NEW EVENTS AND RECORD-BREAKING RESTAURANT PARTICIPATION

Tourism Vancouver’s annual culinary festival runs January 20 to February 5

Local and visiting foodies are invited once again to experience Dine Out Vancouver, the largest restaurant festival in Canada. Presented by Tourism Vancouver, this year’s festival celebrates a decade of Dine Out with brand-new events, special hotel offers and the highest number of participating restaurants to date. Mark your calendars now for 17 days of culinary creativity!

Festival dates: January 20 to February 5, 2012.

Participating restaurants: 225 – a new record.

Menus: Three-course, prix fixe menus priced at $18, $28 and $38 (suggested BC VQA wine and beer pairings courtesy of Wines of British Columbia and Kronenbourg 1664, available at additional cost). Participating restaurants, menus and booking details will be posted on January 9 at www.tourismvancouver.com/dov.

Hotels: Participating hotels will offer rooms priced at $78, $108 and $138 per night, and some are featuring special Dine Out packages too! The list of hotels, package information and booking details will be posted by December 15 at www.tourismvancouver.com/dov.

Events: In celebration of Dine Out Vancouver’s 10th birthday, the list of daily dining experiences has expanded to more than 70 events. Samples from this year’s tantalizing schedule include Plated & Paired at the Public Market, featuring fresh eats and wines from 10 top B.C. wineries; Kronenbourg 1664’s popular Brasserie Mystère; the brand-new Street Food Cart City; and “Salt & Pepper” events featuring salsa dancing, an exclusive chef’s table experience and more. Tickets for paid events range from $25 to $150. For event listing and descriptions, see the Dine Out Vancouver 2012 Fact Sheet.

Sponsors: American Express Canada (premier sponsor); Kronenbourg 1664 and Wines of British Columbia (festival partners); KVOS, Metro newspaper, Vancouver magazine, Where magazine and OpenTable (media partners).

Suggested Tweet: Save the Date: Dine Out Vancouver kicks off January 20 with the biggest festival menu ever http://bit.ly/1qBNgN #dineout

About Dine Out Vancouver:
Presented by Tourism Vancouver, Dine Out Vancouver is a city-wide celebration of eating out, attracting tens of thousands of local and visiting foodies to Vancouver’s exceptionally diverse collection of restaurants for 17 days. Celebrating its 10th year in 2012, Canada’s largest restaurant festival allows diners to sample menus from hundreds of restaurants around the city, all for a prix fixe cost (price points are $18, $28 and $38 per person). Many menus feature suggested BC VQA wine or Kronenbourg 1664 beer pairings (available at an additional cost). Dine Out Vancouver also offers special hotel room rates and packages, plus a full menu of unique food-themed events and activities, including culinary tours, cooking lessons, dinner-theatre evenings and special dining experiences. Throughout the festival, diners can take part in the Best Bite Awards by voting for their favourite festival experiences and be automatically entered to win the Dine Out for a Year contest. Dine Out Vancouver 2012 runs from January 20 to February 5. Full festival information is available at www.tourismvancouver.com/dov.

Tourism Vancouver’s focus is on building exceptional customer relationships with meeting planners, travel influencers, travel media and independent tourists.  The organization’s brand essence is about “exceeding expectations”.