VANCOUVER — Staff reductions and the closing of some international offices have been announced by the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC).
In a letter to industry partners last Friday, July 16, president Michele McKenzie explained the move as a “primary business shift to focus investments where the Canada brand leads and where Canada will be resourced to compete meaningfully in high-value international markets.” The changes are expected to, “free up [as much as] $16M by 2012,” McKenzie’s letter states. She adds, “CTC overheads, complexity and costs have, over the years, eroded other funding available for marketing programs.” Now with operating offices in 12 countries, regional office changes include: consolidating services in London, England for the markets in Europe and Australia, and in Vancouver for the emerging markets of Asia, Mexico and Brazil.
The announcement comes just one day after the release of CTC’s Global Tourism Watch (GTW) study that shows that out of the CTC’s top 10 target markets, only China increased its tourism travel to Canada. Set up in 2007, the GTW was established by CTC in partnership with Ontario, B.C., Manitoba, the Atlantic and the North and uses Harris/Decima to conduct the GTW tracking research.
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