Canada announces new federal tourism strategy

Canada, 20th October: To allure increased number of international tourists to the nation, Canada has chalked out a new tourism strategy.

The redesigned and reformed Canada tourism strategy was unveiled by the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism, Mr. Maxime Bernier on 6th October 2011. It aims to give a much needed stimulus to Canada tourism sector for nation’s growth and keep ahead in the competitive market.

New tourism plan for boosting tourist arrivals in Canada--The minister said that the new Canada tourism strategy is a new beginning for the government of Canada. It will help in developing stronger collaborations between various departments influencing tourism including Parks Canada, transport department and so on.

A point worth noticeable here is that Canada’s international tourism share has gone down considerably in the last ten years period. And this can be considered as a warning signal for the future of the nation since trade is crucial to tourism and follows it.

Efforts to increase Canada tourism—In a bid to increase Canada’s proportion of international tourism, Canada tourism minister Bernier met tour operators in Asia a week ago. Canada’s tourism sector has suffered a decline due to various factors including immigration, transportation and a shift in its focus.

Canada enjoyed seventh place in the global market for the number of foreign tourists coming to the nation each year in the year 2002. However, after a gap of eight years, that is in 2010, its position fell to 15th thus trailing even behind nations like Ukraine and Malaysia.

And this is something to be worried about. The number of foreign tourist arrivals in Canada has gone down by 3.3 percent, latest Statistics Canada figures reveal. This is due to fewer number of Americans arriving in Canada for holidaying here.

The culprit is none other than the economic turmoil turning America’s economy almost topsy-turvy.

And with tough global competition, Canada can’t afford to wait for better times returning to the US. Rather, it must cash in on other sources like India, China and Brazil that can provide sufficient number of foreign tourists to Canada.

Its only by promoting tourism that Canada can increase its trade, states a recent International Tourism and Trade Flows report published in Tourism Economics.

And that’s exactly what Canada is doing now to increase the inflow of foreign tourists in the nation.