From the Niagara Falls Review:
The bicentennial celebrations for the War of 1812 will last three years, but if local tourism operators play their cards right, the good time can last much longer.
That was the message Mary Mahon Jones, CEO of the Council of Tourism Associations of British Columbia, had for local tourism operators ramping up for the bicentennial celebrations five years from now.
During the final session of the Binational Tourism Summit at the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel Tuesday afternoon, Mahon Jones said she’s in a similar position in B.C., where tourism operators are ramping up for a big event of their own, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver…
Arlene White, executive director of the Binational Tourism Alliance and one of the event’s co-ordinators said if Niagara fails to capitalize on the funding and marketing opportunities coming this way “the opportunity will be gone forever.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put the entire binational Niagara region on the map,” White said. “We have to take advantage of the bicentennial celebrations, the way Vancouver is taking advantage of the 2010 Olympics, or the opportunity will be gone forever.”