Community, Culture, and Economic Catalyst
Tourism in Ontario is more than an industry - it is a dynamic system of community connection, cultural expression, economic growth, and global engagement. It reaches into every corner of the province, weaving together small businesses and global gateways, natural landscapes and downtown cores, long-standing traditions and future-facing innovations.
At its core, tourism is a catalyst - sparking investment, enhancing quality of life, and strengthening local identity. When people travel within Ontario, from across Canada, or around the world, they don’t just fuel spending in hotels and restaurants. They activate domestic supply chains, drive demand for local food, creative content, experiences, and transportation services, and inject energy into sectors ranging from arts and culture to construction, real estate, technology, and more.
Unlocking Ontario's Tourism Potential
Ontario’s tourism industry is stepping into its future with Forward Motion: A Strategic Playbook for Ontario’s Tourism Industry (2025 - 2030), a bold, sector-led blueprint for long-term growth.
Initiated by TIAO, this strategy is a bold, sector-led roadmap designed to harness the collective strengths of Ontario’s diverse tourism ecosystem. Co-created through extensive, province wide consultation, it reflects the voices and insights of Indigenous leaders, small business owners, major attractions, regional tourism organizations (RTOs), sectoral organizations, destination marketing and management organizations (DMOs), educators, and public agencies
Why this strategy matters
Tourism in Ontario is a $30+ billion engine that drives jobs, culture, and community. But today’s global uncertainty and intensifying competition demand focus and action to move beyond recovery to drive growth. Forward Motion is Ontario’s proactive response: a made-in-Ontario strategy to unlock the full economic and social value of tourism and position the sector as a driver of prosperity and pride in every corner of the province.
- Destination Ontario tells our story to the world
- TIAO and sector leaders convene, champion, and advocate
- Regional and local partners deliver on the ground
- Communities and businesses bring the visitor experience to life
Core Strategic Pillars
Ontario’s tourism sector has emphasized the importance of aligning marketing efforts across local, regional, and provincial levels. Stakeholders highlighted the need for a coordinated strategy that leverages Destination Ontario’s brand leadership while empowering regional actors like DMOs and RTOs to tell compelling, locally rooted stories. This pillar supports a model where centralized brand strategy coexists with community-driven implementation, ensuring both visibility and authenticity. The sector strongly favours a hybrid model of leadership: The Ministry and Destination Ontario setting direction, with RTOs, DMOs, and tourism operators acting as on-the-ground implementation partners. Sector organizations are also seen as essential collaborators, providing thematic depth and helping unify the province’s diverse offerings under shared narratives.
MAT Policy & Best Practices Document - Members Only
With more than 80 municipalities now collecting the Municipal Accommodation Tax, generating over $250 million annually, the MAT has become a critical tool for both municipal financial sustainability and tourism growth. Eight years of implementation experience present a timely opportunity to refine Ontario Regulation 435/17 to ensure the MAT continues to function as intended: a visitor-funded mechanism that strengthens local tourism economies while providing municipalities with non-property tax revenue. TIAO continues to advocate for targeted regulatory updates to: (1) reaffirm the dual purpose of the MAT for both municipal revenues and strategic reinvestment in destination development; (2) strengthen collaboration and consultation with industry in the implementation and review of MAT; (3) improve consistency and fairness by standardizing the application of MAT to all accommodation types; (4) reduce administrative burden by standardizing fund transfer timelines and reporting requirements; and (5) develop clear, collaborative governance models for eligible tourism entities that are not industry-led organizations, such as Municipal Services Corporations (MSC), including by implementing best-practice guidance that promotes balanced municipal and industry governance representation. Modernizing the MAT framework will protect public trust, improve accountability, and ensure that visitor-generated revenues continue to drive sustainable tourism growth, community vitality, and economic resilience across Ontario.
Destination Ontario Policy Recommendations
Destination marketing is one of the few tools that can generate near-term economic impact at scale. At a time when Ontario is working to protect growth and diversify its export base, investing in tourism marketing is an opportunity to capture displaced and emerging demand as global tourism grows. TIAO is therefore advocating to increase Destination Ontario’s marketing budget by at least $15 million to match comparable Provincial Marketing Organizations (PMO) in Canada, enabling 3.5 million new visitors and $1.5 billion in new spending by 2027.
Indigenous Tourism Recommendations
Indigenous tourism contributes $622 million to Ontario’s GDP annually and serves as a major differentiator for the province. One-third of Canada’s Indigenous tourism workforce is in Ontario. TIAO continues to advocate for stable, ongoing funding for Indigenous tourism organizations and partners to support economic reconciliation and position Ontario as a leader in this high-growth export segment.
Access and mobility were major themes across the community consultation process. Stakeholders consistently pointed to transportation gaps, especially in rural and northern regions, as a critical barrier to tourism growth. Poor connectivity limits both domestic travel and the ability to welcome international visitors, particularly in areas with high potential for eco- and cultural tourism. This pillar responds directly to concerns about inequitable access to tourism destinations, the opportunity to reduce car dependency, and the growing demand for sustainable travel options. Strong collaboration between the Ministry of Transportation, municipalities, and economic development offices will be essential, with TIAO playing a key role in coordinating sector feedback and advocating for tourism-specific transportation needs.
The resilience of Ontario’s tourism workforce emerged as one of the most urgent and cross-cutting challenges raised by stakeholders across all regions and sectors. Widespread labour shortages, high turnover, and systemic barriers, such as limited housing, mobility, or career development, are straining operators and undermining visitor experiences. Yet consultations also revealed significant appetite for long-term, values-driven solutions that treat workforce development not as an operational burden, but as a strategic asset. Stakeholders called for a mix of policy leadership, targeted supports, and cultural change to reframe tourism work as purposeful, sustainable, and inclusive. This pillar reflects the sector’s commitment to building a thriving, well‑supported workforce that is future-ready and locally rooted.
Colleges Policy Recommendations
Recent policy changes are having an adverse affect on the viability of culinary, tourism, and hospitality programming at Ontario colleges. When such programs disappear, communities lose local education and career pathways, exacerbating labour shortages and out-migration of youth. This is especially impactful in smaller and rural communities that rely heavily on tourism. TIAO is therefore advocating for targeted, time-limited stabilization and transformation funding for culinary, tourism, and hospitality programs at post-secondary institutions to reverse closures and suspensions and support the development of sustainable delivery models.
Colleges Survey Results and Analysis
In 2026, TIAO brought together Ontario colleges, industry stakeholders, and policymakers to discuss the future of culinary, tourism, and hospitality (CTH) programming in Ontario. This conversation highlighted the importance of CTH programming to workforce development, as well as the impact of recent policy changes at the federal and provincial levels. In a follow-up survey, colleges noted the impact that significant reductions in international enrolment are having on program viability, undermining international and domestic talent pathways in tandem.
Immigration Policy Recommendations
While TIAO continues to support domestic workforce development in tourism, many communities continue to rely on international students and workers to fill persistent workforce gaps. In some cases, recent policy changes mean that businesses are losing international talent that they have already recruited and trained. TIAO is therefore advocating for immigration pathways that can address persistent labour shortages in a sustainable way, including targeted enhancements to the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) that will help to retain committed, industry aligned international workers and students. We are encouraged, in this regard, by recent changes to the OINP program, including the launch of an Ontario Workforce Priority Stream.
Throughout the consultations, operators and sector leaders expressed a clear desire for support that goes beyond short-term planning and instead facilitates long-term tourism capacity in all markets. Respondents emphasized that while passion and creativity are abundant in Ontario’s tourism sector, many businesses, especially small, seasonal, and culturally significant ones, lack the structural supports, access to investment, and hands-on training to develop compelling visitor experiences year-round. Moreover, stakeholders stressed that product development must be rooted in local identity, community character, and inclusive opportunity. From infrastructure to mentorship, digital tools to policy reform, this pillar outlines the multifaceted approach required to foster innovation, expand offerings, and strengthen tourism ecosystems across the province.
Capital Tax Proposal & Recommendations
As Canada looks to bolster and diversify its economy, there is a need to invest in new and exciting experiences that will appeal to international travelers – and the infrastructure that supports them. Yet, national tourism capital investment remains $4 billion below 2018 levels, and Ontario’s private sector contribution lags the national average by 18%. TIAO is therefore advocating for policies that will reduce upfront costs and risks to unlock private investment in key visitor economy asset categories and business operations. This includes the creation of a 10-20% refundable provincial Tourism Capital Investment Tax Credit that reduces the cost of building, modernizing, or expanding tourism assets and includes enhanced credits for Northern, rural, Indigenous, and underserved regions/communities, as well as additional credit where projects involve partnerships with municipalities or tourism support organizations.
Product Development Proposal & Recommendations
Product development is how the tourism industry turns marketing and infrastructure into bookable experiences that drive visitor spending, mid-term investment potential, and long-term brand value. As Ontario looks to grow visitation and diversify its exports, TIAO is therefore advocating for the creation of an Ontario Tourism Product Development Fund (OTPDF) that will support the creation, enhancement, and expansion of market-ready tourism experiences across all regions, sectors, and seasons. Economic modelling shows that, in tandem with aforementioned tax credits, this investment can deliver $300-435 million in total economic output.
Consultations across Ontario’s tourism sector revealed a strong consensus: sustainability is not optional, it is essential. However, stakeholders emphasized that for sustainability to take root, it must be practical, affordable, and tailored to the diverse realities of tourism operators, especially those in rural and northern communities. Many operators already understand the value of sustainable practices, but lack clear, coordinated support to act on that intent. There is a significant appetite for tools, incentives, and training that can translate sustainability from an abstract ideal into everyday business practice. This pillar presents an actionable roadmap grounded in flexibility, voluntary uptake, and strategic alignment aimed at making sustainability a competitive advantage and a shared provincial priority.
Consultations across Ontario’s tourism sector revealed that one of the most persistent barriers to effective policy and program delivery is not a lack of ideas but a lack of structural clarity. Confusion over who leads, who decides, and who implements has often led to duplication, miscommunication, and frustration. Stakeholders consistently called for a clearer, more collaborative leadership model, one that empowers trusted institutions like TIAO, Destination Ontario, and the Ministry, while embedding delivery responsibility in place-based partners like RTOs, DMOs, municipalities, and sector organizations. This pillar addresses those calls by laying out a shared governance framework that balances centralized strategic vision with regional, sectoral, and local autonomy. Leadership in this context means coordination, clarity, and collective accountability.
Resources
Explore resources from the playbook - developed with industry and government partners, the strategy provides insights and tools to support collaboration, strengthen the visitor economy, and drive sustainable growth across Ontario’s tourism sector.
The Ontario Tourism Strategy Playbook
The Ontario Tourism Strategy Media Kit
Tourism Strategy Launch Presentation
CRG Pulse Check Summer 2025
Press Release
Listen to TIAO's podcast on the strategy launch
ARTS Across Ontario
RTO7 2025/26 Business Plan
RTO3 Strategic Plan for Regional Tourism Development
National Culinary + Agritourism Action Plan
Strategy Launch Partner
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