davidchatters.com

Canada Hits the Blogosphere

Los Altos, CA, and Vancouver, BC, Canada (PRWEB) July 5, 2007 -- Share travel advice? Check, we've got it. RealTravel, Inc. and the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) announced today they are collaborating so travellers can find and share travel advice on the CTC's tourism website.

RealTravel is a travel blogging and travel guide (http://realtravel.com/san_francisco-california-restaurant-reviews-d17685-5.html) site. Based in Los Altos, CA (US), the company helps more than half a million people each month plan trips through advice from other travellers (http://realtravel.com). This innovative offering launched phase I of CTC's "User-Generated Content Strategy" earlier this month (http://blogs.canada.travel).

On the CTC's travel blog (www.canada.travel) powered by the RealTravel blogging service, visitors can easily share their Canadian travel experiences, including travel tips, photos and highlights. RealTravel's editorial team rates all entries and displays the very best as a valuable source of information for people planning trips to Canada.

This breed of travel review -- advice from others posted online -- has recently emerged as a valuable resource for consumers planning a trip. A full 65% trust peer opinions posted online, compared to television, newspaper and magazine marketing campaigns, according to travel research company PhoCusWright.

"The CTC understands that travel blogs, written by real travellers, are a proven source of trusted information," says RealTravel CEO Ken Leeder. "We are pleased to partner with such an innovative destination marketing organization."

"RealTravel is one of the leaders in social media, and its ability to easily integrate the blogging service and top-rated travel blogs into our site allows the CTC (http://www.explore.canada.travel/ctc/ke/homepage.jsp?localeId=16&sa_campaign=domains/un/www.explore.canada.travel/home) to improve our website content -- and better engage people considering Canada as a place to visit," says Jens Thraenhart, CTC executive director of e-Marketing. "This cutting edge initiative creates value for the Canadian tourism industry and relevancy for travellers, all with the goal to leverage the power of the internet to increase tourism to Canada." In future, the project will add additional travel planning tools, mapping and more collaborative features with the Canadian tourism industry.

The CTC is also proud to roll-out its first ever online travel conference Canada-e-Connect (http://www.canadaeconnect.com/), which will focus on the latest in online travel trends, including consumer behaviour and emerging technologies to address how the Canadian travel and tourism industry can apply this competitive knowledge into their marketing mix. Canada-e-connect will feature some of the most intriguing speakers in the space and will be held in Vancouver on November 7-9.

About the CTC

The CTC is a national marketing organization. Our vision is compelling the world to explore Canada.

With our partners in the tourism industry and all levels of government, we:

Advertise and market Canada in 10 countries around the world; conduct industry research and studies; and promote product and industry development.

For travel information, media resources, meetings and conference planning details, research and news or to create extra-ordinary stories all on your own, visit www.canada.travel.

About RealTravel

Named "Best of the Web" by Forbes and BusinessWeek in 2006, and Best Online Travel Community of the Year in 2007 by the Association of Travel Marketing Executives, RealTravel is a travel blogging and travel guide site that helps more than half a million people plan trips with advice from other travellers every month. Visit us at http://realtravel.com

Contacts:    

Gloria Loree

Executive Director (Acting)

Communications & Public Relations

Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)

loree.gloria @ ctc-cct.ca

604-638-8407

Christina Brzica

Director of Marketing

RealTravel, Inc.

650-694-4970

christina @ realtravel.com

# # #

MORE ARTICLES:

The Myth of NASCAR Redneck Politics
G.O.P. candidate Rudy Giuliani made an appearance at Daytona International Speedway over the weekend announcing - "I want a ride in a pace car."

TELUS Sourcing Solutions, Monster Canada and HRsmart Canada Form Alliance to Deliver Recruitment Management Solutions
HRsmart, Monster and TELUS Sourcing Solutions (TSSI) today announced the formation of a three-way alliance to provide state of the art recruitment management tools to Canadian organizations.

What's All the Chatter About Lipo-Dissolve?
Non-Surgical Fat Removal Procedure is Creating a Lot of Interest and One Provider Wants to Set the Record Straight. MedSculpt opened its first center in January 2007 in Rockville, MD and just opened a second center in Vienna, VA in the Tyson's Corner area.

Canada Reverse Phone Search - 3 Common Ways To Conduct A Canada Reverse Phone Search
If you are interested in Canada reverse phone search, you have at least three options and any of them might prove to be successful for you.

Dr. David Hawkins to Appear on David Brown's "Inside Out"
On Monday, July 28th, David Brown, host of the spiritual internet radio show INSIDE OUT, will interview Sir David Hawkins. Dr. Hawkins is an internationally renowned psychiatrist, physician, researcher, and pioneer in the fields of consciousness research and spirituality. The show airs live on http://www.latalkradio.com at 6 p.m. PST and will be available for podcasts the following day.

Canada Tour Package Web Site Offers Exclusive Canada Travel Agent Giveaway
Vacations Canada is offering agents a chance to personally experience the excitement of Canada tour packages.

Explorer David Hempleman-Adams Departs Canada for World Record Transatlantic Balloon Flight
The legendary explorer is on track from Canada to Europe in the smallest gas balloon used so far to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

David Leadbetter Teams with UPMC to Launch The David Leadbetter Golf Fitness Lab
Program combines the tour-proven golf instruction of David Leadbetter with the world-renowned sports medicine research of the University of Pittsburgh to offer a comprehensive approach to golf improvement.

SYNNEX Canada and General Imaging Agree to Distribution of GE Digital Cameras in Canada
General Imaging, the worldwide exclusive licensee for the new line of GE-branded digital still cameras, announced today that SYNNEX Canada Limited, a subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), will be an authorized distributor for the new line.

Dinnertime Chatter
One of the themes I see on the various internet boards I belong to is that children eat and run. First, whatever happened to manners.

IWD Canada to Provide National Easter Seals Canada Web Support and Hosting
IWD Canada, a Toronto-based full web development and support firm, is proud to announce that they will now provide all web hosting for the National Easter Seals Canada websites. The security and support IWD Canada will provide by hosting these websites will enable Easter Seals Canada to continue to develop their online presence and to provide services to over 60,000 young people with disabilities.

Clash of Civilizations Musically Projects Their View of Politics, History and World Issues
Debut EP "Legacy" by Boston-based electronic world music project Clash of Civilizations exposes musical, political, cultural and ideological clashes and paints a creative and provocative musical portrait of modern times, politics, history and world issues.

Lodging Interactive Launches Chatter Guard Online Reputation Management Technology & Service
Lodging Interactive, a leading interactive marketing agency for the hospitality industry, announced today the launch of Chatter GuardTM an online reputation management technology and service.

IWD Canada Launches New Website for Limited and Exempt Market Dealers Associations of Canada
IWD Canada is proud to announce the launch of LMDACanada.com, the newly redeveloped home of the Limited and Exempt Market Dealers Associations of Canada. With the support of IWD Canada's premiere web design, development, hosting and value added features, the new LMDA/EMDA web site delivers an exciting new forum for Canadian business people and their partners.