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Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce

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City of Penticton

May, 2011

General Manager's Report by Erin Hanson

Harmonized Sales Tax

HST information sessions and debates will soon be held around the province at BC public universities, colleges, and institutes. If you can't attend in person, you can view the forums on www.hstpublicforums.ca. And a new report has just been released by an independent panel offering its assessment of the pros and cons of keeping the HST. It's thoughtful analysis.

Monday June 13^th Elections BC mails the HST referendum ballot to all registered voters. The referendum question will be: Are you in favour of extinguishing the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) and reinstating the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) in conjunction with the GST (Goods and Services Tax? Yes or No. A vote "No" will keep the HST in place.

Your Chamber fully endorses keeping the HST as this taxation model lowers business operating costs and is an investment attraction that in the long run will create jobs, produce more goods and services exports, and expand the BC economy. And what's good for the economy is good for everyone. In our recent member survey 73% expressed that the HST has had either neutral or positive impacts on their businesses.

I encourage our local businesses to engage in the discussion and in the decision. To learn more about the impacts and implications your vote will have visit www.hstinbc.ca or follow the links on our website www.penticton.org.

Erin can be reached by calling 250.492.4103 or via email at ehanson@penticton.org

Penticton & Wine Country Tourism Report by Jessie Campbell

After the successful completion of the 2011-2015 Penticton Destination Marketing Strategy in February, Penticton & Wine Country Tourism officially launched a refreshed look for the destination yesterday along with a new website and spring campaign.

The new website, www.tourismpenticton.com features a more emotive and interactive experience for visitors, including "share" and "like" features for activities and accommodations, enhanced links to social media channels, and more comprehensive online booking experiences for those operators with online booking capabilities and TripAdvisor.

"My team's been working hard to get the new website ready to go," says Tourism Marketing Manager Jessie Campbell. "I'm very excited to have our number one marketing tool now providing the best possible online experience to potential visitors."

All listings, including those for accommodations, activities, restaurants, wineries and events, are managed by the Penticton & Wine Country Visitor Centre. New events that should be promoted to Penticton visitors can be sent to events@penticton.org, and all other listing information to visitors@penticton.org.

Along with the new website, a fully-integrated campaign to promote 2011 travel to Penticton launches this week. The campaign runs in Penticton's gateway markets of the Lower Mainland, Calgary and Edmonton, and includes promotion on GlobalBC, Facebook and The Weather Network, among other media channels with strong search engine marketing capabilities.

For more information, contact Jessie Campbell at 250.490.2464 or jcampbell@penticton.org

Our Okanagan

We are lucky to have such diverse products and services here at home in the Okanagan valley. Despite the fact consumers could walk down the street of any Okanagan town and have products and services available to them locally, many consumers choose to shop online.

BIA/Kelsey research found in their latest survey that 97% of the respondents go online to source products and services. Unfortunately when Google searches the net, local companies are often bypassed in the search.

As we come out of an economic downturn, shopping local is more important than ever to keep businesses open and jobs in our communities. Our Okanagan is an easy way to see what we have locally.

If you're a business in the valley, www.ourokanagan.ca provides you the opportunity to source local suppliers, as well as to be sourced as a local supplier if you register a profile.

Bookmark www.ourokanagan.ca and use it often, and create a profile to showcase your products and services valley wide.

Literacy Now

Literacy Now South Okanagan Similkameen actively supports members of our communities and helps people find out about literacy activities, services and programs across the region.

One of Literacy Now's priorities is Workplace Literacy. Check out this month's Buzz to find out how local businesses have been rewarded for supporting their employees.

Workplace Literacy Recognition Program

Do you know of a business that puts its employees first? Literacy Now wishes to recognize businesses that support a learning environment for staff. Are staff encouraged to increase their basic skills? Are schedules flexible to allow for upgrading or essential skills training? If you know of a business that supports employees in this way, please fill in the nomination form and let us provide the recognition the business deserves.

Nomination Form

Please click on the link below to view "The Buzz on Literacy" monthly newsletter.

May newsletter

Time and Attention are Currency

You open your mailbox and grab a handful of paper. How long does it take you to sort that mail? Do you open each envelope and consider its message, or do some of them get tossed into the trashcan unopened?

More than 71 billion dollars were spent on direct mail marketing last year according to the US Postal Service and each of these dollars was spent in the hope that:

1. your attention would be gained by the advertiser's message and

2. you would spend time - at least a moment - considering it.

Want to Contact Us?

Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce l 553 Railway Street l Penticton, BC

Phone: 250.492.4103 l Fax: 250.492.6119 l admin@penticton.org l www.penticton.org