Indigenous tourism industry “destabilized” by lack of targeted dollars in 2023 federal budget: ITAC CEO

Friday, April 7, 2023

The lack of targeted dollars in the 2023 federal budget published last week has “destabilised” the Indigenous tourism industry, ThoroldToday cited Keith Henry, CEO of the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, (ITAC), as saying.

ITAC, a national non-profit Indigenous tourism industry organization, was established in 2015 and tasked with growing and promoting the Indigenous tourism industry across the country.

“In previous federal budgets there were dedicated resources to help ITAC co-ordinate a national Indigenous-led tourism strategy. Our big concern is that this budget really destabilizes our development and marketing programs,” said Henry.

According to Henry, there is no specific money for Indigenous tourism in last week’s budget. Instead, it provides $14 million for arts and heritage “including Indigenous cultural celebrations” in the fiscal year 2024-25; $108 million over three years to regional development agencies to assist communities, small businesses, and non-profit organisations in developing local projects and events; and $50 million to Destination Canada to attract major international conventions, conferences, and events.

According to Henry, traditional events are only a minor part of the Indigenous tourism sector. Therefore, while money for Destination Canada may result in indirect advantages for Indigenous-owned and managed hotels and convention centres, it does not provide direct assistance to that Indigenous sector.

In terms of the $108 million allocated to regional development agencies over three years, previous policy has seen Indigenous tourism get 10% of that amount, although this is not indicated in the budget paper.

In addition, the budget asks for the creation of a new Federal Tourism Growth Strategy to “chart a course for growth, investment, and stability in Canada’s tourism sector.” This plan is to be created in collaboration with Indigenous tourism operators, the tourism sector, and provincial and territorial counterparts.

Nevertheless, as Henry points out, the policy will not be tailored to Indigenous tourism operators.
According to Henry, the federal government’s lack of commitment is a double blow.

Canadians are “looking to explore and learn cultural education through Indigenous tourism, so we were seeing a very, very strong rebound,” said Henry.

Last year, Indigenous tourism stabilised at 1,900 operating businesses, with the strongest domestic year ever, with sales ranging from $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion.

The majority of the $12 million ITAC managed in 2022 was funded by federal budget allocations from 2021 and 2022, including money from the tourism relief fund and $2.2 million from Destination Canada, according to Henry.

On top of that previous support, Henry mentioned positive pre-budget meetings with Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault, who agreed that Indigenous tourism was crucial. The discussions focused on the work ITAC has done to build an Indigenous tourism brand and execute an accreditation scheme, as well as the need of continuing that effort.

“At a time when we’re really seeing such strong rebuilding and such strong growth because of the infrastructure we’ve set up, to see it completely, sort of systematically now disappear from those (budget) investments, was really a shock,” said Henry.

Since the budget came down, Henry says discussions have been ongoing with Boissonnault, who also serves as associate minister of Finance, and staff. Henry said Boissonnault was “very surprised” by ITAC’s reaction to the budget “because he thinks there’s been some important investments.”

But, Henry is quick to point out that when resources are reportedly short in the tourism business, it is Indigenous tourism that suffers. And this is despite the fact that Indigenous tourism-related enterprises, many of which operate off-reserve, generated between $70 and $80 million in federal income tax.

“I don’t understand why the entire government doesn’t see Indigenous tourism as such an important contribution, not only to the economy but also reconciliation in general,” said Henry.

According to him, a lack of government financing will have an immediate impact on current infrastructure demands, including jobs.

ITAC’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year will be around $17 million, with around $12 million coming from current nationally allocated funds.

The current budget is over $10 million short of what an economic study determined ITAC would require to continue its activities in 2023-24.

In the past, federal dollars have been used to leverage support from provinces, territories, and industry, according to Henry. The lack of government assistance will have a knock-on impact on local support.

“Indigenous Tourism is crucial for the recovery of Canada’s visitor economy,” said Boissonnault in an email response April 4 to Windspeaker.com. “As we move towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, we see tourism as reconciliation in action, providing unique experiences and stimulating job creation and economic growth for Indigenous communities.”

Boissonnault confirmed a portion of the funding to the regional development agencies will go to Indigenous-owned and Indigenous-led projects “in line with the priorities that will be outlined in the renewed Federal Tourism Growth Strategy.” However, he did not specify what percentage of the budgeted $108 million would be Indigenous-dedicated.

He said his department was working closely with ITAC to “leverage their specialized expertise and knowledge of the Indigenous tourism industry (and) their national reach.”

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