2. Introduction: A New Era of Collaboration

It is evident that the current way of doing business is no longer feasible to meet the challenges facing the tourism sector or to seize emerging opportunities. A new era of collaboration, involving all tourism stakeholders, is necessary to enable Canada to increase its market share and raise its domestic and international profile.

Building a National Tourism Strategy presents a vision for tourism in Canada. The strategy will establish ambitious goals and set out priority actions for achieving these goals. It will be a key instrument in promoting sustainable tourism in the 21st century economy.

Vision
Make Canada a sustainable and top-of-mind tourist destination, renowned worldwide for its exceptional and unique year-round, quality travel experiences.

Tourism ministers have acknowledged the importance of enhancing cooperation among, and between, governments and industry to maximize the benefits of tourism investments. They confirmed their commitment to a collaborative approach in November 2003 by signing the Quebec Declaration and by creating the Canadian Council of Tourism Ministers (CCTM). The Declaration is mirrored in the key principles that guide the National Tourism Strategy:

• Promote F/P/T interventions that are research-based, and lead to action and innovation in product development and marketing.
• Develop tourism priorities that are nationally focused, provincially/territorially sensitive, and that recognize Northern and Aboriginal tourism as an emerging and important sector.
• Develop strong, flexible and dynamic partnernships among stakeholders and key decision makers at all levels of government.
• Enhance co-ordination and co-operation mechanisms to increase efficiency in accordance with the roles and responsibilities of each partner.
• Develop strategies to foster and encourage sustainable practices in the tourism industry.

In November 2003, tourism ministers also launched consultations with their stakeholders on the key elements of a National Tourism Strategy. Private sector involvement in the development and implementation of the strategy is crucial to ensuring that the tourism industry can respond to growing competition with innovative products and practices.

The Strategy reflects the results of these consultations and provides the basis for enhanced coordination and collaboration within governments, between governments and with the tourism industry. Commitment and collaboration from all governments will be required on an ongoing basis to validate and update the strategy in order to realize the ambitious goals that have been set by F/P/T governments and tourism stakeholders.

Goals
F/P/T governments working in close partnership and in collaboration with the private sector to ensure Canada is among the world’s top 10 tourist destinations, in terms of international arrivals and expenditures, and to increase domestic and international tourism revenues to $75 billion by 2010.