Last updated 29 August 2026. This policy describes what vancouvertourism.org actually does today. Where something is planned but not yet in place, it says so rather than describing it as though it were live.
Vancouver Tourism Guide (“we”, “this site”) publishes travel guides at vancouvertourism.org. This policy explains what we collect when you read them, why, and what you can do about it.
The short version: you can read every guide on this site without giving us anything. We have no accounts, no logins, no newsletter and no comments. The only information you can hand us deliberately is a message through the contact form.
What we collect
Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to see which guides get read and which are ignored. It sets cookies in your browser and records a truncated version of your IP address, the pages you visit, roughly how long you stay, the referring site, and your device, browser and approximate location at city level. IP anonymisation is applied by default in Google Analytics 4, and we have not enabled Google Signals, so this data is not linked to a Google account by us.
We look at this in aggregate — “eleven thousand people read the transit guide last month” — not individually. We do not attempt to identify readers, and we have no ability to do so.
Search Console
Google Search Console tells us which search queries lead to this site. Google reports this to us already aggregated and anonymised; we never see who searched for what.
The contact form
If you write to us, we receive the name, email address, topic and message you typed, along with the date and time. We use it to reply to you and nothing else. It goes to a mailbox, not a database or a CRM; it is not added to any mailing list, and it is never sold, shared or passed to a third party. Messages are kept while a conversation is ongoing and deleted within twelve months. Ask us to delete yours sooner and we will.
The form is powered by Contact Form 7, which stores no submissions on this site’s server. It sends the message on and discards it.
Server logs
Our host, DreamHost, keeps standard web server logs — IP address, timestamp, requested URL, user agent — as every web server does. These exist for security and troubleshooting, are retained for a short period by the host, and are not used by us for analytics or marketing.
Comments
Comments are closed across this site and no comment form is displayed. We are not collecting anything through that route.
Advertising
This site currently displays no advertising. No advertising cookies are set and no ad network is running here today.
We intend to introduce third-party display advertising served by Google AdSense in order to fund the site. This section describes what will apply once that happens, so that you can see in advance what you would be agreeing to — but nothing in it is in effect yet, and this page will be updated with a new date when it is.
When advertising is live:
- Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve adverts on this site.
- Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve adverts based on your visit to this site and other sites on the internet.
- You will be able to opt out of personalised advertising at any time by visiting Google’s Ads Settings, and to opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies at aboutads.info.
- Before any personalised advertising is served to readers in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, consent will be collected through a Google-certified consent management platform, and you will be able to refuse or later withdraw it. That banner is not present on this site yet, because advertising is not yet running.
Adverts, when they appear, will be visually distinct from editorial content and clearly labelled. No advertiser has ever had, or will have, any influence over what these guides recommend.
What we do not do
- We do not sell, rent or trade your personal information. There is no circumstance in which we would.
- We run no affiliate links. Nothing on this site earns a commission when you click it or book through it.
- We operate no newsletter and send no marketing email.
- We do not build reader profiles, and we have no login, account or membership system.
- We do not knowingly collect anything from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us information through the contact form, tell us and we will delete it.
Cookies, and how to be rid of them
The cookies currently set on this site are Google Analytics 4’s, which distinguish one visitor from another and measure session length. WordPress may set a functional cookie if you interact with certain features. There are no advertising cookies at present.
You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings at any time — the guides will work perfectly well without them. You can also install Google’s Analytics opt-out browser add-on to stop Analytics collecting anything from you across every site, not just this one.
Where your data goes
Google Analytics and Search Console process data on Google’s infrastructure, which includes servers in the United States. Google relies on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and standard contractual clauses for these transfers. Our host operates from the United States. If you are reading from the EEA or the UK, your data is therefore processed outside your country.
Your rights
If you are in the UK or the EEA, the UK GDPR and GDPR give you the right to ask what personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, and to receive a copy. If you are in California, the CCPA gives you comparable rights to know, delete and opt out of sale — and since we sell nothing, the last one is already satisfied.
In practice, the only personal data we hold that could identify you is a contact-form message you chose to send. Ask through the contact page and we will delete it. For analytics data, which we cannot link to you by name, the browser add-on and cookie controls above are the effective remedy.
Our lawful basis for analytics is legitimate interest in understanding which guides are useful; for replying to your message, it is performing the exchange you initiated. You may object to the former using the controls above.
Security, and its limits
The site is served over HTTPS, and software is kept up to date. No website can promise perfect security, and we would rather say that plainly than imply a guarantee we cannot make.
Links to other sites
These guides link out to transit authorities, parks agencies, museums and attractions so you can check details at source. Those sites have their own privacy policies and we have no control over them.
Changes
When this policy changes materially — most likely when advertising goes live and a consent banner appears — we will update the date at the top. It is worth a glance if you are returning after a long gap.
Contact
Questions about this policy, or any request about your data, go through the contact page.