Current status: Closed
This consultation closed on August 3, 2022.
About the consultation
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada is conducting a public consultation on the development of a new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy.
To help ensure that Canadians can provide their input, the consultation period has been extended and will now run until August 3, 2022.
Context
In 2019, the Government of Canada launched Creating Middle Class Jobs: A Federal Tourism Growth Strategy. The objective of the strategy was to unleash tourism's potential to drive economic growth and job creation in all regions of the country.
The context in which that strategy was drafted is very different from today's. Canada's tourism sector was booming, bringing in record numbers of international visitors in 2017 and 2018 and accounting for one in ten jobs. The strategy was designed to build on this momentum.
However, the Canadian tourism sector was uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. From its onset, tourism workers and businesses felt the full impact of public health measures and border closures. Despite the challenges, the tourism and hospitality sector was resilient, and it remains a key economic driver and job creator, especially for young and for rural Canadians. Thanks in part to an estimated $23 billion in support provided through the federal government's emergency programs, the sector has survived and retains its potential as an important driver of economic growth, jobs and prosperity for communities all across the country.
A new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy
As Budget 2022 notes, Canada's high vaccination rates and the lifting of travel restrictions are providing important relief as the sector begins to turn the corner. To continue supporting Canada's tourism sector and help bolster its recovery, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, will work with tourism businesses, provincial and territorial counterparts, and Indigenous tourism partners to develop a new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy that will plot a course for growth, investment and stability.
The Government of Canada launched the formal engagement period to develop the new strategy on May 18, 2022. It will build on the work already done since the launch of the original strategy in 2019, with a particular focus on:
- labour gaps and instability
- investment attraction and destination development
- long-term economic growth across the country