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 the city of 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 fronts: promoting the city as a destination and supporting the businesses and institutions that make up its visitor economy.

Official visitor guide

The organization maintains an official Vancouver guide aimed at those planning a visit. The content is organized around things to do, events, food and drink, hotels, neighbourhoods and plan your trip, and includes an AI-powered conversational concierge to answer visitor questions.

The guide allows recommendations to be filtered and personalized by season (spring, summer, autumn and winter) and by traveller profile. The profiles covered include the following:

• Foodie
• Outdoorsy
• Luxury Traveller
• Eco-Conscious
• Adventurer
• 2SLGBTQIA+
• Business Traveller
• Arts & Culture Fan
• Pet Owner
• Accessible Traveller
• Family Focused
• Romantic
• Hipster
• Film Buff
• Indigenous Cultural Travellers

Guide content and topics

The site brings together activity ideas spanning attractions, adventure, arts and culture, outdoors, tours, family and kids, shopping and entertainment, wellness, Stanley Park and Indigenous tourism. It also includes a blog and an itineraries section.

The events section distinguishes annual events, event calendar and sporting events. The food and drink section covers restaurants, Michelin dining, coffee and cafes, breweries, bars and wine, breakfast and brunch, coastal and local, waterfront dining, sushi scene, global flavours, celebrated chefs, food festivals and tours, and patio dining.

The hotel offering is classified by location and type: downtown hotels, near the cruise terminal, near the stadiums and near YVR Airport, luxury hotels, waterfront hotels, family friendly hotels and pet friendly hotels.

The neighbourhoods featured in the guide are Granville Island, Gastown, Yaletown, Coal Harbour, Robson Street, Kitsilano, Commercial Drive, Davie Village, Mount Pleasant and Chinatown.

The plan your trip section includes travel guide, getting around, getting here, accessibility, visitor services, best time to visit Vancouver, maps, itineraries, day trips, offers, free public wifi and cruises. About the city, it covers history, geography and culture, climate and weather, the Greater Vancouver Area, filmed in Vancouver, Instagrammable locations and unique experiences, as well as content aimed at the 2SLGBTQIA+ audience.

Services for the industry and professionals

Destination Vancouver provides services to different segments of the visitor economy. It brings together more than 800 members and offers specific benefits for them. For meeting professionals, it provides resources and services to plan business events and conferences in the city. For the travel trade, it makes available materials aimed at building experiences for their clients. In the sports and culture sphere, it works to attract major arts, cultural and sporting events. For media, it maintains press resources, image galleries, story ideas and a newsroom.

The organization also publishes its own research and analysis, including studies on hotel supply and demand and economic analysis of hotel supply and projected demand, resident sentiment surveys and visitor reports by market for 2024 and 2023.

Economic scale and goals

The entity states its mission is to responsibly build a resilient and sustainable visitor economy to reach $8.5 billion by 2026. The figures it presents indicate $8.8 billion in tourism revenue and 11.3 million overnight visitors in 2025. Its stated purpose is to transform visitors and communities through the power of travel, and it presents itself as an interlocutor and ambassador for the city in the Canadian, US and international markets.

Track record and territorial recognition

According to its own presentation, Destination Vancouver is the second-oldest destination management organization in North America, behind only Detroit, and has been working on behalf of Vancouver's visitor economy for more than a century.

The organization acknowledges that it carries out its work on the traditional, unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples, and states its commitment to learning from its Indigenous partners and to identifying, elevating and supporting economic and cultural development opportunities on the path to reconciliation.

Location and contact

210-200 Burrard St, Vancouver BC V6C3L6