Private sector support will put $35 million annually into Indigenous tourism industry

Keith Henry, the president and CEO of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), has quite a few reasons to be happy these days.

“ITAC is now celebrating a decade of existence,” Henry said at a Toronto event on July 15 where an update was provided on association initiatives. “And that’s a major milestone for us.”

Henry also said ITAC has secured a seven-year funding commitment through the Passion Project Foundation. The association will receive $35 million each year through anonymous donors.

“It’s not government money,” Henry said. “It’s private sector support. It’s the first of its kind anywhere in the world. And it’s the only investment that’s ever happened to this magnitude for Indigenous tourism.”

The federal government had invested in Indigenous tourism in previous years.

“But in this challenging economic climate, we’ve seen investments not grow but somewhat be minimized because it’s just a sign of the times,” Henry said. 

“So, this investment was so critical for us when we could see so much potential opportunity. We have to be able to harness it through marketing, through development, through leadership and partnership activities.”

Henry said the largest previous investment for ITAC came during the pandemic when in 2020 the federal government invested about $16 million in grants to help Indigenous tourism businesses not completely dissolve.

“The beauty of this (private funding) is it’s not tied to fiscal years and grants and contribution agreements that we’ve had,” Henry said. “We still want Canada, and we’d love to see the province of Ontario and other provinces and territories, investing more in Indigenous tourism.”

Henry explained what some of the funding will be used for.

ITAC will invest $6 million in additional marketing programs.

“This is almost a tripling of what we’ve done over the past number of years,” he said. 

Visitors are sometimes confused about what authentic Indigenous tourism experiences are, Henry said. So ITAC created an Original Original branding program that authentic Indigenous business operators can sign up with.

ITAC will provide $8 million in business support for Indigenous tours and businesses to improve their market readiness.

“This is a grant,” Henry said. “It’s an investment in your business. We don’t want to own it. But we want to support you and incentivizing you to continue your readiness work.”

Henry said ITAC will also provide $5 million for wage subsidies to help maintain employees.

“We’ve talked a lot about labour,” he said, adding wage subsidies will help address workforce uncertainties.

There’s no denying tariffs and policies implemented by the current U.S. administration have hurt Indigenous tourism operators in Canada.

“This is very significant,” Henry said of the noticeable loss in the U.S. market. “It’s still interested in Indigenous destinations. But make no mistake, it is a softer market. And that is about 35 per cent of our customer base. And so, this is a very significant challenge for some of our businesses, for sustainability.”

ITAC will also provide $3 million to partner with provincial and territorial Indigenous tourism organizations.

At the Toronto event, held at Nathan Phillips Square in front of city hall, Henry also announced an initial $1 million would help launch the Indigenous Tourism Heritage Fund. This will fund major Indigenous tourism development projects through investment support, empowering the sector to make bold strides towards realization. 

“This is just a first initial investment,” Henry said. “We plan to significantly invest to help really build large infrastructure projects or contribute to large infrastructure projects that are going to help our industry go to the next level.”

Jason Johnston, the Ontario representative on the ITAC board, also spoke at the Toronto event.

He said Indigenous tourism businesses need support as they continue to be at risk.

“We had a decline due to COVID,” he said. “We are bouncing back. We do have a lot of work to do. Now we have tariffs that are hampering some of our business as well. But that’s not stopping us. We are continuing to grow. We continue to work together as a country.”

Johnston, who is the interpretive program coordinator at Cape Croker Park, said there are currently about 3,000 Indigenous tourism businesses across Canada.

“And we’re going to see that number grow,” he said. “There’s about 35,000 jobs within this sector. Those numbers will grow as well.”

Johnston said Indigenous tourism businesses collectively brings in $1.3 billion in GDP every single year in Canada.

“That number will also grow,” he said. “We are seeing this demand skyrocket, and we want to be able to meet that demand.”

The new $35 million in annual funding will be a great boost.

“We’ll be able to build sustainable businesses,” Johnston said. “We’ll be able to support these businesses in marketing and awareness, in training and development. So, the more investment, the more support, the more awareness that we have increases the longevity of these businesses of our industry. The growth and the strength of Indigenous tourism is going to continue to flourish with the support.”