Discovering Ontario report - Ministry of Tourism

attention as Huntsville hosts the 2010 G8 Economic Summit. Selling Ontario as a venue for high-profile
events should be an essential ingredient in the Province’s marketing strategy.
Ontario should also develop a viable strategy to attract more tourism investment. Investors want a strong
workforce, an affluent local market, evidence of economic and political support for tourism, and a strong
infrastructure base. 8 Ontario has all of these strengths, but it must develop a coordinated public-private
strategy that aggressively tells its story to a broad array of North American and overseas audiences. These
initiatives must be backed up by practical steps that enhance travel convenience and lower its cost in
terms of time and money. Improvements in cross-border access and open skies flight agreements along
the lines of the one recently finalized with the European Union would provide important steps in the right
direction. 9
The bottom line is that long-term prospects for the Ontario tourism industry are bright, but the industry
will need to rise to the challenge of global competition and the changing demands of its target markets.
Ontario's Foreign Exchange Earnings for Selected Industries, 2002-2007
Tourism
Earned Foreign Exchange (Billions $)
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Mining
Food Manufacturing
Fabricated Metal Product
Manufacturing
Electrical Equipment, Appliance
and Component Manufacturing
Paper Manufacturing
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Source: Statistics Canada Data (International Travel Survey and Trade Data).
discover ing o n t a r i o — t h a e ere c op on ro t m oi c n i mt hp e o rf tu at nu cr e o f t o u r i s m
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