– Paul Nursey is the President and CEO of Tourism Victoria. For more information on the organization, or to reach him, please visit tourismvictoria.com.
GREATER VICTORIA – A new vision for tourism in Canada was unveiled recently by the Minister of Small Business and Tourism, Bardish Chagger.
The Minister, who is also the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, was speaking in Calgary at Rendez-vous Canada, an annual gathering of Canadian tourism businesses and international buyers. More than 1,800 people networked and struck deals to connect foreign visitors with travel products and services offered across Canada.
It’s the biggest and most important event of its kind, and Greater Victoria was well represented.
Tourism Victoria sales staff were tireless in their efforts to win new business and attract visitors to our destination. Demand for information and product from our region continues to be high, with all of our staff’s appointments at Rendez-vous sold out.
Across the world, the tourism industry has experienced terrific growth over the last few years.
This is especially true for Greater Victoria. While we expect numbers this spring will be a little softer than last year — due to unseasonal weather — the fundamentals are there for continued optimism over the medium and long term.
Canada is hot right now, with major interest among international travellers. The fact our federal and provincial governments are recognizing the importance of tourism is another reason for optimism.
The road map announced by Minister Chaggar commits to taking action on 20 priorities, ranging from improved marketing to making it easier to travel into and around Canada. Minister Chaggar stated that tourism is vital for the middle-class in communities across the country, supporting 200,000 businesses and 1.7 million jobs. The new vision aims to make Canada one of the top 10 international destinations for visitors by 2025 and to increase international overnight visitors by 30 per cent by 2021.
Events like Rendez-vous and the support of senior politicians such as Minister Chaggar show that our industry’s efforts to effect public policy and raise awareness about tourism’s importance are working.
To learn more about the federal government’s vision for tourism, please visit the following link.
