Mapping Tourism Success – TIAC’s 2019 Federal Tourism Platform

 

THE CANADIAN TRAVEL & TOURISM INDUSTRY:

• Is a strong and consistent engine of economic growth and job creation
• Is thriving despite global commodity prices and currency fluctuations crippling many other sectors
• Is on an upward trend that can bring prosperity to Canada now and for years to come

Helping us address the barriers to growth will ignite our path to meet tourism’s full potential and strengthen local economies in urban, rural and remote locations. How can we achieve this? We’ve MAPPed our path to success by advocating for investments and proactive policies in Marketing, Accessibility, People and Product.

 

				Marketing A robustly funded Destination Canada, ensuring stable long-term funding to keep positive momentum, and improve Canada’s competitiveness on the international stage
				Access Streamline the visa application process and ensuring low-risk countries remain under the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) program for temporary resident visas Support measures that facilitate the freedom to move people across the border and through airports with expanded pre-clearance and adequate CATSA investments to meet service levels Better monitoring of visa processing times and investments in Visa Application Centres (VACs) and new technologies as well as robust communication announcing changes, including biometric requirements
				People Use industry labour need as the main determiner to access all immigration streams, regardless of skill level This includes permanent immigration and temporary labour solutions that meet the needs of the sector and regional labour markets Invest in skills/capacity building and employment bridging programs by prioritizing the tourism sector in ESDC and IRCC programming and by promoting tourism career options/ training to under represented labour pools such as Indigenous youth and people with disabilities Continue to support measures that encourage tourism employment such as new GIS policies for seniors
				Product Reduce taxes paid by international visitors to Canada through the removal of GST on tourism products sold abroad to international visitors Reduce costs attributed to fees, levies and taxes on air travel to help make the cost of air travel competitive