Tourism Richmond Privacy Policy

A. About This Policy

The purpose of this privacy policy is to summarize the principles and policies followed by Tourism Richmond (also referred to as “we” or “us” in this policy) concerning the collection, handling, use and disclosure of the personal information of individuals who are members of Tourism Richmond or members of the general public while such information is in our custody or under our control.

A separate internal policy governs the handling of the personal information of employees, volunteers and contractors at Tourism Richmond.

Tourism Richmond is governed by and complies with the provisions of the personal Information Protection Act (BC).

This privacy policy may be updated by us from time to time.

Personal information which has been properly anonymized is no longer subject to this privacy policy and may be utilized for a variety of purposes including statistical analysis and market research.
 

B.  Definitions

“Contact Information” means information to enable an individual at a place of business to be contacted and includes the name, position or title, business telephone number, business address and business e-mail of the individual;

“Personal Information” means any information about an identifiable individual, including name, address, age, gender, identification numbers, memberships, credit card information, other financial information, immigration status, and travel preferences, movements and details.  Personal information does not include Contact Information.
 

C.  Accountability

Tourism Richmond is responsible for its personal information handling practices and has designated a Chief Privacy Officer to be the primary individual with oversight for our compliance with the Act and best practices in information-handling.  Our Chief Privacy Officer can be contacted as follows:

privacy@tourismrichmond.com
604.821.5474
205 South Tower, 5811 Cooney Road
Richmond, British Columbia
V6X 3M1
 

D.  Purposes of Collection, Use and Disclosure

Subject to applicable law, Tourism Richmond will identify the purposes for which personal information is collected, used or disclosed.  In some circumstances applicable law permits collection, use or disclosure without consent, or consent is implied to have been given.

The primary purposes for which we collect, use or disclose personal information are to:

a) manage and promote the activities and operations of Tourism Richmond;
b) provide requested information or services;
c) where appropriate providing your information on to third parties (such as tourism operators) with whom you are making booking arrangements.

Information may also periodically be collected used or disclosed for the following purposes or in the following circumstances:

–  to better understand the needs of our customers and members, including through periodic surveys;
– to conduct periodic contests and other promotional events;
– to comply with legal and regulatory requirements.

Occasionally we may wish to feature some of your relevant personal information which you have voluntarily posted to our website (including images or social media commentary) in our promotional material concerning the affairs of Tourism Richmond.   In such circumstances we will rely on the permissions for social media postings outlined elsewhere in the Tourism Richmond website.

Users participating in Tourism Richmond contests may be asked to provide varying degrees of personal information, depending on the nature of the particular contest.  The specific information to be collected and how it will be used and disclosed will be outlined in the general contest rules or regulations or in accompanying contest materials.  The names, addresses and photograph or likeness of contest winners may be reproduced on the website or in other promotional materials.

In other circumstances, if we intend to use or disclose personal information for a purpose other than for which it was initially collected, we will inform the individual of such purposes and seek their consent.
 

E.  Consent

Subject to applicable legal exceptions, we will make reasonable efforts to advise individuals of the purposes for which their information is collected, used or disclosed and to obtain their consent.

An individual may withdraw their consent at any time, subject to legal and contractual restrictions and the provision of reasonable notice.  Depending on the circumstances, if consent is withdrawn the individual may be unable to continue to access our products and services.
 

F.  Limited Collection

Generally, Tourism Richmond will limit the amount and type of personal information collected to that which is necessary for the purposes identified by Tourism Richmond.

From time to time we may, where appropriate, collect personal information from external sources, including credit reporting agencies and credit grantors.  All such activity will be conducted pursuant to applicable law.
 

G.  Limited Use, Disclosure and Retention

Generally, Tourism Richmond will only use or disclose personal information for the purposes for which it was collected, except with the consent of the individual or as required or permitted by applicable law.

In the course of our operations we may transfer personal information to third party service providers, some of whom may be located outside of Canada.  In all such circumstances, we utilize contractual and other means to ensure that the information is used and disclosed only for the limited purposes of the service provider’s engagement with us, and that reasonable and comparable safeguards are in place while the information is in the custody of the third party.

In circumstances where we serve as booking or reservation agents or representatives for others, and you authorize us to transfer your information on to those other parties, the information then becomes subject to the privacy practices and procedures of the other parties, and is no longer subject to our control and this privacy policy.

Personal information is retained only as long as necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes for which it was collected, subject to legal retention requirements and best practices.  When we dispose of personal information it is done so with appropriate care to prevent unauthorized access.
 

H.  Accuracy and Correction

Our goal is to maintain personal information which is as accurate and complete as possible.  However, we do not routinely update personal information in our control unless it is necessary for the fulfilment of the purposes for which it was collected.  Generally, we rely on relevant individuals to update their relevant information (including contact information) with us.

If an individual successfully demonstrates to us that their personal information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, we will revise our records accordingly, and where relevant and appropriate, advise relevant third parties to whom that information was disclosed.  Requests for correction can be submitted to our Chief Privacy Officer.
 

I.  Security and Safeguards

Tourism Richmond maintains appropriate security safeguards and procedures to protect personal information against loss, theft, or unauthorized access.  The nature of the safeguards varies with the nature and sensitivity of the information.  The measures include physical measures, such as locked file cabinets, organizational measures such as need-to-know access policies, and technological measures. 
 

J.  Openness

We intend to be open about our privacy practices and procedures, and provide information to you in a form that is generally understandable.  Copies of this policy are available on request.  For additional information and more detail on our privacy practices and procedures, please contact our Chief Privacy Officer.
 

K.  Individual Access Rights

An individual has the right, upon submitting a request to us, to be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of their personal information under our control, subject to certain exceptions provided for in applicable law.  Requests for access can be submitted to our Chief Privacy Officer.  We may request you to provide sufficient detail and information to enable us to adequately respond to your request.

We will attempt to respond to requests within 30 days or such other time as may apply under applicable law.  As permitted by applicable law, in some circumstances certain charges may be assessed in respect of a request.
 

L.  Challenging Compliance

Any complaints or disputes concerning our privacy practices and procedures should be submitted directly to our Chief Privacy Officer.  We have appropriate organizational protocols to respond to such inquiries and will, where appropriate, provide a written response to you and/or amend our privacy practices and procedures.

In the event an individual is not satisfied with the resolution of their inquiry or complaint, they should contact the office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia:

www.oipc.bc.ca
(250) 387-5629
info@oipc.bc.ca
 

M.  Anti-Spam Practices and Marketing Arrangements

Tourism Richmond only utilizes your email address as permitted under Canada’s anti-spam legislation. In certain circumstances this may involve using remarketing or similar audiences to advertise online.  If you have booked through or otherwise used the services of Tourism Richmond, we may use your personal information for selected direct marketing purposes, unless you choose to opt-out of receiving these communications.  At any time you can request that we cease communicating with you for such marketing purposes by using the “unsubscribe” mechanism contained in such communications or by contacting our Chief Privacy Officer.

In addition, we may engage third party vendors, including Google, to display our promotional material on various sites across the internet.   Any service provider we use is prohibited from using your personal information which we provide to them for any purpose other than providing the remarketing services requested by Tourism Richmond. Such third parties may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to collect or receive information from our website and elsewhere on the internet and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads. 

Website visitors can opt-out of certain directed remarketing conducted by our by third party vendors by visiting the third party’s own settings and opt-out pages, such as Google Ads Settings. 

For additional information on opting-out, please contact our Chief Privacy Officer.
 

N.  Website Matters

We routinely collect certain information reflecting use of our website in order to compile statistics, reports and other analysis, to enhance our services and offerings, improve website content and layout, and understand trends in website usage.  Similar to many websites, we collect certain non-identifiable information regarding website users, such as IP address, date and time of website access, and the pages visited and content downloaded. 

While some of this information does not specifically identify individuals, the extent of potential identification may depend on protocols maintained by the internet service provider.  We do not use this information to specifically identify individuals unless required or permitted to do so by applicable law (e.g. law enforcement access or court order).

If a website visitor voluntarily completes an online form or registration, certain additional identifying information may be collected. We also periodically request website visitors to provide additional survey information (which is not mandatory) including travel preferences, accommodation preferences, preferences to travel alone or with partners, families or other groups, frequency of visits to Richmond, and certain demographic information.

If users are under 18, a parent or guardian’s permission is required before you send any personal information.  Tourism Richmond encourages parents to become involved with their children’s online usage.

We reserve the right to collect aggregate information using “cookies” for the purpose of improving website design.  Cookies are a technology that installs information on a website user’s computer to permit the website to recognize future visits using that computer.  We use cookies to better understand how our website is used, to make sure our content is served correctly and to improve website performance and presentation.

Advertisements displayed on our website may also contain cookies provided by third parties.  We do not have any control over or responsibility or liability for the use and disclosure of information collected through advertisement cookies.  You may choose to decline cookies if your browser permits, but doing so may affect your use of our website.

This policy only covers products and services offered by Tourism Richmond on our website. Our website contains various links to partner sites, government sites, attractions, advertisers and others. Tourism Richmond does not necessarily endorse or recommend any such sites and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such external websites.  All such third parties may maintain their own privacy policies, and users are encouraged to familiarize themselves with such policies when linking to other sites away from the Tourism Richmond website.