“While I appreciate the remarkable innovativeness of the CTC team to constantly try new things, do amazing things with limited resources, and seek relationships with new partners, three things concern me about this specific marketing initiative (in contrast to the innovative Locals Know marketing initiative, which it would have been great to see extended into the new year):

1. There is a disconnect between this marketing initiative (alliance with this specific corporate partner for a marketing program) and the goals that we are trying to reach regarding sustainability within tourism in Canada. Books and video and conferences about the impacts of the fast food industry, junk food, and costs to human health are at record sales. More important, there is a deeper concern about the insidious nature with which large food corporations may be co-opting the locavore movement. See research to credible articles below.
2. Our focus on developing tourism programs in which we are helping Canadian tourism operators to buy local, support local producers, and support organic foods is put at risk when our national tourism marketing body engages in a marketing program with a very large, influential junk food retailer.
3. Brand association should be put through a filter that resonates with the core values of sustainable tourism. Was this brand association initiative put through any kind of filter? Does one exist?

As a tourism industry trainer, I cannot be an advocate for this marketing initiative when it runs counter-current to everything we teach in our tourism training programs.

As a tourism industry operator in Manitoba co-facilitating the development of six new itineraries to be launched as part of RVC 2010 (A CTC premiere annual initiative for the international market), we have developed criteria to ensure that the tourism industry partners in each of the six pre-conference experiences will focus on presenting local foods, local food partners, local recipes, and good nutrition associated with quality preparation of foods. We are trying to establish a new benchmark for what the Canadian tourism industry can and should be providing in terms of better quality foods within our tourism experiences – foods and food preparation that reflect key global principles of sustainability.

I just participated at the TIAC (Tourism Industry Association of Canada) conference in Saint John, in which TIAC focused a half-day session on discussing draft criteria regarding Sustainability within the tourism industry. In the draft global sustainable tourism criteria which we reviewed, Section D.1.1., it reads, “Purchasing policy favours environmentally friendly products for building materials, capital goods, food and consumables.” I don’t believe that this initiative is consistent with the national TIAC sustainable tourism criteria that are being proposed for the tourism industry.

I did a bit of research online to try to get some perspectives about Frito-Lay. Here are a few links to broaden and deepen the discussion about this. I think that we have some good reasons to be concerned about this marketing alliance of the CTC with Frito-Lay, a large North American and International division associated with PepsiCo.

Lay’s the locavore’s junk food?
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-0513-lays-locavore-junk/

Greenwashing Alert: Frito-Lay Co-Opts Local Food Movement, and More On the Way
http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/greenwashing-alert-frito-lay-co-opts-local-food-movement-and-more-on-the-way/
This is a particularly good review. According to the NY Times, Frito-Lay uses 2 Billion bounds of potatoes each year, relying on just 80 farms to provide these potatoes. That means 25 million pounds of potatoes per farm. These are large farms, industrial farms. This link provides a direct link to the NY Times article.

I am not challenging the notion of finding good corporate partners with whom to launch innovative marketing initiatives. We need this kind of innovative collaboration and unique thinking that we are proud of, from all of our team at the CTC. I am questioning this initiative with Frito-Lay, and critiquing this because there is not, in my opinion, a good and endurable fit with Canada’s move to sustainability within the tourism industry. We need a good filter, however, to select good corporate partners who demonstrate a strong commitment to a low carbon economy, and a vision for sustainability.

I am also looking for consistency between the tourism training that we are doing in Canada to help operators make a business case for sustainability within their own operations, and having a fit with the marketing programs that our DMO’s and the CTC are doing. This marketing initiative, in my view, is out of synch with what our customers and many of our industry partners expect from a national “discover Canada” travel marketing program corporate partner.”
-Celes Davar to Canadian Tourism Commission staff

Thanks again Todd, for raising important issues and for being able to frame them in a way that causes all of us to step back and reflect on what is taking place.

“While I appreciate the remarkable innovativeness of the CTC team to constantly try new things, do amazing things with limited resources, and seek relationships with new partners, three things concern me about this specific marketing initiative (in contrast to the innovative Locals Know marketing initiative, which it would have been great to see extended into the new year):

1. There is a disconnect between this marketing initiative (alliance with this specific corporate partner for a marketing program) and the goals that we are trying to reach regarding sustainability within tourism in Canada. Books and video and conferences about the impacts of the fast food industry, junk food, and costs to human health are at record sales. More important, there is a deeper concern about the insidious nature with which large food corporations may be co-opting the locavore movement. See research to credible articles below.
2. Our focus on developing tourism programs in which we are helping Canadian tourism operators to buy local, support local producers, and support organic foods is put at risk when our national tourism marketing body engages in a marketing program with a very large, influential junk food retailer.
3. Brand association should be put through a filter that resonates with the core values of sustainable tourism. Was this brand association initiative put through any kind of filter? Does one exist?

As a tourism industry trainer, I cannot be an advocate for this marketing initiative when it runs counter-current to everything we teach in our tourism training programs.

As a tourism industry operator in Manitoba co-facilitating the development of six new itineraries to be launched as part of RVC 2010 (A CTC premiere annual initiative for the international market), we have developed criteria to ensure that the tourism industry partners in each of the six pre-conference experiences will focus on presenting local foods, local food partners, local recipes, and good nutrition associated with quality preparation of foods. We are trying to establish a new benchmark for what the Canadian tourism industry can and should be providing in terms of better quality foods within our tourism experiences – foods and food preparation that reflect key global principles of sustainability.

I just participated at the TIAC (Tourism Industry Association of Canada) conference in Saint John, in which TIAC focused a half-day session on discussing draft criteria regarding Sustainability within the tourism industry. In the draft global sustainable tourism criteria which we reviewed, Section D.1.1., it reads, “Purchasing policy favours environmentally friendly products for building materials, capital goods, food and consumables.” I don’t believe that this initiative is consistent with the national TIAC sustainable tourism criteria that are being proposed for the tourism industry.

I did a bit of research online to try to get some perspectives about Frito-Lay. Here are a few links to broaden and deepen the discussion about this. I think that we have some good reasons to be concerned about this marketing alliance of the CTC with Frito-Lay, a large North American and International division associated with PepsiCo.

Lay’s the locavore’s junk food?
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-0513-lays-loc...

Greenwashing Alert: Frito-Lay Co-Opts Local Food Movement, and More On the Way
http://www.chelseagreen.com/content/greenwashin...
This is a particularly good review. According to the NY Times, Frito-Lay uses 2 Billion bounds of potatoes each year, relying on just 80 farms to provide these potatoes. That means 25 million pounds of potatoes per farm. These are large farms, industrial farms. This link provides a direct link to the NY Times article.

I am not challenging the notion of finding good corporate partners with whom to launch innovative marketing initiatives. We need this kind of innovative collaboration and unique thinking that we are proud of, from all of our team at the CTC. I am questioning this initiative with Frito-Lay, and critiquing this because there is not, in my opinion, a good and endurable fit with Canada’s move to sustainability within the tourism industry. We need a good filter, however, to select good corporate partners who demonstrate a strong commitment to a low carbon economy, and a vision for sustainability.

I am also looking for consistency between the tourism training that we are doing in Canada to help operators make a business case for sustainability within their own operations, and having a fit with the marketing programs that our DMO’s and the CTC are doing. This marketing initiative, in my view, is out of synch with what our customers and many of our industry partners expect from a national “discover Canada” travel marketing program corporate partner.”
-Celes Davar to Canadian Tourism Commission staff

Thanks again Todd, for raising important issues and for being able to frame them in a way that causes all of us to step back and reflect on what is taking place.