Destination Vancouver

Destination Vancouver, Vancouver's official destination marketing organization

Destination Vancouver is the non-profit, member-based organization responsible for destination marketing and management for Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). It operates under the legal name The Metro Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau, DBA "Destination Vancouver". Its work is organized around two main areas: promoting the city as a tourist destination and supporting the businesses and institutions that make up the region's visitor economy.

Official visitor guide

The organization's website serves as Vancouver's official guide and organizes its content by season (spring, summer, autumn and winter), so that events, activities and itineraries are updated according to the selected season. The guide covers attractions, adventure, arts and culture, outdoor activities, tours, ideas for families and children, shopping and entertainment, wellness, Stanley Park and Indigenous tourism.

Food and accommodation are also part of the guide: restaurants, Michelin Guide-recognized cuisine, coffee shops, breweries, bars and wineries, breakfast and brunch, coastal and local cuisine, waterfront restaurants, the sushi scene, global flavours, celebrated chefs, food festivals and tours, and patio dining. For accommodation, it features downtown hotels, hotels near the cruise terminal, near the stadiums and near YVR airport, as well as luxury, waterfront, family-friendly and pet-friendly hotels.

The guide is completed with sections dedicated to neighbourhoods such as Granville Island, Gastown, Yaletown, Coal Harbour, Robson Street, Kitsilano, Commercial Drive, Davie Village, Mount Pleasant and Chinatown, and with trip-planning sections: getting around, getting here, accessibility, visitor services, best time to visit, maps, itineraries, day trips, offers, free public wifi and cruises. It also includes content on the city's history, geography and culture, climate and weather, the Greater Vancouver Area, filming in Vancouver, Instagrammable locations and 2SLGBTQIA+ experiences.

Personalized experience and AI assistant

The site includes an AI-powered conversational assistant, presented as "AI Concierge", to which visitors can put questions. It also offers a personalization system in which users select the profiles that best describe them — foodie, outdoorsy, luxury traveller, eco-conscious, adventurer, 2SLGBTQIA+, business traveller, arts and culture fan, pet owner, accessible traveller, family focused, romantic, hipster, film buff and Indigenous cultural traveller — to receive tailored travel ideas.

Support for the visitor industry

The organization represents more than 800 members who are part of Vancouver's visitor economy. Among the services it provides to this sector are support for meeting professionals, with resources for planning business events in the city; support for the travel trade, with materials for operators to design experiences for their clients; promotion of major sporting and cultural events; and resources for media, including image galleries, story ideas and a newsroom.

The organization also publishes market studies and reports: hotel supply and demand, economic analysis of hotel supply and projected demand, a resident sentiment survey and visitor profiles by market for 2023 and 2024. It also has a travel trade partner program and the Vancouver Specialist Program.

Goals and sustainability

Destination Vancouver states its mission as responsibly building a resilient and sustainable visitor economy, with a target of $8.5 billion by 2026. The data it publishes indicates $8.8 billion in tourism revenue in 2025 and 11.3 million overnight visitors in that same year. The organization works with destination development partners and addresses environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability initiatives.

History and recognition of the territory

According to its own presentation, Destination Vancouver is the second-oldest destination management organization in North America, after Detroit, and has been working on behalf of Vancouver's visitor economy for more than a century. The organization acknowledges that its work takes place on the traditional, unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, and expresses its commitment to learning from its Indigenous partners and to supporting cultural and economic development opportunities on the path to reconciliation.

Location and contact

210-200 Burrard St, Vancouver BC V6C3L6