Good day,
Over the past few days, I have had the privilege of joining the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO) at the annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference. Municipal staff and council from across the province gather to discuss common issues, learn about emerging trends and, most importantly, meet with provincial ministries to discuss community-specific issues. I bumped into several staff and council members from our smaller municipalities and I was happy to see them there, learning and advocating for their communities.
TIAO was also there to meet with various Ministries with specific asks. As I don’t need to tell you, the development and delivery of exceptional destinations and visitor experiences rely on a lot of moving pieces coming together in lock-step. TIAO does an incredible job of identifying the sticky-points for tourism development as it relates to the portfolio of each Ministry and, instead of just meeting to complain about the problems, they come armed with solution-based recommendations. Over the course of the three-day conference, in addition to speaking with hundreds of municipal partners on the tradeshow floor, our small but mighty TIAO delegation met with 13 different Ministries and/or Ministers:
Ministry of Rural Affairs | Ministry of Northern Development and Growth | Leader of the Opposition | Minister of Emergency Preparedness and Response | Ministry of Red Tape | Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security | Ministry of Education | Leader of the Green Party | Ministry of Sport | Ministry of Tourism, Culture & Gaming | Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness | Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training & Skills Development | Ministry of Energy & Mining
At each meeting, we started by providing a general overview of the state of the tourism industry before talking about one or two hurdles or challenges that various stakeholders across the province (or certain regions) were facing. Each of the delegates around the table were able to provide real-world examples and speak to the impact the challenges were causing. We then presented real, implementable recommendations and solutions that will support continued growth of the industry.
I found the entire experience to be energizing and it has left me optimistic about the future. And it’s not so much because I think many (or any) of the recommendations we made will be actioned, but because the recommendations themselves have been developed by the industry itself. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read TIAO’s Forward Motion: A Strategic Playbook for Ontario’s Tourism Industry, which was launched in late 2024. The plan was developed much like we facilitate Visitor Growth Plans; by listening to the people that are trying to grow and welcome people to their locations and communities. This bottom-up approach that works so well at the municipal-level, also worked at the provincial level.
This is the first time in as long as I can remember that the tourism industry – all of its players – are unified as one collective voice under this plan, developed by all of us. The TIAO delegates around the table exemplified. We had us (RTO 6), RTO12, Resorts of Ontario, Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association (ORHMA), Kingston Accommodations Partners, Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO) and, Camping in Ontario at each meeting, representing literally thousands of stakeholders from various sectors in the industry, presenting unified recommendations to strengthen the visitor economy across the province. The power of that message was noticed at each of our meetings, which is something we had lacked in the past.
While the industry playbook provides broad strokes of where we want to get to over the next few years, TIAO came prepared with specific asks based on who we were able to meet with. This is another key reason I am feeling optimistic. TIAO is not letting their strategy collect dust on a shelf. They launched it last year with short terms priorities. While working through those priorities, they continued to engage with industry to determine what other challenges were bubbling to the top and opened discussions to reach consensus on recommendations and solutions.
Our TIAO Delegation went to each meeting armed with a briefing document that outlined three priorities along with three recommendations. We focussed our discussion on one or two recommendations that fit the mandate/portfolio of the Ministry/Minister we met and demonstrated how, regardless of what sector of the tourism industry we represented, they were relevant and will have an impact on successful visitation growth.
The momentum is starting to grow when it comes to our industry being recognized as the powerhouse that it is. And I firmly believe that we, the stakeholders in the industry, have the power to keep it going. There is a municipal election happening this year. Between ROMA and AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario), every single provincial municipality has the opportunity to meet with the various ministries in the province. Wouldn’t it be great if a top agenda item of all municipalities was growing the visitor economy. The bottom-up approach has worked before and can work again if we all unite to make it happen.
If you are a business owner, staff member, BIA representative, or just someone who believes that their community is (or can be) more vibrant through attracting and retaining more visitors, all you need to do is get involved in municipal politics. No, you don’t have to run for office. But where it starts is by asking (and getting as many citizens/businesses as possible to ask) a simple question: “What is your plan for tourism investment for (name your town)?”. If you have ideas of what needs to happen, then frame your question around that. If you get answers from all of the candidates and each one has made some sort of commitment about the importance of growing the visitor economy, all that needs to happen after that is making sure that they follow-through. I am going to do it here in Halton Hills as a resident and in both Brampton and Mississauga as a business owner. Can’t hurt.
And if enough of us are doing it at the local level, the message will trickle up to the provincial level. Then we do it again during the provincial elections. What has been proven time and again is that ROI on tourism investment is a net positive. With so many sectors that play in the world of the visitor economy, it has often been difficult for officials and government decision makers to hear and/or understand that message. But now, with an industry created playbook and a unified voice, we can cut through the noise and be heard.
As Carol Greenwood from TIAO just posted on our ROMA Conference WhatsApp group, “Tourism is a tenacious industry with great people!” Amen to that.
Have a great day!
Chuck
