Canada Hits the Blogosphere.

RealTravel & CTC Partner on Canada Travel Blogs, Amplify Success of Traveller to Traveller Marketing

LOS ALTOS, Calif. & VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Share travel advice? Check, we've got it. RealTravel, Inc. and the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) announced today they are collaborating so travellers can find and share travel advice on the CTC's tourism website.

RealTravel is a travel blogging and travel guide site. Based in Los Altos, CA (US), the company helps more than half a million people each month plan trips through advice from other travellers (http://realtravel.com). This innovative offering launched phase I of CTC's "User-Generated Content Strategy" earlier this month (http://blogs.canada.travel).

On the CTC's travel blog (www.canada.travel) powered by the RealTravel blogging service, visitors can easily share their Canadian travel experiences, including travel tips, photos and highlights. RealTravel's editorial team rates all entries and displays the very best as a valuable source of information for people planning trips to Canada.

This breed of travel review - advice from others posted online - has recently emerged as a valuable resource for consumers planning a trip. A full 65% trust peer opinions posted online, compared to television, newspaper and magazine marketing campaigns, according to travel research company PhoCusWright.

"The CTC understands that travel blogs, written by real travellers, are a proven source of trusted information," says RealTravel CEO Ken Leeder. "We are pleased to partner with such an innovative destination marketing organization."

"RealTravel is one of the leaders in social media, and its ability to easily integrate the blogging service and top-rated travel blogs into our site allows the CTC to improve our website content - and better engage people considering Canada as a place to visit," says Jens Thraenhart, CTC executive director of e-Marketing. "This cutting edge initiative creates value for the Canadian tourism industry and relevancy for travellers, all with the goal to leverage the power of the internet to increase tourism to Canada." In future, the project will add additional travel planning tools, mapping and more collaborative features with the Canadian tourism industry.

The CTC is also proud to roll-out its first ever online travel conference, Canada-e-Connect, which will focus on the latest in online travel trends, including consumer behaviour and emerging technologies to address how the Canadian travel and tourism industry can apply this competitive knowledge into their marketing mix. Canada-e-connect will feature some of the most intriguing speakers in the space and will be held in Vancouver on November 7-9.

About the CTC

The CTC is a national marketing organization. Our vision is compelling the world to explore Canada.

With our partners in the tourism industry and all levels of government, we:

Advertise and market Canada in 10 countries around the world; conduct industry research and studies; and promote product and industry development.

For travel information, media resources, meetings and conference planning details, research and news or to create extra-ordinary stories all on your own, visit www.canada.travel.

About RealTravel

Named "Best of the Web" by Forbes and BusinessWeek in 2006, and Best Online Travel Community of the Year in 2007 by the Association of Travel Marketing Executives, RealTravel is a travel blogging and travel guide site that helps more than half a million people plan trips with advice from other travellers every month. Visit us at http://realtravel.com.