NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. — The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance unveiled the new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy yesterday called Canada 365: Welcoming the World. Every Day.
The announcement was made in Niagara Falls, Ont. alongside Chris Bittle, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Member of Parliament for St. Catharines, Ont.; Vance Badawey, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services and Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre; Marsha Walden, president and CEO, Destination Canada; Beth Potter, president and CEO, Tourism Industry Association of Canada; and Keith Henry, president and CEO, Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada.
This strategy was released after almost 12 months of consultations, including roundtables and online submissions that garnered input from some 400 tourism stakeholders, and follows the 2019 plan called Creating Middle Class Jobs: A Federal Tourism Growth Strategy, which identified that the Canadian tourism sector was not reaching its potential. The newly announced strategy uses 2019 as a foundation and incorporates lessons from the past three years of the pandemic.
The strategy outlines five guiding principles:
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Reconciliation in action
- Sustainable and regenerative approaches
- Focus on rural Canada
- Canada has what the world wants
It was built on five strategic priorities: invest in tourism assets; embrace recreation and the great outdoors; partner to grow Indigenous tourism; attract more international events; and improve coordination with a Federal Ministerial Council.
“TIAO is encouraged to see that the main themes throughout this document are in line with our priorities,” reads a statement from the association. “We recognize all of our members that contributed by providing feedback and input in the consultation period. We also welcome the federal Ministerial Tourism Growth Council to be established, and congratulate TIAC for advocating for this table to be put in place for the last 12 months. It will help put the Federal Tourism Growth Strategy into practice and ensure a whole-of-government approach to tourism growth and the visitor economy.
The strategy outlines some key goals and targets through to 2030 to increase tourism’s economic output and improve Canada’s competitive standing internationally. These include:
- Increase the tourism sector’s contribution to Canada’s GDP by 40 per cent in 2030 to $61 billion;
- Impact of increase in tourism sector’s contribution to Canada’s GDP means an estimated additional 85,000 direct jobs;
- Restore Canada’s ranking in WEF Global Travel and Tourism Development Index from 13 in 2021 to 7 by 2030.
