. So if people are struggling because of a bad economy they certainly aren’t going to travel as much.
And as anyone who knows geography would know, Canada certainly isn’t a cheap country to travel to. It’s bad enough just flying between Canadian cities, but for someone from a far away country, that would be extraordinarily expensive. So the government of Canada and it’s tourism department can not do anything about where Canada is located, the price of the flights to get here, or the state of the world economy, but I will say in terms of appealing to tourists, they’ve done a horrendous job in the last decade.
What is Canada like ? The truth is most people from around the world, including many people who don’t live that far away clearly have no idea. They have such stupid ideas in their heads sometimes and they think the most ridiculous things. Now some of this is the fault of an individual person for not taking any time and effort into educating themselves a little more, so ignorance plays a key part in that, but clearly the Canadian government has failed to market this country to the world.
Now some people will scoff at the idea of throwing more dollars into a tourism department when clearly there would be more pressing needs, however if Canada can get back up there as one of the top world destinations for travelers, the plan would not only pay for itself, but pay huge dividends in the Canadian economy. I truly believe if the Canadian government gave the resources necessary to the Canadian tourism department, and the right people were on hand to market some great ideas to the world about coming to Canada, that a lot more people would actually come here.
Canada needs to market it’s clean modern cities, it’s vast abundance of natural wonders, parks, mountains, lakes, beaches, oceans, the arctic and all of the treasures they can think of. They need to market the diversity, the culture, and generally the idea of what Canada truly is. If people around the world see this they will have a much better idea of what Canada is truly about and I believe that will capture the interest of many more people; an increase in tourism would clearly happen.
Now an issue that I feel very strongly about….. the visa requirement facing many people interested in coming to Canada. If this isn’t the # 1 tourist killer that we have to this country I don’t know what is. Even if the Canadian tourism department did absolutely zero advertising, if this country stopped requiring literally the whole damn world to have a visa just to come here on a short vacation, Canada would see so many more tourists.
Aside from countries such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and most EU countries, almost the whole world needs a visa to come here….. and that’s just ridiculous. The government clearly has become extremely paranoid that if nothing was done, Canada might end up like the United States with a massive problem with illegal immigration, but I really don’t think visas are the issue with that.
A lot of the illegal immigrants in the US just snuck in across the border so they didn’t even have a visa anyways. And the truth is a lot of those illegal immigrants in the US did have visas, which they used to enter the United States legally…. they just never left after the visa expired. So I have no idea why the government here thinks requiring the majority of the people in the world to need visas to come here will truly make that big of a difference.
In fact I believe the visa requirements are hurting Canada more than anything, and not only that the rules are very discriminatory. The rules judge that everyone from one country is more likely to try and stay illegally than everyone from another country, and that’s just not right. As I’ve said in the past, it is wrong to punish everyone from one country just because there are some people that break the rules from that place. And until Canada really reforms the issue of visas, we will continue to struggle with our tourism here.
And I’ve talked to some people from other countries and from what I’ve been told, getting a visa to come here is super difficult. Basically if a person doesn’t have a job and doesn’t want to come here to study, but just to visit someone or for general tourism, they most likely will be denied… that is terribly unfair. And there are people who have put so much time, money and effort into the whole process to get a visa to come here, only to be denied in the end.
That would be a horrible experience for anyone, and I can imagine the people who that has happened to would have an unfortunately negative view of Canada, and would just go somewhere else. So I basically think there needs to be great lenience given to people from any country who truly just want to come here and take a vacation. A passport should be good enough as it will give the government an idea of who comes and who long they are here, and if people are breaking the rules they can deal with the consequences later on !
I read that in the UK they are toying with the idea of making tourists from some countries pay a deposit to come to the country. This would be fully returnable when the tourists leave, and I was thinking that could be a great idea for Canada. If we eliminated all of our stupid visa laws, the government could still charge a deposit to people entering the country. The amount would have to be something not ridiculously high, but enough money that the person would certainly want back.
This gives a good medium in between allowing free travel with just passports, and forcing so many people to have visas. I am sure many people now who have to go through the visa process would rather do the deposit thing, so that could be an idea worth studying. Ultimately though, I do believe that Canada has to be a country that is welcoming to tourists, no matter which country they come from, and this would mean treating all the tourists equally.
I just don’t think it’s right to make some tourists have to do one thing, and other tourists have to do another thing. The only tourists that should be treated differently should be the ones who break the rules ! So while there may be more pressing issues in Canada right now, a look into our sagging tourism industry is definitely something that should be done ASAP, and some serious reform is needed.
As I have said, if these changes are implemented I truly think Canada has a tremendous opportunity to really put itself on the map as a world tourist destination and the government would be able to celebrate a huge increase in revenue from tourism. With the greater focus on marketing this country around the world, the elimination of the visa requirements and treating equally people from around the world, Canada can get back to where it once was in terms of desired destinations.
And while I can truly imagine all of the positives here, unfortunately I think our government is just too stupid to understand, keeping things the same, but I truly hope they prove me wrong. For the next question:
How is tourism in your city/region ? What can be done to improve it ?
Well as a city alone I think Vancouver is a great tourist destination and has done a great job of marketing itself around the world. We have a great film industry here, and a bit of everything in terms of nature: mountains, ocean, beaches, forests and lakes. So with the help of the Canadian government and a look into some of the ideas I have suggested, I think the city would do even better !
I wish everyone all of the best with everything. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Friday, bye for now.
Comments (7)
tourism in my city “Casablanca” is not very good. because it is just economic city lol
Glad you ended up getting to do that interview. Even if you don’t get the job, it’s good to keep your interview skills sharp.
My state rocks at tourism. I actually think we get too many tourists. Our infrastructure just gets completely overwhelmed this time of year between the professional baseball spring training fans, the college spring breakers, the Canadians having medical procedures (in droves! Which is strange to me considering Canada has socialized healthcare…), and the northerners staying until it warms up in their home states.
tourism in Atlanta is deftinely different than new York & etc but I think it just makes people see Georgia more.. The Walking Dead is filmed & set here..
The weather here is in the 40′s, if we’re lucky. Most days are in the 30′s and 20′s at night. Crazy that the weather in Mexico dropped from high 90′s to low 50′s!
I see you’re keeping up with your stops to Tim Hortons and runs. You should sign up as soon as you can for the run.
Lucky you got to call back and reach someone. Funny you had no idea what position you were applying for because you applied for so many. I hope you hear back!
6th to 17th is a pretty big drop for Canada.
I’m sure the cost pays a major roll in the drop. That can’t be changed. I agree with your points.
Canada should put a bigger effort into showing off their land; They should broadcast what there is to make a trip there more appealing.
Honestly, I don’t see any enjoyment in flying to Canada. I visited Niagra Falls, when I was about 5. I don’t remember much of it.
The visa requirement seems silly to me, in some ways, as well.
The weather here lately has been cold and i’m ready for 70′s and 80′s or even 90′s temps. Dont think we’ll get any no time soon. As for touriest. We dont get any. Not much anyways. We do get japanese and Chinese students at the college. Which is normal now b/c that’s happened for so long
In my area we get a little bit of history buffs in the downtown area but that is about that. Around the beach there a lot of travelers. They are trying to build up downtown to make it more appealing. But that is really all they are doing!
belated happy bday to your mum. yes, i do think canada needs to do an aggressive marketing to promote the country for tourism. truth to be told, here in asia we mostly see or hear the ads for european countries, usa, australia, and other asian countries. but never canada. and so it’s never been at the back of someone’s mind to have canada as a possible nation to visit, as none of us know what’s available in canada.