Members of the travel and tourism industry, including ACTA and TIAC, made their cases known to the federal government this week with submissions meant to influence a new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy that is designed to be an action plan to help the sector recover from COVID and position it for future “growth and success.”
Working in collaboration with a number of national tourism organizations and with input from members across the country, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada said it identified four key pillars to best underpin the federal strategy and ensure the industry achieves its key goals by 2030.
The pillars, according to TIAC president and CEO Beth Potter, are:
• Attract and Retain a Sustainable Tourism Workforce
• Improve Access for visitors to and within Canada
• Develop and Promote Tourism Assets, and,
• Build a Regenerative and Inclusive Tourism Industry.
“TIAC and the businesses and organizations it represents are confident our proposed goals are achievable by 2030 if adequate financial resources are earmarked in support of the new strategy,” said Potter.
She added, “But, just as importantly, we believe achieving those goals will only be possible if a concerted effort is made by all of government and industry working together… The recovery of Canada’s visitor economy is key to Canada’s overall economic growth. It is vital that this once $105-billion industry in Canada be recognized and celebrated for the important economic driver it is.”
TIAC emphasized in its submission that tourism is “a broad ecosystem – a complex value chain that will only ever be as strong as its weakest link,” and that “a new strategy and the policy measures it ultimately entails must be comprehensive and must seek to bolster as much as possible each of those important links.”
ACTA
One of those links is the retail sector, represented by ACTA, which met with tourism minister Randy Boissonnault on Wednesday to deliver its policy submission personally and put forward its recommendations to support travel agencies and independent travel agents.
The delegation, which included association president Wendy Paradis and board members Richard Vanderlubbe, Gary Gaudry, and Geneviève Dupuy-Duplessis, focussed on labour gaps and instability, investment attraction, destination development, and long-term economic growth across the country.
Developed in close cooperation with the Coalition of Hardest-Hit Businesses to build industry consensus, ACTA’s submission contained eight specific recommendations:
• Attract and retain a sustainable travel & tourism workforce
• Embrace a whole-of-government approach, including all Ministries in the strategy
• Improve access for travellers to and within Canada
• Tie any new COVID-19 restrictions with financial subsidies for hard-hit travel & tourism businesses
• Ensure independent travel agents are included in future federal support programs
• Forgive federal COVID-19 loans for hard-hit travel & tourism businesses
• Build a regenerative and inclusive travel & tourism industry to rebuild an economically stable sector
• Mandate that travel agent commission protection be included in all federal supplier support programs.
ACTA called the discussion with the minister “productive” and stated that Boissonnault “shared that he values the role Canada’s travel agencies and independent travel agents play in Canada’s travel and tourism industry,” while further promising ongoing dialogue with the association.