Renewal and Entrepreneurship.

This post is about renewal, entrepreneurship and risk-taking. In recent years the industry has been beseiged by challenge after challenge (9/11, sars, whti, gas prices, vrp) and so a lot of time and attention has been devoted to these challenges. However, it may be time for the industry to start focusing more on the future (and I don't mean the Olympics).

On July 2006, many people were dismayed to learn that the iconic Montreal Bistro jazz club in Toronto had closed for good. Almost exactly a year before, jazz lovers in Toronto (and other places) mourned the closure of the Top O' the Senator jazz club (I was fortunate to see Diana Krall there right before she became a global star). Now, perhaps one may think these events have nothing to do with tourism, but they certainly do. Great cities are known for many things around the world, but one the most important as far as tourism is concerned is their cultural life. Toronto was hurt by the closures of these icons. So I was very happy to attend the launch of Live@Courthouse, a new jazz club in downtown Toronto, designed for the jazz lover in mind with a top of the line sound system and the best piano for jazz music money can buy. This is the creation of jazz personality Pat Taylor and entreprenuer Nick Di Donato (Liberty Group). These men are taking a risk and are bringing renewal to the jazz scene in Toronto. I don't know if these men think of themselves at all as part of the tourism industry, but they are. Their venue will certainly attract domestic and international tourism to Toronto. Kudos to them for taking this financial risk.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this post is about entrepreneurship, renewal and risk-taking. The industry has weathered recent storms rather well, but I think we all must begin to think and work towards the future. What kind of business, town, city, province and country do we want to have in 5, 10, 20 years time as it relates to tourism? For obvious reasons, I think that Parks Canada and provincial parks organizations do this constantly, but what about the industry as a whole? There has been talk about a National Tourism Strategy for years but we still don't have one. Perhaps what we should look into is how to encourage renewal, entrepreneurship and risk-taking in the industry. As you know there are tax incentives in the film industry to encourage foreign productions to make their films in Canada. Are there tax credits to encourage theatre producers to put on plays? Are there any incentives to open B&B's? Jazz Clubs? Tourism attractions? Are there any incentives at any level to create businesses that can attract or contribute to the attraction of tourists (intra and international)?

One of the focuses of the CTC is to brand Canada internationally in order to attract tourists to the country. The CTC found out that one of the reasons American visits have declined dramatically in recent years is what's called the "been there done that" syndrome. This Been there done that can spread to other markets as well if the tourism industry as a whole does not encourage renewal, entrepreneurship and risk-taking to offer new and improved experiences to visitors and to encourage repeat business. What do you think? Jaime