The hands of friendship and guidance stretched across the world
The Canadian Tourist Guide Association of British Columbia
"Guiding Tourists Professionally Locally and Worldwide"

Guide Lines
5 October 2001


The CTGA of BC has sent messages of sorrow to the Guiding Associations in New York and Washington DC.
We also salute all Americans at this time....and we hope for peace and understanding of all humans the world over.

This is the first Guide Lines newsletter which contains only information about our upcoming meetings and events to which we hope members and potential new members will be able to join us at.

A full Guide Lines newsletter will no longer be posted here for all to see.  Members who have e-mail are now receiving weekly guiding news and information through our closed-circuit message and notice board known as the E-group service.  The members who do not have e-mail are still sent a newsletter via the postal system.

The location for our Thursday October 25th meeting of the Canadian Tourist Guide Association of BC is now set for the Crowne Plaza Hotel Georgia at Georgia and Howe Streets in downtown Vancouver.

The start time will be at 6:30 PM (18:30 hours).

We hope as many members and any other guides and or TD's, etc, will be able to come as the Federal Government of Canada is coming in the form of Industry Canada to speak with us and others who are also coming in from Ottawa for this meeting.

Please start spreading the word ASAP.

Please also see the following invitation for more information on this very important event....

Also: The CTGA of BC is going on a Canadian Rockies Fam Trip which will take place on October 19, 20, 21 and the 22nd. The cost will be just under $200 per person and includes the bus, hotels and some food. There are plenty of other details which you can receive by either calling Jeff V or by e-mail to jeffvanc@axion.net.

An Invitation (please read carefully)

You and other Canadian Tourist Guides and Tour Directors are invited to assist the Government of Canada in developing a Canadian position for the current international trade negotiations involving the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the World Trade Organization.

Brief Background:
The Tourism and Travel Related Services Sector is important to Canada's economic growth and jobs.

Tour guides and Tour director services are an important part of this Sector.

The GATS agreement, to which 142 countries are members, strives to facilitate a trade environment in which service providers (including tour guides/tour directors and tour guide/tour director agencies) can easily export their services to other countries.

At the conclusion of the last round of GATS negotiations in 1995, Canada submitted a schedule of commitments in which it outlined the conditions through which foreign services suppliers could access various domestic sectoral markets. In the tourism sector, this included details for the “Hotels and Restaurants” and “Travel Agencies and Tour Operators” subsectors of Tourism Services but, Canada did not specify any conditions for the Tour Guides subsector.

The GATS negotiations were relaunched in March of 2000. Tourism services will be discussed during the negotiations. Federal officials are seeking your input to determine the priorities for the tour guides subsector during these negotiations. Specific issues and topics that require your input include:

To facilitate participation, your local association will be hosting a consultation session at: The Hotel Georgia at Georgia and Howe in downtown Vancouver on Thursday October 25, 2001 at 6:30 PM in the York Room.

( No need to rsvp )

22 April 2001 ~ 1 November 2001

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