Tourism Vancouver is altering its annual Dine Out Vancouver fixed-price restaurant promotion to cater more to tourists.
The nine-year-old festival has historically aimed to get Vancouverites to eat at restaurants during what is normally slow season. It still does.
More than 210 restaurants will have fixed-price menus that include an appetizer, a main course and a dessert – all for either $18, $28 or $38 between January 24 and February 6.
Part of what’s new is the tourism promotion body has tacked on a hotel segment.
Visitors to Vancouver can rent rooms at 33 hotels, which are split into three categories. Seven offer rooms for $68 per night; 18 offer rooms for $98 per night and eight offer rooms for $138 per night.
In each case, the rate is a discount off the hotel’s standard rate.
“We’re not going to rest on our laurels,” said Tourism Vancouver Dine Out Vancouver organizer Lucas Pavan.
“We’ve decided to add a number of events to the program schedule.”
One of the new events, for example, is Act 1, Eat 1, which combines theatre performances at the Arts Club Theatre Co. and the PUSH International Performing Arts Festival with meals at either the Red Door Pan Asian Grill, Cru and the Irish Heather.
Tourism Vancouver is funded from annual member fees that range from about $500 to about $15,000 as well as from hotel taxes.