DESTINATION VANCOUVER

PRIVACY POLICY

MEMBERS AND PUBLIC

Last Updated: October 9, 2024

Privacy CP

SCOPE OF THIS POLICY

This Personal Information Protection Policy sets out how Metro Vancouver Convention and Visitors Bureau ("Destination Vancouver") collects, uses and discloses personal information about any identifiable person, including Destination Vancouver's members, and individuals who use the “Destination Vancouver”, “Dine Out Vancouver Festival ” or any other Destination
Vancouver website (each a “Website” and collectively, the “Websites”), sign up as a member with Destination Vancouver, and otherwise access and use other online products or services offered by Destination Vancouver. This policy does not address how Destination Vancouver collects, uses and discloses the personal information of Destination Vancouver's employees and
volunteers.

Please review this privacy policy carefully. By submitting your personal information to us, by using our Websites, or by otherwise engaging in our events, activities and services, you consent to our collecting, using and disclosing your personal information as set out in this privacy policy.

DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of this Personal Information Protection Policy:

"Members" includes current and prospective members that have a paid Member Account with Destination Vancouver.

"Personal information" means any information about an identifiable individual, whether it was collected before or after this Policy was first published, including but not limited to the individual's name, address, age, gender, identification numbers, income, employment, assets, liabilities, credit card numbers, credit ratings, financial plans and other finance-related information. "Personal information" may also include a physical description, habits, personality, character, marital history, immigration status, travel or movement details, lifestyle, leisure activities, professional or trade union memberships, and licences and permits held. Personal information does not include information where there is no serious possibility that it can be used to identify an individual, whether on its own or in combination with other information, or personal information that has been anonymized or aggregated such as to be considered anonymized information or no longer personal information under applicable laws. Anonymized or aggregated information is not governed by this policy, but may still be treated with appropriate safeguards.

Destination Vancouver has established and implemented: (a) procedures to protect personal information; (b) procedures to receive and respond to complaints and inquiries; (c) employee and volunteer training and information programs to explain this Policy and related personal information protection procedures and practices; and (d) practices to ensure that clients and other individuals who contact Destination Vancouver have access to this Policy and to other literature explaining Destination Vancouver's related personal information protection practices and procedures.

CONSENT

Subject to applicable legal exceptions, Destination Vancouver will make a reasonable effort to ensure that individuals are advised in advance of the purposes for which his or her personal information will be collected, used or disclosed, and that his or her consent to those activities is obtained. As required by applicable law, consent may be express or implied.

Destination Vancouver does not, as a condition of providing their Websites or other services and activities require an individual to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information beyond that required to fulfill Destination Vancouver's explicitly specified purposes.

An individual may withdraw his or her consent to collection, use or disclosure at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and the provision of reasonable notice to Destination Vancouver. If an individual withdraws his or her consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, he or she may be unable to access Destination Vancouver's products or services.

If you provide personal information about another individual to us, it is your responsibility to obtain the consent of that individual to enable us to collect such information from you, and to use and disclose his or her information as described in this privacy policy.

DESTINATION VANCOUVER’S COLLECTION, USE AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Destination Vancouver limits the amount and type of personal information collected to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by Destination Vancouver. The information we collect about you depends on how you use our Websites, engage in other Destination Vancouver events, services or activities, or otherwise interact with us as a Member . In this section, we describe the categories of information we collect and the sources of this information.

How we collect Personal Information

We collect Personal Information from you in the following ways:

Through your use of our Website, including information submitted by you within a Website form or obtained from us through cookies or similar technologies.

Through your engagement in Destination Vancouver activities, whether information is directly provided by you to Destination Vancouver or through one of our partners, or automatically collected by us as you engage in the activities.

If you are a Member, through your membership with Destination Vancouver and the use of your Member Account.

From other third party sources, such as our partners and service providers. From time to time, Destination Vancouver may also collect information from external sources such as travel providers, members and other external references.

Types of Personal Information we collect

We collect the following types of information from you:

Contact Information and Profile information: We collect your contact information to facilitate the use of our Website, to manage your membership, and to otherwise manage our relationship with you. This includes information such as your name, e-mail address and other contact information, as well as itineraries and similar details regarding your intended travel and activity plans. If you choose to join our email or newsletter list, we collect your contact information to send you relevant communications.

Preferences and Personalization: While you browse the Websites, we or a third party provider on our behalf may collect information about your travel and activity preferences, such as when you would like to travel, what activities you would like to attend and any other interests you may share with us. In addition, we will also collect the information you share with our artificial intelligence concierge.

Third Party Information from other sources: Third parties, such as other travel organizations, research organizations and service providers, may provide information about you when requested by Destination Vancouver. This may include information collected to facilitate your travel to Vancouver and participation in Destination Vancouver activities and events. The types of information collected from third parties may include your name, e-mail address and other contact information, as well as itineraries and similar details regarding your intended travel and activity plans.

Usage and Technical Information: We collect usage information relating to your use of the Website. Such information may include your Internet protocol address, information about your device, browser and operating system, how you are using our Websites, pages visited, address of any websites linked to, and the date and time of your visit.

Cookie Policy, Targeted Advertising and Analytics

We engage service providers to provide analytics services (e.g., Google Analytics), to serve advertisements, and perform related services. These service providers may use cookies, web beacons, device identifiers, and other technologies to collect information about your use of our Websites, services and mobile apps, such as your IP address, web browser and mobile network information, pages viewed, time spent on pages or in mobile apps, links clicked, language, general location data, and conversion information.

Destination Vancouver uses cookies to track activities on the Websites 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 Websites or elsewhere online.

All Website visitors are presented with 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 Websites (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. 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 or the UK. EU and UK residents have all optional cookies set to ‘off’ by default.

In addition, some of our advertising partners enable us to translate your email address into an identifier that cannot be used to identify you personally. Our advertising partners then use that unique identifier to show ads that are more relevant to you across the web and in mobile ads.

General Purposes for Collection and Use of Personal Information

Subject to applicable law, Destination Vancouver will identify the purposes for which personal information is collected, used or disclosed before that information is collected, used or disclosed, as the case may be.

The general purposes for which Destination Vancouver may collect, use or disclose information concerning individuals and Members include the following:

(a) to organize, maintain, and to support your engagement in Destination Vancouver activities and events [LEGAL BASIS: CONSENT];

(b) to manage and promote Destination Vancouver's operations [LEGAL BASIS: LEGITIMATE INTERESTS];

(c) to better understand the needs of Destination Vancouver's customers and members, to provide promotional and other information about Destination Vancouver and the Greater Vancouver area, and to respond to specific requests [LEGAL BASIS: LEGITIMATE INTERESTS];

(d) to fulfill requests for reservations, bookings or other travel arrangements, directly provided by Destination Vancouver or through third parties [LEGAL BASIS: CONTRACTUAL COMMITMENTS];

(e) to operate and fulfill contests [LEGAL BASIS: CONSENT];

(f) to customize the website and marketing communications for users [LEGAL BASIS: LEGITIMATE INTERESTS OR CONSENT]; and

(g) to comply with legal and regulatory requirements [LEGAL BASIS: LEGAL REQUIREMENTS].

Use of Telephone Number for Simple Messaging Systems

By providing a phone number and your consent to Destination Vancouver, the user agrees and acknowledges that Destination Vancouver may send text messages to their wireless phone number regarding Destination Vancouver’s activities and events. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency will vary, and users are able to opt out by replying “STOP”. No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. This excludes text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

Contests

Destination Vancouver occasionally runs a variety of contests on our Websites, which our online visitors can choose to participate in at their discretion. We use online contest entry forms to collect personal information deemed necessary for your participation in a contest. When you provide us with your personal information to enter a contest, we retain and use it for the purposes of managing the contest. While certain information is mandatory for participation, other 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 toto participate. As part of the contest entry process, we may provide an opportunity for you to give Destination Vancouver 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, or your chances of winning.

We may use your personal information and other information for purposes for which we have obtained your consent, and for such other purposes as may be permitted or required by applicable law.

Changed Purposes

From time to time, Destination Vancouver may wish to use or disclose personal information for a purpose other than that for which it was initially collected. Destination Vancouver will ensure that personal information is not used or disclosed for that new purpose unless the individual is informed of the new purpose and gives his or her consent.

Legal Basis. When we process and use your personal information under the GDPR, we need a justification to do so. The legal basis for processing personal information under the GDPR, and why we use your personal information is provided above. Additional details on how we process your personal information may be provided to you in a separate notice.

SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Sharing with Members

Where an individual submits information to Destination Vancouver to communicate with Members, which may include to elicit bids for work from Members or to pass on to Members, Destination Vancouver will share any information submitted with the Members. This information is shared for the purpose of Members reviewing and responding to the individual. In addition, Member information is shared by Destination Vancouver with other Members and may be shared with the public.

Sharing with Third Parties

Destination Vancouver may transfer personal information to a third party for processing or to provide services, including third parties such as booking or reservations agents.

We also share your personal information with third party service providers who perform some functionality within the Website on our behalf, such as customer service, hosting, data storage and processing, advertising, and research and analytics. We also share your information with third party service providers who provide products and services that we use to operate our business, such as payment processing, email services, marketing campaigns and alerts, advertising, newsletters, surveys and contests.

If we provide your information to service providers for our provision of the Website, then we require that service providers maintain the confidentiality of your personal information and keep your personal information secure. We also require that they only use your personal information for the limited purposes for which it is provided. When our service providers no longer need your personal information for those limited purposes, we require that they dispose of the personal information. In some circumstances, we may permit our service providers to retain anonymized or statistical information that does not identify you. We do not authorize the service providers to disclose your personal information to unauthorized parties or to use your personal information for their direct marketing purposes. If you would like more information about our service providers, please contact us using the contact information on our Website.

Other Disclosures

Additionally, we may disclose your information when we believe such disclosure is permitted, necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law, including laws outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to requests from public and government authorities, including public and government authorities outside your country of residence; (d) to enforce the terms of the agreements for our products and services; (e) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates or subsidiaries; (f) to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and/or those of our affiliates, you or others; and (g) to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain. In addition, we may transfer your personal information and other information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, brands, affiliates, subsidiaries or other assets. If we otherwise intend to disclose your personal information to a third party, we will identify that third party and the purpose for the disclosure, and obtain your consent.

LIMITING USE, DISCLOSURE AND RETENTION

Destination Vancouver does not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required or permitted by law. Personal information is retained only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of those purposes.

Personal information that has been used by Destination Vancouver to make a decision about an individual will be retained long enough to allow the individual access to the information after the decision has been made.

Location of Data / Service Providers

Personal information may be processed in any country where we have facilities or in which we engage third party service providers to fulfil the purpose for which we collected the personal information, which is currently Canada and the United States. As a result, your personal information may be transferred to countries outside your country of residence, which may have different data protection rules than in your country. While such information is outside of your country, it is subject to the laws of the country in which it is located, and may be subject to disclosure to the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of such other country, pursuant to the laws of such country.

Our practices regarding your personal information will at all times continue to be governed by this privacy policy and we will continue to comply with all applicable legal requirements.

Opting Out of Communications

If you no longer want to receive marketing-related emails from us, you may opt out of receiving marketing-related emails by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any email you receive from us. You may also opt out by contacting us directly using the contact information on our Website.

We will endeavour to respond to your opt-out request promptly, but we ask that you please allow us a reasonable time to process your request. Please note that if you opt out from receiving marketing-related emails, we may still need to send you communications about your use of our products or services, or other matters.

ACCURACY

Destination Vancouver aims to keep personal information as accurate, complete, and up-todate as is necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used. However, Destination Vancouver does not routinely update personal information, unless such updating is necessary to fulfill the purposes for which the information was collected.

If an individual successfully demonstrates to Destination Vancouver that personal information is inaccurate, incomplete, out of date, or irrelevant, Destination Vancouver will revise the personal information. If necessary, Destination Vancouver will disclose the revised personal information to third parties which were provided with the wrong information to permit them to revise their records as well.

SECURITY SAFEGUARDS

Destination Vancouver has implemented appropriate security safeguards to protect personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, or modification. The nature of the safeguards vary depending on the sensitivity of the personal information that has been collected, the amount, distribution, and format of the information, and the method of storage. The more sensitive personal information is safeguarded at a higher level of protection.

The methods of protection employed by Destination Vancouver include: (a) physical measures, including locked filing cabinets and restricted access to offices; (b) organizational measures, such as security clearances and limiting access on a "need to know" basis; and (c) technological measures, such as the use of passwords and encryption.

Destination Vancouver takes care to inform employees and volunteers about Destination Vancouver's policies and procedures for protecting personal information and emphasizes the importance of complying with them. Employees and volunteers are required to conform to Destination Vancouver's policies and procedures concerning the security of personal information.

Destination Vancouver uses care in the disposal or destruction of personal information, to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the information.

YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

Individuals have a number of rights concerning their personal information under global privacy laws. You may make a written request to access, correct or delete any personal information about you that we have collected, used or disclosed, and we will provide you with any such personal information to the extent required by law. You may also challenge the accuracy or completeness of your personal information in our records. If you successfully demonstrate that your personal information in our records is inaccurate or incomplete, we will amend the personal information as required.

Where applicable, you may be entitled to additional rights, including: (i) the right to withdraw consent to processing; (ii) the right to object to unlawful data processing, under certain conditions; (iii) the right to erasure of personal information about you, under certain conditions; (iv) the right to demand that we restrict processing of your personal information, under certain conditions, if you believe we have exceeded the legitimate basis for processing, processing is no longer necessary, or believe your personal information is inaccurate; (v) the right to data portability of personal information concerning you that you provided us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, under certain conditions; (vi) the right to object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you, under certain conditions.

Please note that such rights are not absolute. There are instances where applicable law or regulatory requirements allow or require us to refuse to provide some or all of the personal data that we hold about you. In the event that we cannot accommodate your request, we will inform you of the reasons why, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection or privacy authority, such as the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

We may require that you provide sufficient identification to fulfill your request to access or correct your personal information. Any such identifying information will be used only for this purpose. We will not charge you any fees to access your personal information in our records without first providing you with an estimate of the approximate fees, if any.

CHALLENGING COMPLIANCE

Any individual may direct a challenge concerning compliance with this Personal Information Protection Policy to the Destination Vancouver Privacy Officer. Destination Vancouver has established procedures to receive and to respond to complaints or inquiries about Destination Vancouver's policies and practices relating to the handling of personal information.

Destination Vancouver investigates all complaints. If Destination Vancouver finds that a complaint is justified, Destination Vancouver will take appropriate measures, including, if necessary, amending its policies and practices.

Third Party Websites and Services

This privacy policy applies only to our Websites, events, activities and services. This privacy policy does not extend to any websites or products or services provided by third parties. We do not assume responsibility for the privacy practices of such third parties, and we encourage you to review all third party privacy policies prior to using third party websites or products or services.

Privacy Policy Updates

This privacy policy is current as of the “updated” date which appears at the top of this page. We may modify this privacy policy from time to time. When changes are made to this privacy policy they will become immediately effective when published in a revised privacy policy posted on our website, unless otherwise noted. We may also communicate the changes by other means. By submitting your personal information to us, by using our Website, or by voluntarily interacting with us after we publish or communicate a notice about the changes to this privacy policy, you consent to our collecting, using and disclosing your personal information as set out in the revised privacy policy.

CONTACT US

Destination Vancouver is responsible for all personal information under its control. The Destination Vancouver Privacy Officer (the "Privacy Officer") is accountable for Destination Vancouver's compliance with the principles described in this Policy, and may be contacted at:

Residents of Canada and countries outside of the UK or European Economic Area

The Privacy Officer
Destination Vancouver
Suite 210-200 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 3L6
Telephone : 604-682-2222
Email: privacyofficer@destinationvancouver.com

Please direct any questions regarding Destination Vancouver’s privacy practices to the Privacy Officer as outlined above.

European Economic Area Residents

DPO Centre Friedrichstraße 88
Excellent Business Centre
Berlin 10117
Germany
berlin@dpocentre.com

Please direct any questions regarding Destination Vancouver’s privacy practices to our privacy representative as outlined above.

United Kingdom Residents

The DPO Centre Ltd
50 Liverpool Street
London
EC2M 7PR
United Kingdom
hello@dpocentre.com
+44 (0) 203 797 1289

Please direct any questions regarding Destination Vancouver’s privacy practices to our privacy representative as outlined above.