-- Lloyd Live - “How Businesses on Vancouver Island can benefit from Immigration”

Lloyd Live:

broadcasting live from Nanaimo, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island.

"How Businesses can benefit from Immigration"

May 15, 2008, 7:00pm

Topics

Tourism: "You Snooze _ You Lose"

Vancouver Island is a great place to spend a vacation. It have many things to offer including great Summer weather, great out_doors experiences, great shore line and beaches, golf courses, and so on; and, of course no pollution. Canada’s Immigration policies can have a great effect on the number of people coming to Vancouver Island. This is particularly true for the emerging economies such as China, India and others which, for Canada, are untapped markets for tourism. With the Winter Olympics coming up this will likely have an even greater influence. This is a great opportunity for local businesses to join together take to make a common effort to attract these new markets and give them something to talk about. I am taking steps to set up an association for this purpose, Vancouver Island Ventures Association (VIVA Le Tourism). If you are interested then contact me.

Some Common Problems:

_ Competition from others areas of Canada that are "beating us to the start"

_ Tourists in China don’t know about Vancouver Island or what we have to offer

_ Inertia and the lack of will to seize the opportunity

May 22, 2008, 7:00pm

Topic

Employment: "All the Right Stuff"

One of the biggest problems that has come to my attention while practising Immigration law here in Central Vancouver Island Region is the difficulty of employers finding and keeping employees who are able and willing to work . This applies not simply to positions requiring individuals who are highly education, highly skilled and extensive experience. It also applies to less skilled positions. There are a number of Immigration programs available both at the Federal and Provincial that may be applicable to your situation.

Some Common Problems:

_ The employer is not aware of the Immigration program(s) that may be applicable

_ The employer is unaware of what is really required in making an application in the Immigration program

_ The employer has neither the time nor resources for finding someone from another country suitable for the position

***************************************************************

May 15, 2008, 7:00pm

QUE CARDS:

Hello.

This is Lloyd MacIlquham broadcasting live from Nanaimo, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island.

This is the inaugural Lloyd-Live broadcast, the first I what I hope will be many on issues Important to our community.

The Topic for this evening is "How Businesses can benefit from Immigration"

Due to technical reasons of bandwidth and time

This will be a 2 part series:

Tonight The first part:

Tourism: "You Snooze _ You Lose"

and

Next Thursday (May 22 at 7:00pm)

Employment: "All the Right Stuff"

These two issues apply to any community in Canada but I have found that they are particularly important to Vancouver Island.

I am not going to give a lecture on Immigration nor solve your problems, if you have any. This is simply a very informal discussion of the issues involved.

First a bit about myself.

I am a Lawyer licensed in both British Columbia and Ontario

I have a Juris Doctor Degree in Law from the University of Toronto

I also have a Master’s Degree in Science (Mathematics)

I have taught High school computer science

I, of course, maintain a Website and have had one since 1994, which I design and encode.

My Website is

http://www.cicblog.com

I have been practising law in the area of Immigration for over 17 years now both in Toronto and here on Vancouver Island.

Immportance of Immigration Generally:

One of the things I have noticed over the years is that many people simply don’t realize just how beneficial Canada’s Immigration policies can be, especially for business.

We have all heard how If it weren’t for new immigrants our population would not be increasing and how they give a support through their taxers to our aging population. These are important and well known and deal with people coming to Canada on as permanent basis as Immigrants.

Finding Workers

What is not so well known is that Canada’s Immigration policies can also be very useful in finding people where companies are unable to find people here that are able and willing. This is a particular problem for Vancouver Island.


Visitors

Canada Immigration policies also deal with people coming to Canada to visit, including tourists. Our Immigration policies determine for which countries people are required to have visitor visa’s (now referred to as Temporary Resident Visa’s) and for which countries people can simply hop on a plane and go through Canada customs when they get off (or drive, of course).

This is important for countries with expanding economies that are quickly developing a middle class with disposable incomes - for example China and India.

However, these countries typically have Visa restrictions which can make coming to Canada a very long and difficult process often with little chance of success at the end.

Tourism as a Export

Having people come to Canada to spend their money is every bit as good as sending them exports. It has the added advantage that they come here and meet us, see how we live and are exposed to our values. This of course leads to an increase in understanding and a decrease in mistrust between peoples. It can help to solve some of our current international problems and, of course, promotes trade.

Benefits of Tourism

For example say a businessman from China comes to Vancouver Island for a holiday. One of the first things he will notice, in addition to our wonderful natural surroundings, is just how pollution free we are, compared to him. Do you think this will not have an impact on him when he returns and compares what he and his children are living in.

This may seem insignificant but that how mountains are moved - one little ‘insignificant bit’ at a time.

He will also go back with a much better understanding of who we are and what our values are.

They will also go back with a much better idea of what we have to offer. Next time he is considering importing something he may very well give Canada a higher place on his "due diligence" list.

Tourism Contributes to Solving GW, World Peace and Pocket Book

So, as we can see, Canada’s Immigration policies regarding who can come to Canada to visit has a direct and important impact not only on our pocket books, but also reducing Global Warming and, indeed, peace and harmony throughout the World.


Today I will focus on our pocket books and leave World Peace and Global Warming to another day.

This of course leads me to my first Topic:


"Tourism: ‘You Snooze _ You Lose’"

Vancouver Island is a great place to spend a vacation. It have many things to offer including great Summer weather, great out_doors experiences, great shore line and beaches, golf courses, and so on; and, of course no pollution. Canada’s Immigration policies can have a great effect on the number of people coming to Vancouver Island. This is particularly true for the emerging economies such as China, India and others which, for Canada, are untapped markets for tourism. With the Winter Olympics coming up this will likely have an even greater influence. This is a great opportunity for local businesses to join together take to make a common effort to attract these new markets and give them an alternative to talk about.

We are at the early stages of setting up an organization for this purpose, one we refer to as "Vancouver Island Ventures" association ( tag line: "VIVA Le Tourism"). If you are interested then contact me at: lloydlive@cicblog.com

Some Common Problems:

_ Competition from others areas of Canada that are "beating us to the start"

_ Tourists in China don’t know about Vancouver Island or what we have to offer

_ Inertia and the lack of will to seize the opportunity

China is a good example.

As we all know China’s economy is more than simply "an immerging" economy. It has emerged and will only get bigger. This has created an ever increasing middle class of people. Typically they are in middle to high level business and government positions, professionals, self made buinessmen and their spouses and children. This of course, is the "Nouveau Riche". In China typically they have one child but families are close knit and this child is given the opportunities.

There are a number of issues regarding tourism from China.

- Approved Destination Status, given to countries by the Chinese government that allows licensed travel agencies in China to advertize and organize tours.


In January 2005 China agreed to grant Canada Approved Destination Status, with the details to be worked out. They are still working on them.

Apparently negotiations with the Chinese government have bogged down since 2005.

- Canada Immigration which issues Visitor Visas to Chinese that allows them to enter the country

- Chinese do not view Canada as a tourist destination

- The US has just been granted Approved Destination Status with a basic agreement in place. This will likely add to Canada’s obscurity and decrease its attractiveness. Since, once they have visited The US why bother with Canada.

- Chinese have even less idea about what Vancouver Island has to offer

- Once Canada receives Approved Destination Status it is likely that the Big Tour companies will take over, effectively leaving the small businesses involved in tourism "out of the loop", so to speak.

This is important since:

When was the last time a big bus pulled up to a local fishing charter to allow a pile of tourists off to go fishing.

Or, for that matter when was the last time a big tour bus pulled up to a local bed and breakfast, or other small tourism establishment.


- Other cities and regions in Canada are much better known as tourist destinations ( vis.: Toronto, Vancouver, Niagara Falls)

- other cities and regions are actively preparing for when the flood-gates open that is when ADS is in operation.

The time is of the essence for doing something so that we don’t lose out

As the saying goes "You snooze - You lose"

To give you an idea of what is involved:

- In 2006, 28.8 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad,

- a 17% increase in this number is expected for 2007

- It is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be 100 million Chinese tourists travelling abroad.

- The vast majority of Visitor Visas issued by Canada Immigration are for business, student and family, not "tourist’

- only 139,000 visited Canada in 2006,

The reason given by the Canadian Immigration Officials, in my experience, generally is the risk that they won’t return to China.

The official reason is that the Visa Official is not satisfied that they have sufficient connection to China to motivate them to return.

- With ADS Australia saw its numbers of visitors from China increase from 93,000 in 1999 to 309,000 in 2006.

- In 2004 the European Union was granted Ads

- In 2006 France has reported a boom in tourist arrivals from China, to the tune of 820,000

- They estimate that the Chinese spend an average of $3,000 per day in Paris. Of course, we`re not Paris, but then who is?


- Surveys have indicated that ease of obtaining a Visitor Visa is the third most important factor for China, after clean environment and safety

and,

- 95% feel that ease of getting a Visitor Visa is important

We have the environment

We have the safety

That just leaves the ease of getting a Visa


So, ADS is not nothing.

One part of the solution is political.

Let our representatives know that it is time for action. This is on two fronts:

- finalizing the ADS

- solving the Visitor Visa issue.

These of course are related


The way things look now is that once we have ADS the Big Tourism companies will be licensed and be able to get Visitor Visa’s for their tours. Others won’t. This, of course, by itself will be enough to shut out the small business in Vancouver Island

Another part of the solution is, "Organization".

A single small company on Vancouver Island may not have the resources or wherewithal to tap into the China market, even of the people they are contacting can get Visitor Visa’s.

target sector

Also, the target sector is important. Whereas the big tour companies may target the "economy class" and base their profits on volume

The way to go as far as I am concerned is targeting the middle class of people who have recently arrived at the situation where they have disposable income and want to take holidays and do something different, exciting and which they can brag about when they return home.

There are a number of advantages in this Approach

- People in this target group are not likely to "go underground" once they arrive in Canada since, in my experience, they don’t want to live here anyway - they are far too successful and enjoy the good life in China to give it all up. In fact normally after being here for a couple of week they want to get back.

So, this should make it easier to get Visitor Visa’s


Their priority is to do interesting and exciting things that their friends haven’t done. Things they can remember and talk about until at least the next trip

Small businesses that provide such unique and individualized experiences to a small number at a time are very well positioned to tap into such a market.

This describes Vancouver Island to a "Vee"

Also, it may be difficult to get people to travel all that way and spend that much money to do one thing, e.g. go fishing.

On the other hand, it may not be so difficult if the tourists are going to do a number of unique and exciting things when they are here.

So, it just makes sense that instead of approaching this individually that the small businesses on Vancouver Island join together.

That`s the purpose of VIVA = "Vancouver Island Ventures" association".

Small businesses involved in tourism on The Island will be able to provide us with information on what they have to offer.

We will make this database available to tourism companies who will make up "designer packages" aimed at the middle to upper middle income earners with disposable income and whose only desire is to do something interesting and different on their vacation and be able to go home and brag about it.

We are starting with China, but this will work for India and any other country as well.

We are still at the developmental stages but with Approved Destination Status inevitable and with the Winter Olympics coming up we do not want to linger any longer.

As The saying goes "You snooze - You Lose"

Organizing has the added advantage of demonstrating to the various levels of government that the small businesses involved with tourism are serious about this issue.

In order for a project like this to work you need people who are familiar with China, dealing with Chinese and the tourism industry both in China and Canada.

As mentioned I have been practising Immigration law for over 17 year, during almost all of this time has included people from China.

Also, my wife is from China and taught at a tourism school there before she came to Canada.


She also has a diploma in Travel and Tourism from Seneca College in Toronto



India is in a very similar situation to China, with a quickly developing economy and middle class with disposable income. It is also very difficult to get Visitor Visas.

Anyone interested in participating in our organization may contact me at:

lloyd-live@cicblog.com

Next Thursday (May 22 at 7:00pm)

Employment: "All the Right Stuff"