Legal Terms & Privacy Policy

Last Updated: April, 2023

Terms and Conditions

Please read this Legal Terms and Privacy Policy (the “Terms”) carefully before using the “Destination BC”, “HelloBC” or any other Destination BC website (collectively, the “Website”) provided by Destination BC Corp. (“Destination BC”, “we”, “us” or “our”). By continuing to use the Website, you, the person accessing the Website and any other person or entity you represent (collectively, “you” or “your”), agree to comply with and be bound by all of the provisions of the Terms set out below. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to modify the Terms at any time without notice, and such modifications shall be effective immediately upon posting of the modified Terms. From time to time you may be presented with additional terms and conditions in respect of certain service offerings available on the Website (e.g., contests or the Destination BC Business Portal pages), and you must agree to such additional terms and conditions if you wish to participate in those service offerings. You agree to review the Terms and all other applicable terms and conditions periodically (and we recommend that you review them each time you access the Website) to be aware of any modifications and your continued use of the Website shall be deemed to be your conclusive acceptance of all such modifications.

Interpretation

In the Terms: (a) “includes” and “including” are not intended to be limiting; (b) headings are used for convenience of reference only and are not intended to be part of the Terms; and (c) “Service Provider” means Destination BC’s third-party service providers, including suppliers, consultants and others retained under contract to perform services for Destination BC. Service Providers include (for example) our payment processing providers, Website analytics companies (e.g., Google Analytics), product feedback or Help Desk software providers (e.g., Salesforce), CRM service providers (e.g., Salesforce), email service providers (e.g., SendGrid) and others.

Content and Revisions

While Destination BC uses reasonable efforts to ensure all information on the Website is accurate and current, such accuracy and currency cannot be guaranteed and your reliance on any such information is at your own risk. All Website content is subject to change without notice.

No Warranty Or Representation

Nothing on the Website shall add to or change any contract for products or services you may have with Destination BC, its Service Providers or any other entity, including other tourism organizations with which Destination BC collaborates (“Other Tourism Organizations”). Neither Destination BC, its employees, agents, representatives or Service Providers, nor any other party involved in creating, providing or delivering the information on the Website, is liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive or other damages whatsoever arising out of or in connection with your access to or use of the Website including, but not limited to, business interruption and loss of use, data, information or profits (regardless of the form of action, including but not limited to contract, negligence or other tortious act). This limitation applies even if Destination BC has been advised of, or foresees, the possibility of any damages occurring.

Without limiting the foregoing, everything on the Website is provided to you “as is” without representation, warranty or condition of any kind, either express, implied, or statutory including, but not limited to, implied representations, warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, durability, title, non-infringement of intellectual property rights, or inter-operability of products and services.

Use Of Information

You agree not to use any information on the Website or linked to the Website in any claims, proceedings, suits or actions against Destination BC, its employees, agents, representatives or Service Providers.

Links To Other Sites/No Endorsement

Throughout the Website, for your convenience and reference only, Destination BC provides links to or embeds information from other third-party websites, including in relation to Other Tourism Organizations, air carriers, accommodation, restaurants and other tourism related businesses, facilities and events. These websites are independent from Destination BC and Destination BC does not endorse, recommend, control or make any representations, warranties or conditions concerning their contents or links or any such businesses, facilities or events themselves.

It is your responsibility to verify any information contained within linked websites before relying on it. Also, the information contained in the links may be changed or updated at any time without notice. Linked websites are likely to have their own terms and conditions that you should locate and review, and any personal information collected from you at such websites is collected solely by that website provider in accordance with their own privacy policies.

For example, Destination BC uses a third-party service, Google Maps, for locator maps. See the Google Maps Terms and Conditions that apply to your use of embedded Google Maps information.

Copyright

The materials and information provided on the Website are owned or used under license by Destination BC (unless otherwise noted) and are protected by domestic and international copyright and other laws. They may not be reproduced or redistributed without the prior written permission of Destination BC or other owner(s).

Trademark

“Super, Natural British Columbia”, “Super, Natural”, “HelloBC”, “Destination British Columbia”, “Visitor Centre” and all other marks appearing on the Website are trademarks and/or Official Marks of Destination BC or are used and reproduced with permission. They may not be used or reproduced without the prior written permission of Destination BC or other owner(s).

Viruses

You must not input or upload any information which contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs or other computer programming routines that may damage or interfere with the performance or function of the Website. Destination BC assumes no responsibility or liability for any damages to, or viruses that may infect, your computer equipment or other property in connection with your access to or use of the Website or your downloading of any data, text, images, files or other materials from the Website.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold Destination BC, its employees, agents and other representatives harmless from any and all liabilities, costs and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising from any violation of the Terms by you, or in connection with your access to or use of the Website.

Waiver

Destination BC’s failure to insist upon or enforce strict performance of any provision of the Terms shall not be construed as a waiver of any provision or rights contained in the Terms.

Governing Laws

The Terms are governed by the provincial laws of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada that apply in British Columbia. You agree to be bound by the laws of these jurisdictions and all disputes relating to or in any way arising under the Terms will be finally settled in, and the parties hereby attorn to the exclusive jurisdiction of, the Supreme Court of British Columbia sitting in the City of Victoria, British Columbia.

Privacy Policy

Destination BC offers a selection of Websites, including international Websites, designed to help people find information about travel and vacation experiences in British Columbia and participate in a variety of tourism-related services.

We at Destination BC are committed to protecting the privacy of everyone who uses our services. We collect only the personal information that we consider necessary to provide services offered by us. Any personal information provided to us through the Website is collected, used and disclosed in accordance with the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FOIPPA”).

What is considered Personal Information under FOIPPA?

Under FOIPPA, personal information means recorded information about an identifiable individual, which includes name, address, phone number, e-mail address and credit card information. However, information that enables a person to be contacted at a place of business is not included in this definition.

When Destination BC collects personal information, we identify the:

• purpose for collecting the personal information;
• legal authority for collecting it; and
• contact information of an employee who can answer questions you may have about the collection of information.

What Personal Information We Collect and How We Use It

When someone visits the Website, our web server automatically collects a limited amount of standard information essential to the operation, security and evaluation of the Website. This information helps us to make the Website more useful to visitors and includes the:

• Internet domain and Internet Protocol (“IP”) address from computers that access the Website;
• type of browser and operating system used to access the Website;
• date and time the Website is accessed;
• pages visited;
• address of any Websites linked to; and
• content downloaded from the Website.

While some of this information does not identify who people are, other information (e.g., Internet domain names or the IP addresses of Internet service providers) may provide identification. The extent of personal identification depends on the naming standards followed by the Internet service provider. You may wish to check with your provider to inquire about their policies and practices in this regard. Destination BC does not use this information to identify individuals who visit the Website unless required to do so as part of an internal investigation or other law enforcement purpose.

We also collect information provided directly to us by you. For example, when someone chooses to join our email list, we may collect their name, email address, country and province.

You always have the option not to provide us with personal information. Your decision not to participate in electronic service delivery activities will not impair your ability to browse the Website. However, it may limit the use of certain features of the Website.

The personal information provided to us is used for the purpose for which it was collected or for a use consistent with that purpose. For example, personal information may be used to:

• send information about British Columbia that we believe will be of interest (based on a confidential personal profile);
• contact you about upcoming vacation opportunities or travel ideas;
• respond to inquiries;
• provide requested materials;
• obtain feedback on vacation experiences; or
• assist with the use of the Website.

Wherever possible, and wherever required by applicable law, we seek your explicit consent before these activities occur. At any time, you may request that we stop communicating with you by either updating your user profile or contacting us directly.

Anonymous Audience Data

We also collect aggregate, anonymized data from Other Tourism Organizations, and share such data with them. That data is used by us and by Other Tourism Organizations to create common audiences for serving online advertising and for co-marketing through website tags such as pixels and floodlight tags.

Storage, Access and Disclosure of Your Personal Information

Destination BC and our Service Providers (for the purposes of providing and supporting the Website and other services offered by us), may store or disclose your personal information outside of Canada in accordance with the FOIPPA regulations. In certain circumstances, we may need to disclose your personal information to our Service Providers in order to facilitate the operation of the Website, our databases, e-mail marketing software or for processing payment transactions. In some cases, these Service Providers may reside outside of Canada. Before any personal information is disclosed to our Service Providers, they must contractually agree to collect, use, store, access and protect the personal information in a manner that is consistent with our privacy policies and in compliance with FOIPPA.

Collection and Consent

By accessing and using the Website, you acknowledge that Destination BC is collecting (either directly or indirectly through its Service Providers) information, including personal information, relating to your access to and use of the Website. Any such personal information collected directly from you is collected under section 26(c) of FOIPPA for the purposes set out above. You consent to the indirect collection of any such personal information by Destination BC, and to the storage and disclosure of that personal information inside or outside of Canada for the purposes set out above. Your consent is effective on and after the date of information collection and does not expire unless revoked by you in writing.

Security of Your Information

Under FOIPPA, Destination BC is obligated to protect personal information by making reasonable security arrangements against risks of unauthorized collection, use, disclosure or disposal.

Security measures, such as the use of FTP secure sites and SSL encryption, have been integrated into the design, implementation, and day-to-day operating practices as part our commitment to protect the information we hold. Any personal information submitted on the Website is secure once it reaches the Destination BC server. In transit between a computer and the server, all information is secured using SSL encryption, which the web browser typically denotes using a lock icon.

Links to Other Websites

The Website also provides links to external third-party websites that offer information on tourism-related products and services that they or other third parties offer. These websites may be operated by other government agencies, non-profit organizations or private businesses. Destination BC is not responsible for the personal information collected by, or privacy practices of, those external websites. We strongly encourage users to review the privacy policy for each external website before submitting any personal information.

Contests

Destination BC occasionally runs a variety of contests on the Website that our online visitors can choose to enter at their option. We use online contest entry forms to collect personal information deemed necessary for your participation in a contest. While certain information is mandatory for participation, most information is optional. Contest entry forms differentiate between the two so that you are aware of what information is needed, and what information you need not provide in order to participate. As part of the contest entry process, we may provide an opportunity for you to give Destination BC permission to contact you in the future. Giving your permission for future contact is completely optional and does not impact your ability to participate in a contest.

When you provide us with your personal information to enter a contest, we retain and use it in accordance with FOIPPA. Your information is only used for the purpose for which it was collected (e.g., to support your participation in a contest), or for a use consistent with that purpose (e.g., to allow us to conduct tourism-related research or surveys or provide you with information on other contests or tourism opportunities with your consent). Our objective is to measure the success of our tourism marketing campaigns and help us understand the characteristics and travel preferences of our consumers in order to serve them to the best of our ability.

We work closely with our Information Technology team to ensure the contest entry data we receive is securely stored and may only be accessed by authorized staff and approved contest Service Providers. Any Service Provider that we engage for a given contest must comply with its legal requirements under FOIPPA and applicable policy for protecting personal information in order to do business with us. Effectively safeguarding all personal information in our custody is of paramount importance to Destination BC.

Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of data that web pages place in devices (e.g., computers or mobile phones) to assist in returning to that page. Destination BC uses cookies to track activities on the Website to help us identify what tourism-related products and services consumers are interested in, so that we may continually work towards providing useful and relevant content, and to provide a more personalized experience. It is possible to change the settings on a web browser to deny cookies or to warn when cookies will be deposited.

We may allow our Service Providers to place cookies on your devices and collect the IP address of your devices, which provides our Service Providers with your general location data. Our Service Providers may use this data to serve you with our advertisements, on the Website or elsewhere online, and to report to us on an aggregated basis on the effectiveness of our advertisements at inspiring tourists to travel to British Columbia and provide us with statistics on visitors to British Columbia (for instance, where they are coming from). In order to do so, our Service Providers may combine your IP address with other information that our Service Providers have obtained from other sources, as permitted by law.

All first time Website visitors are presented with a persistent notice banner appearing at the bottom of all web pages that provides you the option to accept the use of cookies by clicking ‘I understand’, and the option to view cookie settings within a Cookie Preference Centre to manage your consent preferences for all types of cookies we use on the Website (Strictly Necessary Cookies, Performance Cookies, Functional Cookies, Targeting Cookies). With the exception of Strictly Necessary Cookies, all other types of cookies may be turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ by you. The notice banner will remain in view until you interact with it by clicking ‘I understand’, make selections within ‘Cookie Settings’, or close it using the ‘x’. By default, all cookies are set to ‘on’, with the exception of Website visitors whose location is determined by IP detection to be within the European Union. EU residents have all optional cookies set to ‘off’ by default.

To change, manage or revise your personal settings for cookies at any time click the link below.

Cookie Settings

How Long Information Is Retained

The length of time we keep your information varies in relation to the type of information and the nature of the service provided. We keep information for the length of time necessary to fulfil the purpose(s) for which it was collected or as otherwise required by law. Destination BC manages the information it collects in accordance with British Columbia government records retention schedules and other legislative and policy requirements.

Updates/Corrections to Your Information

You may update or correct certain information you have provided to us at any time by visiting your user profile or contacting us directly. If you wish to request deletion of your information, please contact us at [email protected]. You acknowledge that although we will do our best to honour your request, we may retain certain information as required or permitted by law.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

Destination BC may, from time to time, review and revise its privacy practices and the Terms, including our Privacy Policy. As noted above, your continued use of the Website shall be deemed to be your conclusive acceptance of any modifications to the Terms, including the Privacy Policy. This page was last revised April, 2022.

Who Can I Contact About the Destination British Columbia Privacy Policy or the Collection/Use of Personal Information?

General questions or comments about our Privacy Policy can be directed to:

Daniel Vasquez, Director, Digital Strategy & Information Technology
Destination BC
510 Burrard Street, Vancouver BC V6C 3A8
[email protected]

Where Can I Find Information on British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act?

For information relating to British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, please refer to the Government of British Columbia Website at: http://www.gov.bc.ca/citz/iao/