The Tourism Industry Association of Canada will host its annual Tourism Summit conference from November 1 to 3 in Ottawa Gatineau. This will be new President and CEO, David F. Goldstein's first TIAC conference. One small, but notable, change about the conference is that the name has been changed from "Tourism Leadership Summit" to "Tourism Summit." This reflects an effort on TIAC's part to become more inclusive perhaps as the former name implied somewhat of an elitist approach to the event. I do not speak for the association, of course, but it seems to me that the idea is to bring in more tourism stakeholders to the lobbying table. TIAC is a lobbying organization, the official voice of the industry vis a vis government. Interestingly enough, this year's conference includes a session called "The View from Parliament Hill" with the participation of 3 members of Parliament as panelists. Should be an interesting panel, e.g. "what does the Federal Government think of the tourism industry?" "Should there be a Tourism Ministry?" "Should the CTC be closed down?" "Should the CTC be expanded with more support?" "Should Canada impose a fee on overseas visitors like the US and Mexico do?"
In addition to the "View from Parliament Hill" this year's conference includes several, in my view, important sessions, such as "Green Tourism: A National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism," "Cultural Events and Festivals," and "Future of the US Market." These three sessions encapsulate in my view three key success factors for Canadian tourism going forward. First, there will be no tourism industry in the future, if our practices do not include a sustainable tourism strategy. Second, Cultural Events and Festivals are perhaps the biggest engines of urban tourism in Canada - just think Festival International du Jazz de Montreal, Juste Pour Rire, Caribana, The Toronto International Film Festival, the Calgary Stampede and so many other events that attract millions of visitors to their respective destinations. Third. The US Market. Regardless of how low the US inbound market has dropped since 1999, it is still by far the most important foreign market for Canadian Tourism (although not the most important overall - that place belongs to our domestic market). There are many opinions as to how to address the issue of American visitors' decline. I have my own as well. This session will continue the debate and the ongoing efforts to find ways to attract more American tourists to Canada.
If you have never attended Canada's national tourism conference, I do recommend it. Not only will you get valuable information, but you will have a chance to network with the industry's leaders. It's your industry, get involved.
Regards,
Jaime
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