The tourism industry and our members from across the country look forward to working with the new government and continue to grow tourism in Canada.
"We congratulate Mr. Trudeau as well as newly-elected and returning Members of Parliament from all political parties," said Charlotte Bell, TIAC President and CEO.
“With a minority government in place, we look forward to building on Canada’s recent tourism successes, and collaborating with all parties to take Canadian tourism to the next level. Our first priority will be to ensure that issues impacting tourism are well understood and actioned on, for the benefit of the tourism industry as a whole, and the 1.8 Million Canadians employed in this sector across all provinces and territories.”
As federal representatives settle into new or returning roles in Ottawa, we look forward to the announcement of the next federal Cabinet. TIAC will soon begin renewed outreach activities and a busy agenda of advocacy meetings on behalf of our industry and stakeholders. Building on the momentum of the Vote Tourism campaign, we will meet with tourism champions from across Canada and across all party lines to discuss our advocacy imperatives, including the importance of sustainable marketing funding, product development, labour shortages, and creating tourism-friendly federal policies to help improve Canada’s competitiveness in the global marketplace.
In 2018, tourism added $102 billion to Canada’s economy, providing a larger economic contribution than the automotive sector, as well as the agriculture and forestry sectors combined. The visitor economy accounted for 2.1% of Canada’s GDP last year, and as Canada’s largest service export, it also contributed $22.1 billion in export revenue. TIAC will work to ensure that this important industry gets the attention it deserves from all parties as they work together on building and diversifying Canada’s economy.
New Government Platform Recap:
The Liberal platform outlines their vision for the new Federal Tourism Strategy, empowering communities to grow their economies and create jobs through tourism and increasing the total number of visitors to Canada through improved marketing, access and product.
The Liberals promised investments in tourism through a new Federal Tourism Growth strategy with a Tourism Community Infrastructure Fund to invest $100 million in the local needs of communities that rely on tourism over the next four years. These funds will be delivered and managed through regional economic development agencies.
TIAC was encouraged by the prominent support for the tourism industry from all parties during the federal campaign. In a minority government scenario, we are optimistic that all parties will find common ground in the economic development that flows from attracting visitors to all parts of our beautiful country. The tourism industry remains committed to working collaboratively with the government and stakeholders to advance policies that will do just that.
TIAC and its members would like to thank all outgoing MPs for their considerable support for the tourism industry during their time in office.
