Dollar’s rise ‘creates better buying opportunity,’ agent says

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

More Canadians want to knock back margaritas in Puerto Vallarta than pints of ale in Portsmouth, according to Statistics Canada travel numbers.

Mexico surpassed the U.K. last year as the second most visited country by Canadians, with Canadian tourists making 842,000 overnight trips to the sunny Spanish-speaking destination — up six per cent from 2005.

Canadian travel to the U.K. fell 13.4 per cent last year to 778,000 overnight visits.

The U.S. remains by far the most popular travel destination for Canadians, who made about 16 million overnight trips there last year — a 7.6-per-cent increase over 2005 and the highest level since 1993.

Global Travel managing partner Scott Clute said Canadians’ growing preference for Mexico as a vacation spot makes sense from an affordability point of view.

He noted most Mexican pricing is based on U.S. dollars and the Canadian dollar has strengthened against its U.S. counterpart in the past year while remaining flat or even declining slightly against the U.K. pound.

“That just creates a better buying opportunity for Canadians,” Clute said in an interview.

Statistics Canada noted a significant decline in Canadian travel to the U.K. occurred during the third quarter last year, coinciding with a major security threat at Heathrow Airport in London.

Clute said Mexico remains an extremely attractive travel option for Vancouver tourists, with regular and charter airline service making it easy to get to a destination without having to change planes.

He noted it’s a five-hour flight from Vancouver to Mexico, compared with nine hours to London, and the time-zone changes between Vancouver and Mexico are minor.

Clute said all-inclusive travel packages to Mexico continue to attract more Canadians, especially young families looking for affordable getaways.

But he noted the increase in travel to Mexico is happening at a time when the country has suffered from negative publicity about growing crime problems.

“Travel to Acapulco has slowed because of the problems there. Cancun has also had problems but people seem to overlook that and book all-inclusives there,” Clute said.

Statistics Canada said France, Cuba and the Dominican Republic were the next most popular travel destinations for Canadians after the U.S., Mexico and the U.K.

Visits to China increased by more than 55 per cent, reflecting an increase in the number of flights between Canada and China, while visits to Italy declined by 17.7 per cent to 315,000, following a 50-per-cent gain in 2005.

– – –

OUTWARD BOUND: Canadians took an estimated 22.7 million overnight trips out of the country in 2006, spending a record $20.1 billion in the process. Here’s where we were going:

U.S.: 16 million, 7.6%

Mexico: 842,000, 6%

U.K.: 778,000, -13.4%

Others: 5.08 million, 12%

Source: Statistics Canada

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Says he has the support of the premier

Jack Keating
Province

Mayor Sam Sullivan is urging the provincial government to reopen Riverview Hospital as a “compassionate solution” for the mentally ill who are living on Vancouver streets.

Sullivan said yesterday that he has the support of Premier Gordon Campbell in his quest to reactivate part of the landmark hospital in Coquitlam.

“There are semi-independent living units in Riverview — not the old-style asylum,” said Sullivan, noting there are 1,500 people in Vancouver with a diagnosed mental illness living in terrible conditions.

“These are places that are very livable and wonderful for people to live,” he said.

“There are wonderful grounds there and they can come and go, but if they don’t come home, they’re missed and somebody goes and gets them.”

Sullivan, who is on the Premier’s Task Force on homlessness, mental illness and addiction, is optimistic the government will act on reactivating Riverview.

“I know the premier is very interested in it,” he said.

Health Minister George Abbott confirmed yesterday that the government is “exploring options” for “further development” at Riverview.

“We recognize there are some patients who require a higher level of care than can be provided in a community-based setting,” said Abbott in an e-mail to The Province.

The 94-year-old institution, which was home to more than 4,000 patients in the 1950s, still houses about 300 patients on its sprawling, 80-hectare facility.

At one time, the government intended to completely close Riverview but that plan was never fully implemented.

“The continued use of the Riverview site for people with a mental illness is already in place with the openings of Cottonwood and Connolly Lodge and more beds on the way,” said Abbott.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

Ashley Ford
Province

The red ink may be rising faster than a Fraser River flood around the expanding Vancouver Convention Centre but there’s big bucks and business in the convention business. The Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre yesterday said it dialed up its best-ever performance last fiscal year since opening in 1987.

Numbers show the Canada Place centre took in $19 million in revenue, generated more than $240 million in economic impact and hosted 350 events for 745,000 delegate days. Centre president Barbara Maple said the numbers bode well for the business prospects of the newly expanding centre.

“The VCEC recorded a 25-per-cent increase over last fiscal year,” she said. “In total, we brought in about 174,000 non-resident delegate days — up more than 34,000 from last year.”

Non-resident delegate days are the number of days that delegates visiting from outside B.C. spend at convention centre events. Non-resident delegates to B.C. have four times more economic impact than leisure visitors because their expense levels are higher.

“Out of the events we hosted throughout the year, some were very high-profile international events, including the World Urban Forum last June, which hosted 10,000 delegates from 150 different countries and generated almost $18 million in non-resident delegate spending,” said Maple.

Fifty-four events are contracted or confirmed for the convention centre after April 1, 2009, she said. Some 29 of the events are expansion bookings that wouldn’t have been able to fit into the existing facility. In total, they represent 738,624 non-resident delegate days with a total economic impact of $1.1 billion.

Despite the centre’s price rising more than $400 million over its original $495-million budget, Stan Hagen, minister of tourism, sports and the arts, says it will be money well spent. “These kinds of business results reinforce the growing importance of the convention industry to B.C. and show the province’s investment in the VCEC’s expansion will pay off,” he said.

The expansion will certainly broaden the appeal of Vancouver as a major convention city. It will offer a combined total of nearly 500,000 square feet of function space and will serve as the international media and broadcast centre for the 2010 Games.

Nevertheless, critics argue that cost is too high and often point out that 13 years ago Las Vegas casino giant Steve Wynn offered to build the city a convention centre for free with a 1,000-room hotel, shops, theatres and a permanent $25-million stage/base for the famed Cirque de Soleil. But plans also included a casino and Wynn was unceremoniously sent packing.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

Risk of arthritic ailment cut by nearly 60 per cent in men who drink six or more cups a day

Pamela Fayerman
Sun

Coffee drinkers should receive an extra boost with two B.C.-led studies published today that show the more coffee an individual consumes, the greater the reduction in their risk of gout, a painful and common form of inflammatory arthritis that often settles in the large joint of the big toe.

“Coffee intake may be beneficial in the prevention and management of gout,” said research leader Dr. Hyon Choi, a University of B.C. professor and rheumatologist at the Mary Pack Arthritis Centre and Vancouver General Hospital. “I guess the main message is that if you are a coffee drinker, and may be at risk of gout, then don’t stop drinking but that doesn’t mean you should start drinking lots of coffee to avoid gout,” he said.

Gout affects about 10 per cent of men over the age of 50 and 10 per cent of women over the age of 60.

In the June issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism, Choi and his co-authors report on their 12-year study on nearly 46,000 male health professionals (such as dentists, optometrists, pharmacists and veterinarians) over age 40. They found the risk of gout was 59 per cent lower for men who drank six cups of coffee or more per day compared to men who drank no coffee. The risk of gout was 40 per cent lower for men who drank four to five cups of coffee a day. Tea did not have an effect on reducing the incidence of gout but decaffeinated coffee consumption had a somewhat favourable effect on risk reduction.

Choi, who collaborated with researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said in an interview that while he cannot rule out a protective role for caffeine, it’s probably components other than caffeine which reduce risk of gout, particularly an antioxidant in coffee called phenol chlorogenic acid.

He said previous research has shown that the same antioxidant is protective against type two diabetes, an interesting finding since the same risk factors for diabetes — hypertension, being overweight and inactive — are also risk factors for gout. Phenol chlorogenic acid has been shown in research to reduce blood glucose concentrations.

Uric acid crystals are the culprit in the development of gout and elevated levels occur when the kidneys can’t eliminate enough uric acid or when too much is produced. Decreased insulin resistance and insulin levels associated with coffee are thought to lower uric acid levels.

“The body doesn’t like these uric acid crystals. They are treated like a foreign body and that’s what prompts an intense reaction,” Choi said.

While there are some medications to treat the most serious cases, changes in diet can often resolve the symptoms of gout. In a pivotal study Choi led, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2004, researchers found that high levels of red meat and seafood led to an increased risk of gout while dairy products were protective against it. Choi tells gout patients to eat less red meat, fish, eggs and alcohol, and to eat high-fibre food, low-fat dairy products and plant oils like olive, soy, sunflower and other vegetable oils.

In the second study, in Arthritis Care and Research, Choi based results on a U.S. national health and nutrition survey which included 14,000 men and women between 1988 and 1994. Participants consented to a medical exam and provided blood and urine specimens and then answered questions about coffee and tea consumption. The results showed that levels of uric acid decreased as coffee intake rose. The study noted a beneficial effect of chlorogenic acid in coffee.

Choi said the diagnosis of gout is sometimes challenging for family doctors because symptoms may be similar to conditions like toe fractures, osteoarthritis, psoriasis, infections in the toe and other types of arthritis.

“Some people who need treatment don’t get it. More people should be referred to a rheumatologist when gout is suspected.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Events already booked for expanded facility

Michael Kane
Sun

Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre on Thursday announced record results with earnings up 25 per cent over the previous year.

High profile international events like the UN World Urban Forum and the World Hemophilia Conference pushed revenues above $19 million and provided an estimated $242 million in overall economic impact for the city and the province.

That impact — from spending on hotels, restaurants and taxis to local public relations, exhibitor and production services — is expected to surpass $1 billion when the convention centre expansion triples capacity in 2009.

Non-resident delegate days for the fiscal year ending March 31 were up more than 34,000 to about 174,000. Non-resident delegates contribute a daily average of $553 to the B.C. economy, about four times as much as leisure visitors, Barbara Maple, VCEC president, said in an interview.

That’s partly because expense accounts allow for higher end accommodation but also because of the extra costs of staging conferences and the financial contribution of corporate sponsors.

The World Urban Forum last June attracted 10,000 delegates from 150 countries and generated almost $18 million in non-resident delegate spending.

As the current centre, a legacy of Expo 86, approaches its 20th anniversary in July, it has already booked 54 events for 2009 and beyond when it will be Canada’s second largest convention centre, behind Toronto but ahead of Montreal.

Maple said 29 of those events couldn’t fit in the existing facility. Together, the 54 events will create an economic impact estimated at $1.1 billion.

While conventions are a vital contributor to Vancouver’s tourism numbers, they also foster professional development in British Columbia.

“It’s a tough one to measure but it really does give Vancouverites and British Columbians the opportunity to attend a global conference when they may not be able to travel afield,” Maple said.

Over the last fiscal year, the VCEC hosted 350 events — 745,000 delegate days — including the World Down Syndrome Congress, the Canadian Cardiovascular Conference and the 20th consecutive International Wine Festival, which attracted 20,000 visitors.

Over 11 days in February, four consecutive events generated more activity and food and beverage revenue for the local economy than the facility’s highest month on record.

Staff served 4,260 breakfasts, 9,115 lunches, 12,790 dinners and 11,300 coffee breaks, along with more than 2,600 bottles of B.C. Vintners Quality Alliance wine and 200 dozen bottles of local micro-brewery beer. The centre sells more B.C. wine than any other establishment in the province.

The business results demonstrate that the province’s investment in the convention centre’s expansion will pay off, Tourism Minister Stan Hagen said in a release.

“Expansion will enable us to grow the size and quality of B.C.’s convention business and take advantage of the global exposure we will receive from events like the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.,” he said.

The expanded centre will offer a combined total of nearly 500,000 square feet of function space and will serve as the international media centre for the 2010 Olympics.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Research centre finds men who drink seven glasses per week reduce risk to prostate

Sun

NEW YORK — Red wine drinkers, raise your glasses! Another study extolling the health benefits of red wine was released on Tuesday, saying a glass a day may help prevent prostate cancer.

Researchers from Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found men who drink four to seven glasses of red wine a week are only 52 percent as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who don’t drink red wine.

The report, published in the June 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch, was based on a small study examining the risk of prostate cancer in 1,456 men aged between 40 and 64, including alcohol consumption.

“At first the results for alcohol consumption seemed similar to the findings of many earlier studies — there was no relationship between overall consumption and risk,” said the researchers in a statement.

“But the scientists went one step further by evaluating each type of alcoholic beverage independently. Here the news was surprising — wine drinking was linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer.”

When white wine was compared with red, red had the most benefit with even low amounts appearing to help.

But by contrast men who were heavy beer drinkers, consuming 35 or more a week for eight years or longer, were at greater risk of contracting prostrate cancer.

The results also confirmed other studies’ findings with the risk of prostrate cancer higher for men with a family history of the disease, who were obese, smokers or African American.

The researchers speculated that the reason was chemical and could be linked to various flavonoids and resveratrol that were missing from other alcoholic beverages.

A Dutch study released in February found drinking a small amount of wine can extend men’s life expectancy while a U.S. study last year found red wine could help protect the brain from damage after a stroke.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Keith Woolhouse
Province

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Vancouver company uses ‘tree-hugger’ technology to build eco-adventure amenities around world

Brian Morton
Sun

A Vancouver company is bringing new meaning to the idea of leaving a light environmental footprint on the earth.

Greenheart Conservation Company Ltd. designs, builds and installs such eco-adventure amenities as suspended treetop walkways and similar facilities around the world so that tourists can experience the lush sights and scenery of the jungle, but not disturb the surrounding ecosystem.

As well, the company — which expects to see gross sales in the $3-million to $5-million range in 2007 — directs a portion of its profits toward helping countries such as Haiti –which has seen massive deforestation — develop sustainable economies.

Among other projects, Greenheart — with an office and production facility on Annacis Island — built the Kukum National Park Canopy Walkway in Ghana, a suspended walkway that includes 330 metres of suspension bridge 35 metres high. The walkway utilizes Greenheart’s “tree-hugger” technology, using no nails or bolts that would damage the trees. The walkway received the Conde Naste Ecotourism award and the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow award.

“We’re a for-profit company, but our objective is to contribute to conservation,” Greenheart’s principal co-founder John Kelson (who started the company along with president Ian Green) said in an interview. “We identify areas with conservation value and develop viable tourist businesses that generate revenue to support the conservation of those places. We build canopy [treetop] walkways, an elevated series of bridges so people can walk around in the top of the forest. In tropical forests, that’s where all the action is.”

Canopy walkways allow access to the upper parts of the forest, where visitors — at eye level — can see the birds, butterflies, flowers, monkeys and other animals, plants and insects that live there.

In some forests, trees can support suspension bridges used to build the walkway, but aluminum towers are necessary in forests or wetlands that can’t provide enough support. In those cases, Greenheart builds the portable towers and prefabricated walkways that can be transported in pieces to remote sites. Greenheart says its approach is to provide access to the canopy with minimal impact on the trees or habitat.

Since starting up with partner Green in the early ’90s, the company has grown to 12 employees, including Green and Kelson.

“Last year, we did a canopy walkway in Nigeria [for the Nigerian Tourism Bureau, in some of the last lowland gorilla habitat in Africa] for $1.3 million,” said Kelson. “This year, we’ll probably have four or five projects of that size.”

Other treetop walkways by Greenheart include: the Oxbow Meadows Treetop Trail on 650 hectares of wetland in Columbus, Georgia, and projects in Guyana and Brazil.

The company has also branched out into developing flightlines [or ziplines, suspended cables on which visitors can literally “fly” through the forest at great speeds]; “tree hotels,” tree-based overnight facilities where small numbers of people can spend the night; and aerial trekking eco-holidays.

Kelson said Greenheart just completed an 800-metre flightline in Haiti [it has also built one in Whistler] in partnership with Royal Caribbean International that will see 50 per cent of the revenue that’s generated given to a foundation in Haiti supporting and promoting sustainable development. “It’s the biggest cruise line in the world. It [the flightline] cost $1.5 million US.”

Kelson said they are now building a 300-metre treetop walkway through the cloud forest in Peru in partnership with National Geographic and Alcan for the Amazon Conservation Association [ACA], a non-profit organization that promotes biodiversity and sustainable land-use management in the Amazon Basin.

“It will go right through the tops of the trees,” said Kelson. “It’s full of orchids and bromeliads. It’s absolutely incredible. And the birds are unbelievable. It’s one of the best birding areas in the world.”

Kelson said the walkway, which will be completed this year, will hire 20 local people in the construction process. They will be taught how to build and maintain the walkway and then serve as guides, he added.

ACA project coordinator Joyce Barr said in an interview that Greenheart’s aluminum towers were the best choice. “I know they have extensive experience in building canopy walkways and that’s why we chose them. They did an amazing job in Nigeria. The eco-friendly part is it will be aluminum. It’s very humid. Aluminum doesn’t rust.”

Joe Foy, national campaign director of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, said in an interview that Kelson’s environmental commitment is real — “he’s the real McCoy” — and he admires Greenheart’s work. “There’s nothing they’ve done that we haven’t supported.”

Foy said treetop walkways are a great way to promote eco-tourism, “especially when it supports communities that require the income.”

Foy recalls when Greenheart wanted to build a treetop walkway in North Vancouver — a plan WCWC supported — but it went nowhere when local residents objected. “We saw it as a wonderful way to educate people about old growth near an urban population centre.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Aim is to make rare material available

Elaine O’Connor
Province

Call it open-source scholarship.

The University of B.C.’s information collection and archiving methods are undergoing a radical shift — from dusty shelves to downloadable files.

At the forefront of the switch are the UBC Library Digital Collections, which host hundreds of tests, images and audio files. Here, students can browse a virtual library, peruse digital books, scan e-journals and submit electronic thesis papers without leaving their dorms.

Most recently, the library — which is open to the public — scanned a collection of 159 letters by Florence Nightingale in honour of National Nursing Week May 7-13.

“We’re particularly eyeballing rare books and special collections in terms of having our more important and valuable material available to a wider audience,” said Chris Hives, the UBC archivist behind this growing paperless library.

“What we have focused on most recently are smaller but important collections, like the [Charles] Darwin letters and Florence Nightingale letters.”

Among the digital holdings at http://angel.library.ubc.ca are 4,000 historical B.C. fishing industry photos, 3,000 archival forestry photographs, 1,000 First World War photographs, 660 photographs from Japanese-Canadian history, 450 rare bookplates and 50 letters from Darwin.

The university has also archived 53,000 pages of its own periodicals and newspapers, 20,000 photos from its past, 1,730 UBC yearbook images, 100 audio-visual files and reports dating to 1915.

The university’s paper holdings still dwarf its e-holdings: UBC libraries house about 5.4 million volumes, 5.2 million microforms, 808,000 maps, audio, video and images and 56,000 subscriptions, compared with 254,961 e-books and 311,815 electronic resources.

The balance may shift in future.

“At some point, the library has got to think seriously about how it wants to proceed in the future in terms of looking at a larger-scale digitization program. They may want to get into digitization of library books,” Hives said.

Already, libraries are finding innovative new uses for digital archiving: A project Hives ran with the Faculty of Graduate Studies allowed students to file thesis papers digitally.

But for now, they still get a paper degree.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

James R. Healey
USA Today

Built-in navigation systems increase the depreciation of a car or truck, a startling fact that has some car companies rethinking their approach to the $2,000 factory-installed systems.

“Navigation could be like cellphones built into cars in the ’70s and ’80s; those big, blocky phones that nobody has now. Everybody has a small, personal cellphone,” says John Krafcik, vice president for product development at Hyundai Motor America.

Hyundai will begin offering built-in navigation on top models later this year, but for most models it emphasizes Garmin International’s $750 Nüvi portable units sold by Hyundai dealers.

“You can unplug them, take them along when you travel, use them in your rental car, even listen to music or watch movies on some of them,” Krafcik says.

Toyota  plans to announce later this year that it will offer lower-price, “entry-level navigation on some models,” says Paul Williamsen, product education specialist who oversees training of dealership employees and recently was named manager of what Toyota calls Lexus College.

“We’re sensitive to the issue” of navigation depreciation “and hope to reduce the gap between what a buyer pays new and what it’s worth used.”

He says the entry setup will lack voice command and will have a lower-resolution display but will retain touch-screen controls. “That’s an expensive component but highly valued by consumers,” and it distinguishes built-ins from most add-ons, he says.

Posh brand Land Rover made navigation optional on its LR2 small SUV to avoid pulling down the resale value of all LR2s.

“I had to assign special VINs (vehicle identification numbers) to the ones with navigation,” says product planner Greg Gilliland.

LR2 without navigation will be worth 55% of its original value after three years, while one with navigation will be worth 52%, Automotive Lease Guide (ALG) has projected. ALG is a major forecaster of so-called residual values, used as a guide for lease contracts and as a measure of expected depreciation.

Two reasons that navigation isn’t worth much in a used vehicle:

•Used-car buyers are looking for bargains, not technology, says James Clark, senior manager of consulting for ALG.

Clark‘s example: A high-end 2007 Acura TSX sedan should be worth 55% after three years without navigation, 53% with. The $2,000 navigation option winds up adding no more than $600 to the value of the 3-year-old car, he says.

Other technology that usually depreciates fast, according to Clark: adaptive cruise control, night vision, cooled seats.

•Technology changes. “The development cycle on these (portable) units is a year or less,” says Ted Gartner, Garmin spokesman.

Selling portable systems through auto dealers “is an easy way to offer the latest and greatest unit to the customer in the showroom, already in a buying mood. Rolling $750 into a car note isn’t that much,” he says.

For $1,000 or less, portable navigation units can provide Bluetooth phone compatibility, real-time traffic updates, weather reports and locations of the cheapest gasoline.

Plug-in software cards can show the latest restaurant ratings, movie listings and other features that equal or better $2,000-and-up factory-supplied systems.

A major difference: Some automakers’ units can be controlled by voice commands; most portables can’t.

Garmin’s financials are telling. The company reported a net income jump to $514 million last year vs. $311 million in ’05, largely driven by a 270% boost in auto and portable navigation revenue, to nearly $1.1 billion.

Honda’s (HMC) luxury brand Acura, a pioneer of navigation systems, remains committed to factory-installed units, says John Watts, Acura product planning manager.

“People who buy luxury cars don’t want something stuck on their dash,” he says. “And they’re fearful of theft.”

Honda’s own lender, American Honda Finance, shows navigation-equipped models are worth 1 percentage point less as used cars than non-navigation models, Watts says, though “five years ago, they were at the ALG level of 2 or 3 points difference.”

Alpine Electronics of America sells built-in systems to car companies for factory installation and has discussed models out to 2012, so it doesn’t see automaker-installed navigation vanishing.

But portables are growing so fast that Alpine decided it had to develop those, too, and jumped into the market in 2005.

“It’s the only growth area of the automotive electronics segment, and it’s triple-digit growth” from year to year, says Stephen Witt, Alpine’s vice president of marketing.

So many companies are rushing out new portables, he says, that units as cheap as $200 or so are “sold everywhere. You have Bed Bath & Beyond selling portable navigation these days. It’s bizarre.”