Meet Greg Holmes, tourism professional and grizzly bear greeter. “Curious, compassionate, resourceful, self-reliant, focused and fearless”, is how friends would describe Greg. A visionary and intuitive individual with an attraction towards logical problem solving. Greg has successfully navigated a number of destination marketing roles for the better part of 20 years. His experience is nothing if not diverse. His early travels included stops at Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts, Delta Hotels and Resorts and Contiki Holidays and Tauck World Discovery. He possesses a unique perspective and innate ability to differentiate product in an ever increasingly competitive environment. He possesses comprehensive first hand knowledge of all tourism industry sectors; accommodation, attractions, transportation, travel trade, adventure and recreation, events and conferences, travel trade and tourism services. Within these sectors he has led the way with innovative employee training, marketing campaigns, reputation management tactics, community engagement activities and social media strategies.. Roles as varied as guiding tourists in Moscow to leading a sponsorship activation street team across Canada, have given Greg a global view on travel destinations. He has an instinctive understanding of the importance of multi-stakeholder support on projects that cross the political spectrum. He can engage partners one on one in an articulate and persuasive manner and is entirely comfortable taking the lectern to address a group of two thousand. He has continually demonstrated his support of community at a volunteer board level and by sheer participation in festivals and events that not only enrich but drive economic prosperity. These have included Board Member, North Vancouver Museum, Vancouver North Shore Tourism Association, Giro di Burnaby, Past-Chair of Vancouver AM Tourism Association, Vice-Chair of the Public Dreams Society.In his spare time Greg is completing renovations on the 1977 Ranch Park home he shares with his beautiful wife Alexandra, and two dogs, Bunker and Molly. In his leisure time he enjoys the usual West Coast pursuits, sailing, sea kayaking, tennis, biking and hiking. It was on a hike in Canada’s north where Greg stumbled upon a Grizzly bear enjoying a river dinner, he can honestly attest when a Grizzly bear rises on two legs they are indeed impressive. He can’t confirm their speed over a short distance as he was moving pretty quick himself.