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12 Inspiring Tourism Videos on Canada

Corbin Fraser — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:02:15 +0000

The other day I came across Travel Alberta’s incredible award-winning (Remember to Breathe) tourism video, which somehow or another brought me to browsing the videos of every provincial & territorial tourism board. It’s great to see how much thought and passion goes into each of these videos, and what better way to explore a location virtually then through the use of video. I thought it would be a great idea to do a quick Canada fly-by and check out each corner of the country from the comfort of your computer (or phone). While there are several videos that stand out amongst the pack, they each are worthy of your attention. Who knows, you might feel inspired to visit somewhere you’ve never even considered!

British Columbia

Starting in the west coast of Canada, this video shows the British Columbia lifestyle that many have come to know and love. Outdoor adventure, peaceful vistas, a mix of city life with mountain trekking and a clear love affair with water activities. This video makes visiting BC seem like something you need to do this summer!

Visit Tourism British Columbia’s Youtube Page!

Alberta

Travel Alberta recently won the award for best tourism video in the world and received the equivalent of the tourism industry’s “Oscar” award at the International Tourism Fair in Berlin. With over 1 million views it’s clear to see why this video is so captivating. The slow-mo shots with beautiful panoramic shots of nature, adventure, and happy people make this one of my favourite’s of the bunch. Congrats to the folks at Travel Alberta and their talented branding team who managed to catch these one of a kind shots of this beautiful province.

Visit Travel Alberta’s Youtube Page!

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan’s video does a great job of showcasing the adventure that can be had in my home province. The fun song mixed with the fast shots make this an exciting and quick video that helps sell the prairies as more than just a drive-thru province. Stop, get off the highway, and see for yourself the beauty this place.

Visit Tourism Saskatchewan’s Youtube Page!

Manitoba

I had a tough time deciding which video of Manitoba’s to put up, as their newest video campaigns are short 15 second spots, which I felt seemed unfair to use, as most of the other provinces videos play for a couple minutes. So I dug through their older videos and found one that I was fond of. Manitoba is a beautiful province rich with history and wildlife. Did I mention they’re home to the Polar Bear capitol of Canada!?

Visit Travel Manitoba’s Youtube Page!

Ontario

Ontario! It rolls of your tongue in an addictive way. Ontario is such a massive province, their videos cover everything from city architecture to the nature & beauty of Algonquin, to the romantic allure of the Distillery District. The Distillery Disctrict is easily one of my favourite spots in Toronto, which is why I chose to use this video. However, be sure to check out some of their other videos to see what fall is like in Algonquin Park.

Visit Travel Ontario’s Youtube Page!

Quebec

Quebec Tourism’s video on Mont Tremblant makes me want to skip summer all together and find a group of friends to explore every inch of this small mountain village. They managed to capture emotions that are universal in French and English. A beautifully shot video the reminds us anglophones to stop being scared of not speaking their language and just dive in. The french-Canadians are friendly, their food is breath-taking, and the province of Quebec has weeks worth of activities to keep you busy!

Visit Tourisme Quebec’s Youtube Page!

New Brunswick

I read once that in the early days of Canada New Brunswick was the place to visit. Several American presidents even had cottages in these parts. While it’s still quite popular, it can often be overlooked by it’s neighbours to the west and east. Fact is, they have some mind-blowing geological formations worth checking out. The largest tide in the world is just one of the many reasons to stop by this beautiful seaside province.

Visit Tourism New Brunswick’s Youtube Page!

Nova Scotia

I had a tough time choosing whether to embed this video, or the one with the fiddle playing in the background. While I went with the former, I feel like it’s worth mentioning you should check out their Youtube page to see the other. This video showcases Nova Scotia as more than just an old city to walk around. There’s adventure, outdoors, heart-pumping activity, and relaxing ocean sunsets to top it all off. Of course, history seeps in at almost every turn as well. I think Nova Scotia Tourism did a great job of promoting the many sides of Nova Scotia.

Visit Nova Scotia Tourism’s Youtube Page!

PEI

Big thanks to Alouise for pointing out in the comments the fact that I missed PEI (woops!). Kind of a big screw up on my part, especially considering how big of a year it was for PEI tourism, what with Regis & Kelly and the whole Royal Wedding stuff going on. I managed to find an aerial video that showcases the entire island with scenic panoramas and jaw dropping shorelines. Check it out!

Visit PEI Tourism’s Youtube Page!

Newfoundland & Labrador

If there’s a video you may have seen amongst these, the Newfoundland & Labrador is likely it. They’ve become famous across Canada for dropping the jaws of people from all over the world with their beautiful colours, high contrasting light, and the way that each of these videos tells a story. I particularly like this one, not only for it’s beauty, but for it’s tagline. See for yourself!

Visit Newfoundland & Labrador’s Youtube Page!

Yukon Territories

The Yukon! I picture this territory as a wild outdoor adventure, steeped in folklore, arts, saluting an era when men moved mountains in search of riches. Their video, which while a bit lengthy, captures many of these feelings. I look forward to visiting this northern territory of Canada this May, and hope to see some of what’s showcased in this video.

Visit Travel Yukon’s Youtube Page!

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories have always held a romantic allure to me. Their video managed to reignite that drive and need to visit this northern getaway. This video covers the beauty and outdoor adventures that can be had in this massive area of Canada. With some of the most surreal night skies and outdoor adventures, they’re going to have a tough time keeping me from checking the NWT out!

Visit SpectacularNWT’s Youtube Page!

Nunavut

I remember when Nunavut became an official territory, I would have been in grade 4 I believe. We spent several days discussing the cultural differences between our people and theirs, learning about some of their customs and beliefs. I had never been so fascinated by a culture in Canada. Their video showcases some of these cultural aspects, and reminds me that I need to find a way up north to experience this for myself.

Visit Nunavut Tourism’s Youtube Page!

The tourism video’s you saw here were produced in order to bring you to their province, but I can’t help but feel that when seeing them all together like this that you feel a sense of unity amongst them. Each province wants you to be healthy. Each province wants you to find your own slice of nirvana in the great outdoors.Each province wants you to experience something new and life changing. One of my favourite taglines from these videos was from Yukon’s video. “It can be hard finding yourself, fortunately, we have a lot of places to look.“

12 Inspiring Tourism Videos on Canada is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Sunday Canadian Travel Video: Toronto Tempo

Corbin Fraser — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:21:57 +0000

Now that I’ve got this fancy new design up and running, I’m urking to test out some of the new features. Including the large video slider up top. This Sundays “Canadian Travel Video” is a video that went viral a while back, but I have to assume there’s still some people who haven’t seen it. So I want it to be the first video I feature on the new layout.

‘Toronto Tempo’ by Ryan Emond

Toronto Tempo was created by Ryan Emond, a Toronto based photographer, videographer, and visual artist. His time lapses are some of my favourite I’ve ever come across. Ryan was able to capture the city of Toronto perfectly. Anytime I’m lacking creativity, I jump into one of his time lapses and am immediately transported into another city, but in an alternate universe where the world speeds by. If this video doesn’t want to make you take in Toronto, you’re out of your mind.

Check out some of Ryan Emonds other work:

Ryan on Flickr
Ryan on Youtube
Ryan on Vimeo
Ryan on the Interwebs

If you’re looking to visit this beautiful Canadian city anytime soon, check out some of these cheap flights to Toronto today. What’s up budget-friendly!?

Sunday Canadian Travel Video: Toronto Tempo is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Sh*t Travel Bloggers Say

Corbin Fraser — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:39:01 +0000

It’s pretty rare that I show my mug on video. Fact of the matter is video cameras freak me out. Like crazy bad! Maybe not the cameras themselves, but seeing myself on camera. Yeuch… No thanks! Somehow or another, fellow travel blogger / friend Cailin Oneil of Cailin Travels & Travel Yourself, managed to drag me into her video “Shit Travel Bloggers Say“, which also stars Kate McCulley of Adventurous Kate. If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month or two, there’s been a slew of videos similar to this showing up on youtube, such as “Shit Girls Say” and a few dozen others. “Shit Travel Bloggers Say” is Cailin’s reply to them all.

The video has received over 9,300 views and has been tweeted over 100 times. It’s also been featured on World Hum! Props goes out to Cailin for her hard work on this project, same with Kate! And props for me too, for not sissing out last minute.

Sh*t Travel Bloggers Say is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Introducing The TripFilms Canadian Travel Video Section

Corbin Fraser — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:07:16 +0000

There hasn’t been a whole lot changed on my website in a while. The last big updates were including larger images on the homepage, the introduction of photo essays, and some subtle changes in terms of background textures. While there’s plenty of photos to browse and enough content to read to keep you busy for weeks, the one thing I always felt was lacking on I Backpack Canada was video.

I was recently contacted by the kind folks at TripFilms. After talking, they were kind enough to offer a new travel video widget specifically dedicated to Canadian travel videos. For those who don’t know who or what TripFilms is, they’re essentially the YouTube of travel videos. Travelers from all over the world create, submit, and share their short travel videos that inspire you to feed that travel bug you can’t shake.

You’ll see the new TripFilms Canadian Travel video section in the right hand sidebar. There’s multiple tabs to browse Canadian travel videos by Activities, Food, and Hotels, so you should be able to find something that sparks your interest very easily.

Big thanks goes out to the guys & gals at TripFilms for partnering up with my blog like this. Giant over-dramatic high five headed your way!

Introducing The TripFilms Canadian Travel Video Section is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Sunday Canadian Travel Video: What is Canada to the United States of America?

Corbin Fraser — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:30:58 +0000

There are few relationships that go as deep as those between America and Canada. Which is why I highly recommend if you’re going to be backpacking Canada, you’d be a fool not to consider backpacking America as well. I stumbled upon this video yesterday after spending a full day working through another weekend (Who does that!?). The beautiful scenery and strong words remind me that us Canadians, we’re pretty okay people. And we’re probably alright neighbours too. We can be a little sensitive at times, a little loud at others. Sure, we apologize often, and clearly have a need for everyone to like us. But whatever, we are who we are.

So allow the tire pumping to begin!

Sunday Canadian Travel Video: What is Canada to the United States of America? is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Sunday Canadian Travel Video – Full Mountie – Lonely Planet in Saskatchewan

Corbin Fraser — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:25:59 +0000

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve managed to find a video I wanted to share. Totally my bad, I’ve been pretty preoccupied trying to sort out the next couple months of my life. To say I’ve been busy would be the biggest understatement of the decade. Thankfully there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and once I get through the next 6 weeks, my life will be a lot more simple. Or at least that’s the game plan. Ha!

So this weeks video was shared to me on Facebook by the awesome folks at Tourism Saskatchewan. In this video Robert Reid (US Travel Editor for Lonely Planet) travels to my hometown (Regina Saskatchewan) and finds out what it takes to be a Mountie. Robert, if you ever read this, high 5′s for this video and the awesome moustache. It gave me a solid guffaw.

Be sure to watch & read more about Robert Reids adventures on his personal blog Reid On Travel.

Sunday Canadian Travel Video – Full Mountie – Lonely Planet in Saskatchewan is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Sunday Canadian Travel Video – Toronto Skyline Timelapse

Corbin Fraser — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 17:40:18 +0000

I recently stayed at this incredible new hostel in Toronto called Planet Traveler. (A proper review is coming). To sumarize the stay. It’s incredible! Modern, eco friendly, and best of all has an amazing view of downtown Toronto from their rooftop patio & lounge. While I was catching up on photo edits & some serious amounts of writing I decided to test the limits of my gorillapod & setup shop for some time lapse action.

I wrapped the plastic flexible tripod around one of the handrails that line the rooftop ledge, popped in my iphone4 and pointed it towards the skyline. While I was writing I could hear the whole unit shaking with every gust of wind. As you can see in the video, it captured a lot of that shake. But I feel like the music that I stuck on it fits the shakiness. So lets just say totally meant to do that…

Toronto Skyline Timelapse

Toronto is one of those cities that the more I visit, the more I love. If you would have asked me a few years ago what my thoughts of Toronto were, I probably would have said “Toronto!!! Not for me, you can have it!“. That may or may not have been because I’ve got a some serious small town hick running through these veins. Nowadays I think I could totally live there, or at least spend a significant amount of time there without hating myself. Very cool city, nice people, lots to do, and you can’t not come out of Toronto with at least a couple funny stories.

Sunday Canadian Travel Video – Toronto Skyline Timelapse is a post from: I Backpack Canada

Sunday Canadian Travel Video – Dorset Tower Time Lapse in Ontario

Corbin Fraser — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:08:12 +0000

Ontario blew my mind. Those four words have been repeated countless times in the last week. I’ve been editing photos, video, and squeezing in writing as often as I can in order to show everyone what exactly I mean by that. I finally managed to find time to quickly edit this time lapse video of the Ontario Scenery.

This time lapse was taken from the Dorset Scenic Lookout Tower. It’s located on this incredible hill above the town, overlooking the Lake of Bays in the Muskoka and Haliburton area. While it’s not technically “Algonquin Park”, its pretty darn close. After climbing the rickety metal structure, I was a little out of breathe. I counted a total of 116 steps, although I may have messed up near the end as I began to realize I need to work out more.

I was carrying my new Gorrila Pod & my handy iPhone 4, so I set up shop for roughly 20 minutes and commenced time lapsing. This video was the result of it all. See below for photos as well.

Switch to 720p if you’re on a good connection please!

Special thanks to Avril from the McMichael Art Gallery for telling us to make the Dorset Tower a stop.

Sunday Canadian Travel Video – Dorset Tower Time Lapse in Ontario is a post from: I Backpack Canada