Collaborating to Succeed in the New Era of Tourism

Annual Congress Brings Industry Together to Reimagine Tourism

More than 460 tourism professionals from across Canada gathered at The Westin Ottawa last week for Tourism Congress (Nov. 22-23), an annual event hosted by the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC). This year's theme of "Reimagining Tourism" featured Destination Think’s CEO Rodney Payne delivering the keynote address on the need for transformative change in tourism before two days of lively discussions on the industry's present challenges and future opportunities; including an outline of TIAC's priorities for the recovery of the sector led by Marc Seguin, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs; and a look at how Destination Canada is pivoting from disruption to renewal co-presented by Marsha Walden, President and CEO, and Gloria Loree, Senior Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer, of the destination marketing organization. This year's Congress also featured a fireside chat between Seguin and special guest Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance (pictured above), among other insightful and engaging panels and sessions.

The conference was capped off by a gala reception announcing the nine recipients of TIAC's Canadian Tourism Awards, co-presented by the Toronto Star and WestJet and hosted by Ottawa Tourism; as well as its esteemed Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Destination Toronto and awarded to industry luminary Bill Knowlton, formerly of Jonview Canada. Those that missed tourism's marquee event are invited to view recordings now available for a fee, reduced exclusively for TIAC Members!

From Disruption to Renewal: The New Era of Tourism

Destination Canada’s President and CEO, Marsha Walden, and our Senior Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer, Gloria Loree opened the second day of the congress with a plenary session titled From Disruption to Renewal: The New Era of Tourism.

Destination Canada’s President and CEO, Marsha Walden

Marsha outlined how the tourism sector has embraced the immense disruption of the past two years to renew our industry and drive it towards recovery. She highlighted how Destination Canada's new agenda will improve Canada's competitiveness, and drive revenue recovery in the short-term and create greater resilience in the long-term. We will be fueled by data that spurs better decisions and more innovation, including the Canadian Tourism Data Collective, a new national platform we are building in partnership with Statistics Canada and other major data providers, that will drive collaboration as well as innovation, empowering decision-makers across public and private sectors.

Gloria focused on four key marketing choices we’ve made to embrace the disruption in the world today. Choices around our audience and the type of guest we target, how we are working to grow seasonality and build demand for Fall and Winter, as well as the choices we’ve made with first of its kind global partnerships, and finally our new brand strategy which will help Canada stand out from the crowd and be noticed.

Overall, the presentation shone a spotlight on how we have found more efficient and effective ways to give Canada a competitive advantage so we can attract the very best guests to explore and appreciate our communities, our cultures and our country.

 

*Destination Canada