As of January 1st, 2014, the Information Kiosk at the Kelowna International Airport has become an official Satellite Visitor Centre as part of the Destination British Columbia network. Let me explain what this means for our kiosk. The Destination BC (formerly Tourism BC) Visitor Centre network consists of 110 Visitor Centres across the province. Becoming a part of this network brings a new level of branding to the kiosk along with some additional information being racked on the shelves. You may have noticed that six regional guides carrying various information on their respective areas of the province are now being racked at the kiosk. Along with this information the kiosk will be sporting additional branding. Tourism Kelowna is currently working with Signcraft and YLW to design new signs that will be going above the kiosk. The new signs will carry the “Super Natural British Columbia” and Visitor Centre “i” trademarks along with up to date event listings, photo and video content and a live weather feed.
What does this mean for the Tourism Kelowna volunteers? Becoming part of this network also brings a new realm of opportunity to our volunteers through Tourism Visitor Information Counsellor (TVIC) training. Some of the volunteers have voluntarily taken this course in the past however it will now be rolled out to the entire team. TVIC training was originally developed alongside WorldHost for Expo ’86 and revamped again in 2009 in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The Tourism Kelowna volunteers will deliver the same top notch service they always have along with additional knowledge on the Thompson Okanagan region and the Province of BC. This training will take place over the course of February and March. One additional thing you may notice about the volunteers is a slight change to their uniform. The uniforms will be remaining the same, navy blue and grey, however the “Super Natural British Columbia” and Visitor Centre“i” logos will be added.