Information released at an event on July 15 in Toronto included details on the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada’s (ITAC) 2025-26 Operational Plan.
Officials have big aspirations as the organization marks its 10-year anniversary. The 2025-26 plan will focus on 10 main priorities.
ITAC is keen to return the Indigenous tourism industry to where it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Canadian government assisted the industry by providing some financial relief to ITAC during the pandemic. This includes $16 million that the federal government provided in 2020. Now U.S. tariffs are causing ITAC businesses concern.
So, Keith Henry, who doubles as ITAC’s president and CEO, is hoping the Canadian government continues to provide support.
“Canada is still sort of analyzing it,” he said. “We’ve been talking to the government of Canada several times, actually, saying this is a very serious issue. It’s hitting us very hard.”
Results of a survey released by ITAC this past May show U.S. visitation has dropped dramatically because of ongoing tariff threats and the trade dispute between U.S. President Donald Trump and Canada.
Henry said ITAC is monitoring the low visitation. “And it’s not going away. It’s actually really quite challenging. It’s getting worse. So, Canada hasn’t done anything yet. We’re hoping that they will. We’ve proposed ideas to them. But in this current economic climate, I don’t think there’s going to be much wiggle room for Canada to do much.
“We’re trying to help the Prime Minister’s office to understand ‘you’re helping industries that are being hit by tariff impacts. However, you haven’t even uttered the words tourism through the staff we’ve talked to.’ And I’m hoping that they’ll start to understand it.”
ITAC is working toward Canada becoming a global leader of Indigenous tourism by 2030.
Statistics from 2023 show there were about 35,000 jobs in Indigenous tourism across Canada. And there was $1.3 billion in GDP contributions that year.
By 2030, ITAC is hoping there will be 60,000 jobs in the industry, contributing $6 billion to the GDP. Henry said there’s a lot to be done to achieve the association’s 2030 vision.
“Where we are really going to have to focus on is on the labour market because we’re still only about 35,000 employees,” he said. “We need to get 60,000. And we’re just seeing a loss. We’re actually seeing some businesses maintain or reduce a few staff. So, we’re going to focus on that.”
Henry added the number of Indigenous tourism businesses has gone up following the pandemic.
“I’m happy. I think I’m very happy we’ve got the fuel to actually invest and do the things we need to do. I’m just worried about the market conditions. We can’t control that. Like the U.S tariffs, no one saw this 3-4 months ago. This all happened when obviously leadership in the U.S changed. Other than that, we were on pace for a great year.”
ITAC has secured a seven-year funding commitment through the Passion Project Foundation and will receive $35 million each year through anonymous donors.
ITAC plans to align its investments by partnering with provincial and territorial Indigenous tourism associations to grow the development and marketing of tourism experiences.
And ITAC will establish the Indigenous Tourism Heritage Fund, which will support investment in major Indigenous tourism development projects.
