World's Biggest Enviro-Business Expo

BACKSTAGE WITH RICK ANTONSON . OPENING CEREMONIES
Editor's Candid Camera / Aboriginal Fashion Show / More Photos
World Culinary Travel Expo / Marketing Africa to Canada / Africa Shines in Vancouver /
World Airlines Routes Forum / CLIA Cruise Expo / Globe 2010

by Muguette Vancouver, BC, Canada: Following an outstanding Opening Ceremony , the Winter Olympics of 2010 got off to a rousing start. Among the sports celebrities who took part were Steve Nash, Nancy Green, Rick Hansen and Wayne Gretzsky, who lit the cauldron. My eternally young mother Suzanne, who returned with us from Morocco in December, was the star of the show at many Olympic events, including the Russian reception where she met the popular icon Father Frost. Click on photo (left) for a blow up.

The Media Centre Complex at Robson Square n Vancouver is impressive, reminding me of the outstanding services at ITB Berlin and Mode A Paris. We are making this site our headquarters, as it is the focal point in the heart of a great city. North America's West Coast - with gateways of Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. is a long haul from Africa, often requiring two or more airlines, and stops in New York, Washington or Europe. In spite of the time and distance, Africa is gaining recognition as a prime business travel and tourism destination. With our office a mere four blocks from the Vancouver Cruise and Convention Complex, our editorial team has been showcasing travel to Africa for 15 years and promoting Vancouver as a Host City even longer. That is why Vancouver is being profiled in our first edition of Global Venues Magazine.

Vancouverites welcome the world with smiles: It's been named the world's most livable city every year since 2005 (The Economist Intelligence Unit), the best city in the Americas (Condé Nast Traveler) and the top Canadian destination (Travel Weekly). Now, thanks to the 2010 Winter Games, Vancouver's next title may just be the world's friendliest city.  In fact, the hospitality and high spirits of Vancouverites have been the real stars of these Games. Tourism Vancouver reports that it has been serving five times their normal volume of visitors, and most of them are raving about the friendliness of local residents. And why wouldn't Vancouverites want to show off their hometown? Beautifully positioned between mountains and ocean, this city of 600,000 with a metropolitan area of more than two million has a creative, youthful vibe. Visitors quickly discover the attractions of its many parks and gardens, including the iconic Stanley Park, as well as charming Granville Island with its sprawling food market, the stunning Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia and funky neighbourhoods like Gastown, Chinatown and Kitsilano, each with its unique history, great shops and terrific restaurants. Now, having received such a friendly welcome, the city's visitors have even more reason to come back. For more information visit www.destination2010.ca.



Current and Coming Events on the Agenda
. We are proud to announce that the Watoto Children's Choice from Uganda (above ) will be here through the Olympics and that we will be joining them for a special concert at the Vancouver International Airport. Following the 2010 Winter Olympics, several prime events are on the agenda, starting with Globe 2010 in March, the World Culinary Travel Expo in May, the CLIA Cruise3Sixty Expo in June and the World Airlines Routes Forum in September. More will be announced in our new magazine and bulletin - Global Venues. At the same time, Editor Jerry Bird and I visit Africa two or more times a year - and have just returned from nine months in Morocco, with a side trip to Egypt for the AT 34th Annual Congress. So we will be here all month with live, first hand reports. Our “Window on Sports Tourism will appear soon on this page and bring readers up to date on the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and other such events
ATA Canada Chapter in Vancouver
We like to give visiting African Travel, Trade and Tourism professionals a stage in the west - and Vancouver in particular. We did it with APEC '97, the 2007 United Nations World Urban Forum and a series events by the Africa Travel Association Canada Chapter, of which Mr. Bird our Editor is President. We will be visiting Whistler soon by the special train and will provide reports from one of North America's leading winter resorts, where we participated in the ATTA Adventure Travel Trade Association Convention a few years ago.

Place de la Francophone 2010

On Thursday night I visited Place de la Francophone and participated in the opening festivities, while meeting some of the key players. The Secretary-General of La Francophonie is Abdou Douf, former President of Senegal. Here is a brief item on the program. “Place de la Francophone, which is open until February 28 on Granville Island during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, offers visitors an unparalleled experience. The entire program reflects the desire to make it an unforgettable and must-see event. Big names in French music, previously unseen performances, exhibition venues and a host of special events await -- Place de la Francophone is an entire program of festivities that will dazzle guests. The launch, held at Performance Works on Granville Island, has illustrated the excellence and diversity of the programming. On our stages, more than 100 free shows will spotlight artists from across Canada and the international French-speaking world.”

Africans at the 2010 Winter Olympics
The games include representation from several African countries; Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal and South Africa. While we have enjoyed several visits to Ethiopia since 2000 , joined the Minister of State Delacho at a major two week event in Houston, Texas and joined the Ethiopian exhibitors at ITB Berlin last year, we had no idea there was a cross country skier from Ethiopia competing in this year's games. Watch for a first person report on Robel Teklemariam soon, plus interesting background on all the African participants and visitors we meet. Photo from Panasonic

Host Home for the Snow Leopard
Whistler and Pemberton embrace Kwame: Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, known as the Snow Leopard from Ghana, may have just started skiing six years ago and he may be Ghana's first (and only) Winter Olympic athlete, but locally, he has already made his mark on the communities of Whistler and Pemberton. His growing fan base stems from his 2009 family vacation where he embraced the fresh-air activities around the adventure-laden host destination - riding the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, ziplining through lush forests, canoeing on calm Alta Lake, visiting the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre - and the community embraced him back.  Staying in Pemberton during the Games, Kwame fits right in with the year-round glaciers, forests, lakes and rivers of these outdoor havens. Kwame represents Ghana in the men's slalom event in Whistler on February 27th. No doubt his host home communities will be cheering him on.. Read more about adventures in Whistler and Pemberton: www.destination2010.ca/content/finishedarticles/quick-trips-whistler . www.destination2010.ca/content/finishedarticles/quick-trips-pemberton

First Nations in the Olympic Movement
If you see the video from the Official Opening, you will be more than impressed with the color, philosophy and pageantry of the First Nations section. We attended an exciting Aboroginal Fashion Show at the Pan Pacific, fearuring the designs of Dorothy Grant and Pam Baker. I have several wardrobe items by Ms. Grant and often wear them during events in Africa. In 1999, the IOC adopted Agenda 21: Sport for Sustainable Development, which includes the objective to "strengthen the inclusion of women, youth and Indigenous peoples in the Games." "One of our greatest challenges is that Indigenous participation is relatively new to the Olympic Movement &endash; there is no template we can follow - no clear indicators for how we measure our success. Indigenous participation in past Games, such as Calgary and Salt Lake City, has focused primarily on ceremonies and cultural programs. We plan to go beyond that, to set the bar higher, with the hope that future Organizing Committees can be inspired and learn from our experience." - Gary Youngman, Consulting Director, Aboriginal Participation,

People worth knowing
Among our close friends at the events this week are Rick Antonson, CEO of Tourism Vancouver, whose wife Janice is a key board member of PATA. In the video (left) he invites the world to the CLIA Cruise3Sixty Expo coming in June. Rick's book To Timbuktu for a Haircut, is one of the best travel books we have every,. Much more to come - including the read. Editor Jerry Bird is including excerpts from Rick's book in our new Western Africa World Edition - and in Global Venues, our international events magazine. Jerry is also working with Agnes Chung, organizer of the World Culinary Travel Expo - and is encouraging all of our Africa colleagues to exhibit and show the world the fine dining available throughout Africa. Jerry has known Ms. Chung for 20 years, when she was with Tourism Malaysia, one of the first exhibitors in our Air and Marine Tourism Expo in Vancouver.

Chinese New Years celebrations were underway during the opening days of the Winter Olympics It's highlight is the Chinese New Year's Parade, as featured in the Vancouver Sun Newspaper.

About the BC Media Centre, Vancouver
A state-of-the-art International Media Centre (BCMC) at the heart of downtown Vancouver in Robson Square Plaza. The BCMC is a full service broadcasting facility, which includes comfortable, secure, and fully wired networking and operating space. The Centre provideS access to athletes, dignitaries and government leaders, as well as contacts to stories happening outside official Olympic venues. Programs showcase B.C. through special events, displays and celebrations. A prime hub for members of the working press, the BCMC promotes British Columbia, its businesses, communities and tourism opportunities to the world.