FutureBrand just ranked Canada number two in the world in its latest nation brand index. The story received wide coverage in the Canadian media. This clip from CTV explains our latest marketing campaign around our brand a bit more. Our Brand Experiences team played a central role in this campaign - we manage our tourism brand, we find the great travel experiences that bring our brand to life, and we direct the global marketing campaign. It is great to receive such recognition for our work from the outside.

Australia leads the way in many tourism initiatives, and they recently released another useful toolkit: the Tourism E-kit. Published by the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, it aims to help Australian small tourism operators take better advantage of the Web for their business.Although aimed at Australia, the 250-page toolkit would be useful for any tour operator trying to improve their website.

I recently attended the first GMIST sustainable tourism gathering in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland. It was a great conference; our CTC News has a nice little write-up on it. I am currently taking in a few of the sessions of the TIES Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference here in Vancouver. Also some great speakers, and excellent networking opportunities.

Who says Canada doesn’t have great beaches? This gorgeous sandy beach is at Point Lance on the southern Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland.

And Canadian Geographic Travel magazine posted a story on Canada’s top 25 beaches this spring.

I came across this sign just outside of Greenland, Newfoundland. Think twice before walking on this trail in hunting season. You may become someone’s prey!

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Matador online travel magazine just published a list of the top 15 adventure towns in the world. Vancouver was listed 2nd, just below Valdez AK.

TripAdvisor has pledged to donate $1 million to five great causes. You vote for a cause, and they divvy up the money according to the popularity of the cause. Great idea.

Now what is interesting is that so far the two relief agencies, Doctors without Borders and Save the Children, get about 35% of the votes each, The Nature Conservancy about 17%, and National Geographic and Conservation International only about 5-7% each.

You would think that among travellers the conservation organizations would score higher. But I guess that among mainstream travellers, humanitarian aid is still much more popular than sustainable tourism.

Go ahead and vote yourself.

The Times online just posted an article on the top 50 walks in the world, ranked from easy strolls to tough mountain treks. The Snowman trek in Bhutan was listed as the most difficult trek in the world. It indeed is no easy stroll in the park; supposedly less people have completed this trek than have climbed Mt. Everest. I can think of harder treks, especially those in the highlands of Papua, but it ain’t easy.

Interestingly, the Tour du Mont Blanc is ranked as the second most difficult. Now I really want to walk this trek too.

Sadly, no other Canadian treks, such as the West Coast Trail, are mentioned. It is certainly tougher and more classic than some of the listed treks!

(Via Besthike.)

Earlier this year, Ideahatching reported on an article that described how the British travel publisher Rough Guides is using new web technologies to extend its brand reach. Interesting read. Rough Guides is not as well-known as Lonely Planet, and doesn’t have the same reach, but their guides tend to be of excellent quality.

My friend Andrew Hamilton just returned from an expedition to the Belcher Glacier on NE Devon Island (use IE to view the photos). Some pretty cool photos. I worked at Cape Vera, on the other end of Devon, in 1984. Always wanted to return…