New Federal Tourism Growth Strategy

In 2023, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada launched a new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy, setting a vision to generate economic growth across the country and drive the sector to the next level of international success.

About the new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy

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 remained 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 retained its potential for communities all across the country.

As Budget 2022 noted, Canada's high vaccination rates and the lifting of travel restrictions provided important relief as the sector began 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, worked with tourism businesses, provincial and territorial counterparts, and Indigenous tourism partners to develop a new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy, in conjunction with a public consultation lead by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada during summer 2022.