Royal LePage Shattered Records For Women's Shelter!

Sandra Diaz, Executive Director of the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation announced that last week at our National Sales Conference in Montreal we shattered all previous records to raise more than $145,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation!

Thank you to all of you that brought items last week to Montreal's Royal LePage Shelter Foundation Auction and those of you who contributed so generously and enthusiastically to help families across Canada!  Everything is helpful.  By helping others we are actually the ones getting the gift.  I know the Shelter feels that they are receiving the gift but I feel I am getting the gift. The fun and fundraising were contagious on the party trian, jet boat, scotch tastings, suite parties and the auctions.  Special thank you to our auctioneer extraordinaire, Kent Browne, and friends at the Royal LePage Team and Gale who raised $50,000. in their special inhouse contest and draw.

Half of Canadian women will experience abuse in their lifetime and 360,000. children are exposed to domestic violence each year.  Watch this short video to hear some real life experiences of how this is making a difference.

Since 1999, The Royal LePage Shelter Foundation has donated more than $10 million to support women's shelters, violence prevention and education programs across Canada.  Royal LePage is the only Canadian real estate company with its own charity, empowers its sales representatives making a tangible difference on both local and national levels.  Here's how it works:  In every transaction I am involved in a portion of my fees are donated to The Womens Shelter for Victoria.  It's that simple and is obviously very effective. 

Let's face it,  we live in times that are complex and often can be very harsh.  I think all of us know someone, or have ourselves been involved in an abusive relationship at some point in our lives, whether it is someone taking your money from you, throwing furniture across the room while you are holding your baby on your hip or more slowly and insidiously taking control of your life by isolating you from your family and friends. Maybe it is all of those things.  Maybe it is being humiliated in front of your child by your boyfriend or spouse. Maybe it is rape or some other form of violence then escalating to murder.  Abuse comes in many forms.

No one should have to live with abuse - ever.  It takes an incredible amount of courage to step away and stay away from the abuser.  It can be done and must be done.  From that moment you are a different women and are changed forever. 

If you have any questions about the Womens Shelter or Victoria Real Estate please call me to discuss.  I am an experienced award winning REALTOR® licenced since 1990.  I look forward to hearing from you and until then please stay tuned for more updates or you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/brussell6 or call direct at 250.744.4556 and know that together we can make a difference.

                    

 

            

 

2010 Canada ranked No 3 as a favoured destination among Chinese tourists

 

 

Chinese international travellers, especially those travelling long distance are not travelling for their personal enjoyment. More important are trips with a major purpose of business, education or Visiting Friends and Relatives.

 

But even the “leisure” trips to Europe, Australia, North America or Africa are not performed by “holiday makers”. To have a good time with decent food and people who understand the Chinese language and culture is easier, cheaper and more convenient to get within the “Chinese world” of Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Intercontinental travel is first of all for prestige and status, for the traveller him/herself and for China as a whole, demonstrating Soft Power by the number of Chinese who can afford to go abroad.

 

Having prestige and status is not just vanity, but a necessary precondition to be a successful member of the in-groups of the different part of the Chinese upper class. Accumulation of social and cultural capital is needed especially in a group-orientated society with only weakly established rule of law.

 

For western leisure tourists, to economize on travel expenses is a private decision, for affluent Chinese it would be a sign of weakness to the surrounding society. An economic downturn might hurt the sales of Rolls Royce in China, but a few thousand dollars for an international trip will still be seen as a necessary and affordable investment.

 

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Hong Kong Report

 

China's leading online travel service said the country's tourism industry is booming, and it expects a 50 per cent jump in mainland customers travelling to Hong Kong this year.

That will come as good news for Hong Kong, whose tourism industry is powered by the millions of visitors who cross the border each year.

 

China's top online travel service Ctrip.com and Hong Kong beauty products retailer Bonjour, have joined hands to promote tourism on the mainland and in Hong Kong.

The two firms are launching a joint VIP card with special deals for cardholders travelling around China, Hong Kong and Macau.

 

After a pick-up in 2009, Ctrip.com said tourism business is booming, especially with customers travelling to Hong Kong.

 

Tang Lan, VP of Sales & Marketing at Ctrip.com said: "Now we are the number one travel agency for mainland China travellers going to Hong Kong. And the number in 2008 was about 90,000. And 2009, it reached 150,000."

 

    

 

Ctrip.com expects to see a 50 per cent jump this year in mainland customers travelling to Hong Kong. Mainland visitors are a key driver of Hong Kong's tourism industry. An estimated 17 million of them flock across the border each year.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-grown Bonjour has seen sales jump by 33 per cent in the first half of the year.

 

And with a growing number of Mainland Chinese tourists in Hong Kong, it is keeping positive on its sales outlook.

 

"Up to now, (sales) is about 35 per cent. We expect the percentage will increase to about 50 per cent in the next few years," said Alan Chan, executive director of Bonjour.

In the first half of this year, more than 10 million mainland tourists visited Hong Kong, an increase of 23 per cent compared to a year ago.

 

They all want to see Niagara falls

 

Top 10 Canadian Attractions

 

1.     The Canadian Rockies

2.     Niagara Falls

3.     Pacific Rim National Park

4.     Cabot Trail (Nova Scotia)

5.     Baffin Island (Oikiqtaaluk)

6.     Vancouver/Victoria

7.     The Prairies

8.     The Rocky Mountaineer

9.     Old Québec City

10. Bay of Fundy

President: James McNaught, MBA, MTH

Catherine Yan Xu, B.Sc., Dip. Int'l Trade

Nancy Rajabian, BSN, MSC, PHD, ABMPP

Brenda Russell, REALTOR®

Sarah Yan Ping Gu, MA

Jane Wang, MBA

Mandy Li, MA

PacWest International Management Inc
Government and Corporate Development
America-Canada-England-Switzerland-China
Since 1985