Federal Tourism Strategy Will Promote Economic Growth and Create Jobs
Thursday, October 6, 2011 — The Federal Tourism Strategy is a strong commitment on the part of the government to promoting the growth of the travel and tourism sector, says the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC).
“This whole-of-government approach to tourism will provide a new direction for the federal government to work with the industry to help spur tourism growth and create jobs,” says David Goldstein, President and CEO of TIAC. “The Strategy demonstrates that the tourism sector is a priority economic sector for this government.”
The Strategy was launched today by the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism, following the promise of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009 to create meaningful mechanisms for the 15 federal departments and agencies that impact on tourism to collaborate more effectively amongst themselves, and with members of the tourism industry.
TIAC wishes to recognize the work of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in initiating this project, as well as the work of Minister Bernier in seeing it to its completion. TIAC also greatly appreciates the work of the former Ministers of State for Tourism, the Hon. Diane Ablonczy and the Hon. Rob Moore, in consulting with the tourism sector through the development of the Strategy. Their contributions and their openness to working with the industry have helped to create a lasting legacy for tourism in Canada.
Among the most interesting of the 30 proposals in the Strategy is the creation of an Inter-departmental Policy Group for Tourism. The creation of this senior-executive level inter-departmental working group will be instrumental in overseeing and guiding the long-term, pan-departmental development of long-term tourism policy. This cross-sectoral approach mirrors that of key members of the industry itself, which has assembled as the National Roundtable on Travel and Tourism to address broader travel and tourism issues. This group is comprised of TIAC, as well as representatives from the Hotel Association of Canada, the Canadian Airports Council, and the National Airlines Council of Canada.
For more information on the Federal Tourism Strategy, please visit http://www.tourism.gc.ca.
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About the Tourism Industry Association of Canada:
The Tourism Industry Association of Canada is the only national organization representing the full cross-section of Canada's $74 billion tourism industry. TIAC's members include air and passenger rail services, airport authorities, local and provincial destination authorities, hotels, attractions and tour operators.
For more information, please contact:
Kevin Desjardins
Director, Communications
Tourism Industry Association of Canada
Tel.: 613.238.6251
Mobile: 613.240.7225
