This new pilot program is aimed at enhancing the presence of Manitoba events in the world of social media. Consulting firm Think! Social Media will take over all of your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and manage them before, during and after your event. A final report will show the increases in traffic and teach you effective strategies to help you maintain awareness and engagement. Think! Social Media has helped Travel Manitoba increase its Facebook fans and Twitter followers – so see what they can do for you. Valued at $2500, there are only 8 opportunities, so contact Lilian Tankard LTankard@travelmanitoba.com today for more information.

http://www.travelmanitoba.com/images_tr/pdf/social_media_events.pdf

Increasing numbers of travellers around the world are answering the call of the wild. High on many a list is Frontiers North Adventures, MB, known as the polar bear capital of the world.

Based in Churchill, this tourism business specializes in delivering authentic adventures in Canada’s North. Frontiers North Adventures is also a key member of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)’s Signature Experiences Collection^® (SEC), 160-strong and looking to grow some more.

Tricia Schers, Frontiers North communications and marketing manager, kicks the ice off her boots to tell tales in the latest CTC News SEC case study of the wild side of Manitoba and how the SEC program is boosting numbers from international markets.

http://en-corporate.canada.travel/content/ctc_news/signature-experiences-collection-case-study-sec-frontiers-north-adventures?sc_cid=email

With Allen keys poised, a few IKEA fanatics set up camp Tuesday evening to be among the first inside Winnipeg’s new furniture giant.

Chantal Drury and Heather Olephante made themselves at home just after 3 p.m. at the A&W across the street. They got comfy to wait until 12:01 a.m. when security was scheduled to officially let eager shoppers onto the premises to wait.

"We are so ready for this. We’re diehards," Drury said.

Drury packed herself an "IKEA overnight bag" — a homemade survival pack complete with blankets, a scarf, mitts, water and snacks.

Drury and Olephante were not only hoping to get their hands on some furniture, but were also excited to get a $75 gift card. The first 1,000 shoppers in the door at 9 a.m. are guaranteed at least that, plus a chance to win up to $5,000 in additional gift cards.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/IKEA-diehards-queue-up-for-entry-181122871.html

The Winnipeg Airports Authority keeps landing more awards.

Last week, the organization, responsible for the management and operation of Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, was named among Manitoba’s top 25 employers for 2013.

The organization also received an award in 2010 and 2012 in the annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers.

"We are proud to once again be named one of Manitoba’s top 25 employers," said WAA president and CEO Barry Rempel in a release.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/our-communities/metro/WAA-named-one-of-Manitobas-top-employers-181009021.html

Tempers of bed and breakfast operators on P.E.I. flared Tuesday night at a meeting to explain a new three per cent levy for tourism marketing.

Currently, guests at accommodations with 10 or more units in Charlottetown and Summerside pay a levy. The Tourism Industry Association asked the government to consider expanding the levy provincewide.

"We have to find a formula to raise more money," said executive director Don Cudmore.

"We have to find a way for the industry to be more involved, to be stakeholders in a way that they're bringing money to the table."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2012/11/28/pei-bed-breakfast-levy-anger-584.html

Tourism officials in Banff are aiming to lure more visitors during the slower season in June by hosting a marathon, in the wake of the decision to cancel the annual dragon boat festival.

Banff Lake Louise Tourism said the decision to cancel the dragon boat races, which have been held annually since 2008, was made because the Edmonton Dragon Boat Racing Club isn’t able to take over running the event as had been hoped.

“We’re not doing this because it’s an event that’s struggling,” said Stuart Back, the tourism group’s director of in-resort services. “Despite the growth, we’ve decided to suspend that event and we now have capacity for another event.”

LifeSport Coaching and Events has put forward a preliminary proposal to run a 42-kilometre marathon and half-marathon along the Bow Valley Parkway to a finish line in Banff’s Central Park the weekend of June 22 to 23, 2013. Parks Canada has not yet given its approval to the group, which also organizes the Subaru Banff Triathlon.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/Banff+marathon+planned+replace+dragon+boat+festival/7618553/story.html

ONEKAMA, Mich. - For more than a century, easy access to Lake Michigan has made Onekama a popular place for summer visitors and a refuge for boaters fleeing dangerous storms. Now the community itself needs a rescue, from slumping lake levels that threaten its precious link to open water.

The Great Lakes, the world's biggest freshwater system, are shrinking because of drought and rising temperatures, a trend that accelerated with this year's almost snowless winter and scorching summer. Water levels have fallen to near-record lows on Lakes Michigan and Huron, while Erie, Ontario and Superior are below their historical averages. The decline is causing heavy economic losses, with cargo freighters forced to lighten their loads, marinas too shallow for pleasure boats and weeds sprouting on exposed bottomlands, chasing away swimmers and sunbathers.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/as-great-lakes-water-levels-plummet-small-tourist-towns-struggle-to-keep-shallow-harbours-open-181069261.html

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Dubai is suddenly rediscovering its old habits.

That means relentless hype and construction plans loaded with superlatives. Case in point: A proposed Taj Mahal replica four times bigger than the original.

Leaders, too, are back swaggering with a mojo that seems aimed to wipe away memories of the city's humbling fiscal collapse just three years ago.

"We do not anticipate the future," said Dubai's ruler Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum in announcing plans Sunday for a new "desertopolis" that will bear his name. "We build it."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/dubai-returns-to-mega-project-swagger-after-humbling-debt-crisis-181130261.html

AUSTRALIA faces the loss of a potential tourist boom worth up to $9 billion a year because of the bitter feud between Qantas boss Alan Joyce and Tourism Australia head Geoff Dixon.

At serious risk is a long-term plan to lure at least 860,000 Chinese visitors to Australia by 2020 in the biggest, boldest and most critical tourism marketing campaign since the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

The Tourism Australia board called a crisis meeting late yesterday after Qantas dumped its 40-year partnership with the federal government's peak tourism body amid claims Mr Dixon was trying to sabotage the national airline.

Qantas will continue to work with Tourism Australia on the G'day LA/G'day USA events in January next year and on the Australian Tourism Exchange in April but will review other programs.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/qantas-tourism-feud-is-9-billion-risk/story-e6frg6n6-1226526118803

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The RV industry's recovery from the Great Recession has picked up speed. Recreational Vehicle makers are churning out higher numbers of travel trailers bound for dealers' lots and, ultimately, campgrounds.

Overall shipments from manufacturers to dealers — a key measure of consumer demand — are expected to rise 10 per cent in 2012 and could gain another 4.5 per cent next year, the Recreation Vehicle Industry Association said Tuesday.

Through September, shipments were up nearly 11 per cent from the same period last year, the group said. The higher-than-expected number had dealers, manufacturers and suppliers feeling more optimistic as they gathered this week for an annual industry trade show.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/travel/rv-industry-recovery-picks-up-speed-in-2012-amid-rising-shipments-to-dealers-181026371.html

(A complete article published originally in the WFP, Nov.  '64)

Toronto surrendered today to Grey Cup hoopla as trumpets and bagpipes, pretty girls, clowns and lavish floats took over the heart of the city in the annual parade preceding the East-West football final. Beribbboned football fans, their funny hats topping headaches left from pre-game partying Friday night, lined the 20-block route, down Yonge Street and past city hall. Both CBC and CTV television networks screened the fun for the rest of Canada. (9:30 a.m. EST) The excitement began Friday night when visiting fans joined by thousands of Torontonians made mayhem in downtown hotels and taverns and on the streets. When the public parties and dances faded out, not so private soirees stretched into hotel-room matinees. The law turned a lenient eye on celebrants. The sergeant of detectives on duty early today described the crowd as generally well-behaved. Today's combined pick-me-up and appetizer for the game between British Columbia Lions and Hamilton Tiger-Cats at 1 p.m. EST was a 60 – minute march past of 24 bands, 22 majorette corps and 36 floats representing cities and towns from Vancouver to Quebec City. All nine Canadian Football League cities were represented in one way or another, although Retina's sole entry was pretty Miss Saskatchewan Roughrider, Deanna Bryden. Calgary,' whose Stampeder fans began the traditional Grey Cup festival in a mass invasion of Toronto for the 1948 final, turned up this time with only five mounted cowboys and a placid pair of Indians. Apart from the host city's dominant assortment of bands, majorettes, floats and clowns, the Grey Cup contestants aptly set the heaviest contingents. B.C. was represented by a lion named Marique, its 53 Lionettes cheerleaders, a band and a pair of floats. Hamilton, 40 miles west of Toronto, sent two majorette groups, three bands, three floats. Winnipeg sent its police pipers and Manitoba's "Golden Boy" float, celebrating seven Grey Cup victories by the Blue Bombers.