2025 Winter Travel Trade Newsletter Spotlight

Each issue, we spotlight a partner in our Travel Trade community. Please let us know if you would like to be our next spotlight guest.

This edition’s spotlight features Mimi Horita, Destination Development Coordinator – Steveston Heritage Sites.

Spotlight Questions:

How long have you been with the Steveston Heritage Sites?
→ 4 years

Who inspired you to pursue the career you have today?
→ One of my early mentors in the travel trade was Hidi Nishi. I enjoyed our long chats about tourism and travel. My career has come full circle as I remember walking around Britannia Shipyards with him, and he told me about living nearby and playing on the boardwalks in Steveston as a child.

What do you love most about your job?
→ The support and connections we have with the local community and the stories they share about the history of Steveston. It is a privilege to share these stories with visitors from around the world.

Where were you born?
→ Tokyo, Japan

What is something about you (a fun fact) that few people know?
→ When I was a teenager (aeons ago), I was in a Canadian Tourism Commission (now Destination Canada) commercial for their “Canada the World Next Door” campaign that aired on CNN… and I am still promoting Canada!

What is one item you cannot live without?
→ I hate to say it, but it is probably my smartphone.

An item on your bucket list.
→ Snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef.

Favourite place you have visited?
→ Paris

Tea or coffee?
→ Coffee

If you could have lunch with anyone in the world, living or deceased, who would it be and why?
→ Michelle Obama. She was an inspiring First Lady — intelligent, gracious, caring, and with a wonderful sense of humour. I admire how she is reclaiming her cultural identity now. And of course, I would hope she brings a certain “plus one.”

If you would like to be featured in a future Travel Trade Spotlight, please contact Mandy at mwko@tourismrichmond.com.