The MP Town Hall asks you – the industry – and three of Tourism Champions from Parliament Hill to “Take a stand for tourism”! But maybe you’re wondering, how does TIAC do the same?

While it isn’t everyday that we get to see representatives from each major party dedicate an entire hour to discussing tourism issues, TIAC ensures that conversations about tourism are active all year long.

Throughout the 2017-18 Parliamentary Session, TIAC participated in 68 lobbying meetings, presented to the Finance Committee on our pre-budget submission, organized a Hill Day that brought tourism stakeholders from across Canada to Ottawa for over 40 meetings, had record Parliamentarian attendance at the Canadian Tourism Awards, and engaged political stakeholders at tourism events across the country. It was also a year of several tourism ‘wins’, including:

• Secured permanent base funding for Destination Canada funding to $95.5 million per year;
• $8.6 million dedicated to Aboriginal Tourism development through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada;
• $13.6 million dedicated to Statistics Canada’s collection of tourism statistics, including provincial data collection;
• Significant investments to maintain Parks Canada land and the Trans-Canada trail;
• Significant infrastructure investments supporting tourism industry;

This year, our pre-budget submission included measures that build on these wins, but our focus is on enacting a “whole-of-government approach” to tourism. This means that we want the government to recognize that an industry such as tourism requires buy-in from all departments – directly related to our sector or not – to ensure an environment for tourism growth. Want to know more about what this means? Take a look at our pre-budget submission and watch our Tourism Champions battle it out in this important session!