Event Spotlight: Rendez-vous Canada 2026

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_05 (00:05):
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Travel
Trends Podcast and a specialedition event Spotlight recorded
live from the RendezvousConference in downtown Toronto,
Canada, in May 2026.
I'm, of course, your host, DanChristian.
And throughout this event,Spotlight, we're going to
feature a series of fiveinterviews that were recorded

(00:26):
live at the event to take youinside Canada's premier
international tourismmarketplace, an event that I'm
attending for the very firsttime and thrilled about that
brings together tourism leaders,destinations, attractions,
hotels, airlines, indigenoustourism operators, and
international travel buyers fromaround the world.
For nearly five decades,Rendezvous Canada, or RVC, as

(00:49):
it's also known, has been whereCanada's global tourism business
gets done.
This year, more than 1,400delegates and over 500
international buyers have cometogether, representing more than
24 countries, and tourismbusinesses from every province
and territory have gathered herein Toronto to build
partnerships, create futuretravel programs, and drive

(01:12):
international visitation tocommunities across Canada.
How cool and important is that?
And how thrilled am I to finallybe here to be a part of the
conversation and speak to theseindustry executives because the
impact of this event issignificant.
It goes far beyond the MetroToronto Convention Center that
we're here in now.
There's more than 60,000business appointments that will

(01:34):
take place over the course ofthe next few days and that will
facilitate more than$100 millionin future tourism opportunities
and really help showcase theincredible experiences that make
Canada one of the world's mostdesirable travel destinations.
And yes, I get to say that.
Finally, spend so much of mytime traveling around the world.
I love being based here inCanada and to be able to share

(01:56):
the amazing tourism story thatour country has to offer.
And to help tell that story ofRVC and the future of Canadian
tourism, I have the honor andthe privilege to bring together
these five extraordinaryindividuals.
We're going to begin thisepisode with Megan Farino, who
is the chief financial officeras well as the chief data and

(02:16):
analytics officer, who's goingto provide some really valuable
insights into the scale,performance, and strategic
impact of RVC and Canada'stourism sector.
And then we're going to hearfrom Sebastian Benedict, the
president and CEO of the TourismIndustry Association of Canada,
TIAC, as it's known.
He's going to discuss theimportance of tourism as an
economic driver and the role ofindustry collaboration in

(02:39):
Canada's continued growth.
And then I'll have the privilegeto bring in Vincenza Rinaldi,
the president and CEO ofDestination Ontario.
And she's going to share howOntario is leveraging the
opportunity having RVC here inToronto to showcase the
province's diverse tourismexperiences that attracts
visitors from around the world.
And then I get to bring in myfriend Andrew Weir, who I've

(03:02):
known for the last couple ofyears.
We actually met at the VirtuosoConference in Las Vegas, and he
is the head of DestinationToronto, the CEO and the person
that's probably most thrilledthat the event is here.
And he's going to discussToronto's role as the host city
and how major internationalevents like RVC really help
elevate the city's globaltourism profile.

(03:23):
And then we're going to concludewith something really special.
We're going to have theopportunity to sit down and
speak to Marcia Walden, thepresident and CEO of Destination
Canada, who's actually going tobe retiring shortly.
So this is a really special andmeaningful conversation.
And she's going to share hervision for Canada's future as a
global tourism destination andthe strategic importance of

(03:44):
Rendezvous Canada in drivinginternational visitation and
economic growth.
And I really hope throughoutthese conversations you'll see
just how exciting Canada is as adestination for all of our
global listeners as we explorethe opportunities, the
challenges, innovation, and thetrends shaping the future of
tourism in Canada, fromdestination development and
global marketing to data,sustainability, partnerships,

(04:07):
and international travel demand,including the Chinese contingent
that has several booths lined uphere that's really exciting to
see Chinese travelers comingback to Canada again.
So whether you're a tourismprofessional, a destination
leader, a travel advisor, touroperator, or just simply
interested in Canadian tourism,these conversations will offer a

(04:28):
unique behind-the-scenes look atthe people and organizations
driving Canada's tourism successstory.
So on that note, let's start offwith our very first interview,
the CFO and Chief Data andAnalytics Officer for
Destination Canada, MeganFarino.
Megan, welcome to Travel Trends.
Thanks so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_02 (04:46):
Thank you so much for having me.
It's exciting for you to be herewith us and talk more about
what's going on in Torontotoday.

SPEAKER_05 (04:52):
Oh, it's been wonderful working with your team
to get this together.
And I have had an amazing tourearlier today to kind of get an
idea of what happens here at arendezvous conference.
It's my very first one, despitethe fact that it's been this is
the 49th, as I understand it.

SPEAKER_02 (05:06):
It is the 49th.

SPEAKER_05 (05:12):
Well, I like the 49th because obviously the 49th
parallel.
There's something special aboutCanada and 49th, even tragically
hip and the connection to thefact that, you know, uh 90% of
our population lives within 100miles of the U.S.
border.
Half of our listeners are in theU.S.
And I just wanted to tell youall, it's not because we love
you so much that we need to bethat close to the border.
It's not the only reason, but weactually have a completely

(05:35):
different agriculture, and weneed to make sure that we
harvest early.
This is always one of theinteresting facts about Canada
compared to the U.S.
When our kids were going toschool in California, the number
of uh teachers that said to usthat you don't have
Thanksgiving, we haveThanksgiving.
And I was like no, there's aCanadian Thanksgiving as well.
We have a harvest as well, andit has to be earlier given the
49th parallel.
So anyway, 49th is special.

(05:56):
But tell everyone, uh Megan,what uh what's particularly
special about Rendezvous thisyear and what you are most
looking forward to for thisyear's event.

SPEAKER_02 (06:05):
Yeah, so I think, you know, the first thing you
get when you get here into thebuilding is just the energy.
And so what is RendezvousCanada?
Well, it is Canada's biggestinternational tourism trade
show.
And over the next three days, weexpect to do more than$100
million in business.
And we have more than 1,400attendees.

(06:27):
So when we think about that, ithas a number of buyers that we
host from more than 24international countries and uh
900 uh people, sellers that arehere representing the great
products, experiences, hotelsthat we have in Canada.
And so all of them are here todo business over the next three

(06:48):
days.

SPEAKER_05 (06:49):
It's fantastic.
We're sitting right in the heartof the Metro Toronto Convention
Center, and in the center, thisis the Destination Canada booth.
There's 400 booths around us.
And as you mentioned, not onlyis there$100 million in business
going to be done over the nextthree days, but there's also
gonna be 60,000 meetings takingplace.
This is a place to get businessdeals done between international

(07:09):
buyers who are coming in and thesellers, who are many great
organizations that you know haveeven been on our podcast before,
like John Gunter, who runsFrontiers North, or Jason
Saranzini that runs Lansby.
But it really is coast to coastto coast as I walked around the
floor this morning to seeeverything from the East Coast
to Alberta and British Columbiato Nunavut and the Yukon and of

(07:31):
course Ontario and Quebec.
I mean, it's great to see Canadarepresented here.
Tell us a little bit more aboutthe background on this event and
the fact that, you know, this isthe 49th year and what brought
the event to Toronto this year.

SPEAKER_02 (07:43):
So I think, you know, Toronto is an amazing
city.
It is having a moment.
We have FIFA on the horizon.
Uh, it's a great host city, lotsof business events as well.
So it's a natural fit.
And so uh with you know,Rendezvous Canada, you mentioned
all of these internationalbuyers.
It is such a hub of export forus.

(08:06):
We don't really think of tourismas export revenue, but that's
really what it is.
We're inviting all theseinternational guests into Canada
to spend their dollars here inour local communities.
And so what's exciting aboutRendezvous Canada here in
Toronto, this this you know,next three days, is that amount
of export revenue that's coming.

(08:27):
And Canada has this massiveambition for$300 billion of
non-US export revenue.
And travel and tourism has thatopportunity to deliver 10% of
that.
And so we're gonna see thatmomentum start today and travel
over the next 10 years.

SPEAKER_05 (08:44):
Well, that's the thing that's unique about your
role that you also you're theCFO, so you understand the
financial impact, but you alsoknow data.
And we're gonna talk about AI aswell, because not only are we in
the birthplace of generative AIbeing in Toronto, there's
obviously, and whenever I givekeynotes on this topic, I'm
reminding people about theUniversity of Toronto um and the
great work that was done thereby, you know, now the um world

(09:07):
famous professor who has now uhcome back to us, and um, he is
uh the godfather of AI, and it'sone of the things that Toronto
is known for as the technologyand AI in this city.
So tell us a little bit aboutthat specifically, because AI is
obviously one of the mostimportant topics.
The sooner we get into it, themore people are gonna uh pay

(09:28):
attention and take notice.
So tell everyone about the factthat in your role, you're also
leading a charge on AI.

SPEAKER_02 (09:36):
Yeah, so uh, you know, why we're here today at
Rendezvous Canada is to talk alittle bit more about AI with
all of the sellers that arehere.
So we're using it as anactivation opportunity to talk
about the Canadian Tourism DataCollective, which is our uh
central brain of tourisminformation for Canada, and to
launch our Aurora AI, which is asuite of AI-based products that

(10:00):
can really help the tourismindustry in Canada.

SPEAKER_05 (10:03):
So I love the name Aurora, because obviously Aurora
Borealis, as other people know,with the Northern Lights.
So very fitting.
And uh but tell us everyone,tell everyone about Aurora AI
and what it actually does.

SPEAKER_02 (10:14):
Yeah, before I get into Aurora AI, I want to go and
talk about the Canadian TourismData Collective because that's
what it's grounded on.
So when we think about uhtourism data, we uh started in
the pandemic.
We're gonna go back and thinkabout where we were kind of in
that pandemic and don't like togo back there, but it really
exposed that we didn't have theinformation we needed to make

(10:38):
those fast decisions as we werecoming out of uh the pandemic
and into recovery.
And so we used it as anopportunity to build a central
brain.
So we brought all of this richsupply and demand side data
together, um, more than 240 datasources, 49 billion rows of
data.

(10:58):
And so all of that is there, andwe've wrapped a number of
fit-for-purpose products basedon our AI around that.
And so that's available publiclyto all businesses, 280,000
businesses in Canada.

SPEAKER_05 (11:12):
Well, and just on that, because I actually want to
do want to take a step back,because given your role in the
organization and the fact you'renow also taking a lead on AI and
how important it is, um telleveryone a bit about your
background.
And obviously, you've got a veryimportant role within the
organization, and we wanted tolead off this special with
Destination Canada, sinceobviously you're a key uh
partner in bringing this eventtogether, but it's not just

(11:34):
yourself.
There's so many other partnersyou work with in the ecosystem
in Canada and several peoplewe're gonna be speaking to over
the course of this eventspotlight.
But tell everyone a little bitabout your background, how you
got into tourism and took onthis particular role.

SPEAKER_02 (11:45):
Yeah, so I've always kind of played in this
intersection of technology andfinance and data.
Uh, I like to say I grew up inIT.
So that's where my backgroundis.
And I had the opportunity towork in the energy sector.
Uh, I was in healthcare for anumber of years, doing big data
transformation there.

(12:06):
And then um most recently in theinsurance sector.
And so these are very data-richsectors where kind of cut my
teeth there around data, and amassive opportunity came with
Destination Canada.
They were trying to build outtheir data practice.
Uh, amazing uh CEO that we have,Marshall Walden, who saw this

(12:27):
opportunity working with ourboard and was able to bring on
this new role.
So I'm the first uh Chief Dataand Analytics Officer at
Destination Canada.
And uh we saw the opportunity touse data and insights, really
become this data-drivenorganization to help us navigate
through into our growth.
And so when we think about that,we're focused on collective

(12:49):
intelligence to power the entireindustry.
And so we've had thatopportunity to build that out
over the last kind of four tofive years.

SPEAKER_05 (12:56):
Well, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to sit
down with you, and I've got somany questions for you.
And uh, I know we'll need to bemindful of time overall, but
there's a number of things I'mreally keen to ask you that will
really set the stage for ourglobal listeners about
Rendezvous Canada and alsoDestination Canada.
And so I specifically wanted totalk about Destination Canada
for a moment.
Our listeners would have heardof uh Gloria Gloria Laurie,
who's the chief marketingofficer.

(13:17):
She's been on our podcastbefore.
We did a special episode onCanada, and we had John Gunter
from Frontiers North and JasonSarasini on that episode, and it
got a lot of interest andattention because we talked
about a lot of things that arenot well known about Canadian
tourism and some of themisperceptions of our industry.
And Gloria illuminated a numberof valid, uh very valuable
points on that conversation.

(13:37):
One of them was the number ofGerman travelers coming to
Canada and specifically lookingfor indigenous tourism
experiences, and they werechoosing Canada, even though
they could go other places forthe Northern Lights, they could
go to Iceland, uh, they could goto Alaska, but they were
choosing Canada because of theexperience they could have here
connecting with local culture.
And so there were so manyvaluable insights that she

(13:57):
shared.
Tell us a little bit aboutDestination Canada.
I know your team's based inVancouver.
Give our listeners a bit of anoverview of that organization,
and then we'll come back to thisconference and how important
this is to bring this togethereach year.

SPEAKER_02 (14:09):
For sure.
So Destination Canada is thenational tourism organization in
Canada.
Uh, we're responsible forpromoting Canada to our
international markets.
And we do that, of course,through uh, you know, marketing.
So Gloria would have spoken toall the marketing that we do.
We do it through industrysupport and big events like

(14:30):
Rendezvous Canada.
We do it through destinationdevelopment and investment
attraction.
So we are hosting a number of uhinvestors today from Hotels
Canada.
So you're seeing that on thefloor as well.
And then, of course, we provideas part of our mandate data and
insights to inform the sector.
And so that's where the AI hasreally come in and helped lead

(14:52):
that charge to build out thatintelligence layer.

SPEAKER_05 (14:55):
And the other thing I wanted to ask you, then so now
that our listeners have a betterunderstanding of Destination
Canada and then the need for achief data officer, um, because
uh even actually have anunderstanding of the tourism
numbers and the growth potentialof this market, and obviously
we're having a moment, which isreally wonderful for many
reasons.
Canada is on the world stage,and some of that is political

(15:16):
and geopolitical, but thereality is that Canadians are
traveling more domestically.
That's obviously one of the bigtrends that I'm keen to ask you
about.
More international travelers arediscovering Canada or choosing
Canada, and that's reallyexciting for us as well.
And so as we kind of come backto rendezvous and this event,
tell us a little bit about theinternational, the international
visitors and who comes to anevent like this.

SPEAKER_02 (15:38):
Yeah, so I think you know, you nailed it there that
Canada is definitely having amoment and we have what the
world wants.
Uh, we're seeing that, you know,when we look at our forecasts,
we just published our tourismoutlook uh to 2035.
So we have a really robusttrajectory ahead of us that uh
we're looking forward to, butthere's this momentum, and we're

(16:01):
seeing this momentum in ourinternational uh audiences.
Uh what we've seen is of courseuh Canadians are exploring a
little bit more of their ownbackyard, and and we can talk
about that.
Uh you know, the US is still abig cornerstone market for us,
and it has a strong growth of5%.
But we're seeing, you know, overthe next uh 10 years a

(16:24):
compounded annual growth rate ofclose to 10% for these

SPEAKER_06 (16:28):
That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 (16:29):
You know, when you talk about the you know the
opportunities and experiencethat somewhere Frontiers North
has, yeah, it is reallyattracting and hitting um those
targeted customers that we havein those highly engaged guests
that want to have moreresponsible travel, that want to
go slower, deeper experience uh,you know, with the indigenous

(16:52):
experiences as well.
And so we're finding that matchright now in that moment where
Canada has the welcomeness andthe legendary experiences, and
it's meeting uh, you know, wherethe customers want to spend
their share of wallet.

SPEAKER_05 (17:06):
Yeah.
Well, you mentioned severalreally interesting points there.
The US being up 5%,international travelers being up
10%, compounded, you know,looking over the next 10 years,
more Canadians travelingdomestically.
So all of these signs.
What are you seeing in terms ofthe travelers and their
preferred experiences in comingto Canada?
Because I'm sure that you'relooking at all these different
partners that are here.

(17:27):
Obviously, we have adventuretravel, we've got nature, we've
got hiking, we've got so much tooffer.
Is there any kind of big trendsthat stand out to you about why
people are choosing Canada?

SPEAKER_02 (17:37):
I think, you know, there's there's a number of
things.
It's the welcoming nature ofCanada when they see it.
Uh, we see that there's two kindof big segments that are
interested in us, and we callthem refined glow trotters and
outdoor explorers.
And so both of them have thisresponsible travel aspect to

(17:57):
them.
They want to experience localculture.
They want to get deeper with thecommunities that they are
engaging with when they're ontravel.
But of course, they want thoseonce-in-a-lifetime
opportunities, these legendaryexperiences, and Canada has that
in spades, whether it's theNorthern Lights or seeing a
polar bear or having a lobsterdinner on the East Coast.

(18:20):
You know, we have it all.
Yeah.
So those experiences that youknow the international travelers
are so attracted to are righthere in our backyard.

SPEAKER_05 (18:30):
Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
We have culture, we havehistory, we have cuisine, we
have certainly uh an abundanceof outdoor activities that many
active travelers, and especiallythe older generation that are
looking to do more active trips,like cycling trips and certainly
hiking.
But there are, you know, what'sreally unique about our country,
and obviously you know this evenbetter than me, you know, it's
coast to coast to coast.
And so, you know, we do have umthe Arctic to consider as well.

(18:53):
And that is also when I'mlooking around at the Yukon and
Northwest Territories, uh,Nunavut.
Um, tell a little, tell all ofour listeners maybe a little bit
about how the North is evolvingand some of those opportunities
because I'm sure more people arefamiliar with Ontario uh and
Quebec and British Columbia, butit's really exciting to see the
presence here of some of theNorthern Territories.

SPEAKER_02 (19:13):
Yeah, so I mean there's amazing uh experiences
that you can have in the North.
Uh I had the opportunity to goto Northwest Territories and see
the Northern Lights.
And I think if anybody's high upon my list, I can't wait for the
experience.
Uh that is something that'llstay with you for the rest of
your life.
And so we're seeing within thoseexperiences more and more

(19:34):
international travelers.
They have a greater uhopportunity to see the Northern
Lights when they do come toCanada than some of the other
markets and competition thatwe're up against.
So uh there's theseopportunities, amazing hosts and
experiences once you're there.
And so you get that uh feelingof the community when you're in

(19:56):
there and the hosts that arethere.
So uh amazing experiences acrossthe north, whether it's the
Yukon or Nunavut, um, you know,always welcoming.

SPEAKER_05 (20:04):
That's fantastic.
Now, obviously, that's only Imean, there's 400 booths around
us, and so many of these,they're all organized.
You'll see some of the picturesI've shared on social media, and
there'll be a nice blog postabout this event as well,
because I really do want tohighlight the fact that Canada
is having this incredible momentbecause it's obviously special
to me being a Canadian.
And the number of times I haveto say, Megan, over the years,

(20:27):
having lived in Australia andthe UK and the US and being
surrounded by internationaltravelers, I worked at Lonely
Planet, for example.
And the reason I mentioned thatis that I would speak to people,
and I still do, that have neverbeen to Canada.
And it still shocks me how fewpeople have been here and how
little how limited theirunderstanding is of our country.
And so it's always anopportunity.

(20:48):
And this episode, I really hopethat for those of you who are
still considering coming toCanada for the first time, this
will inspire you to.
And for those of you who are inuh the travel industry,
especially travel advisors,which is a big uh live uh
audience for us, um, that willnot only travel here themselves,
but also encourage their theirguests because it is welcoming.

(21:09):
We say sorry a lot, as you know.
And so, you know, it uh Canadahas has a lot to offer.
And so, Omega, one of the thingsI'm really keen to ask you as we
sit here on day one of theconference, knowing that you've
got this you know incrediblethree-day event and that AI is
going to be a continuous part ofthe conversations that people
are having.
Tell us a little bit about whatthe plans are here with Aurora

(21:31):
AI and rolling out some of thisnew technology for all the
partners here and what theoverall plans are with the AI
strategy for Destination Canada.

SPEAKER_02 (21:40):
Yeah, so you know, we're using AI and collective
intelligence to increase thecompetitiveness of the 280,000
tourism businesses from coast tocoast to coast.
And so we had a massiveopportunity in front of us using
the data collected, thengenerative.
AI hit the scene.

(22:01):
No, no, this is a good idea.
And that allowed us tofundamentally disrupt the way
that we could engage with data.
And so by doing that, we wereable to not worry about
dashboards anymore, not worriedabout these big reports, and
allow our users to just have aconversation with the data.
So all you need to know is howto ask a really good question.

(22:25):
You don't have to have a bigdata team in the back or an
analyst sitting beside you.
And so we're using AI to createthat accessibility.

SPEAKER_05 (22:34):
So I want to go on a little deeper on this because I
know our listeners will befinding this so interesting
because we've done an AI summitfor the last two years.
All of our listeners arefamiliar with the Travel Trends
AI Summit.
We have our next one coming upin October where we're going
beyond AI because the idea thatAI is now getting incorporated
into all of these businesses.
And as we move past agentic intothis next phase, that the
reality is most AI today isbeing utilized by companies to

(22:58):
become more efficient.
And obviously, as you mentioned,280,000 providers, how do you
create opportunities for all ofthem to better position
themselves and get access to theknowledge they need to advance
their businesses?
There's so much potential withAI.
And I then this is where Ialways want to make sure of our
listeners that the B2Bapplication of AI is really
where the momentum is at themoment to better uh empower the

(23:22):
community that you serve andalso uh to focus on business
benefit.
So tell everyone a little bitmore about what the overall
plans are for Aurora AI andwhere it's going to be headed in
the next, like even let's justsay 12 to 18 months.

SPEAKER_02 (23:35):
Yeah, so I mean, when you think about it, it's
about efficiencies, and we'redefinitely getting efficiencies
by using AI, but that's notreally where we needed to focus.
We needed to focus onbreakthroughs.
Right.
And so as we thought about that,we had to answer the biggest
questions that our businesses inCanada had.
And that's around targetingaudiences, that's around

(23:58):
marketing, that's aroundinvestment and traction, that's
around securing uh grants andfurther investment.
And so we built out Aurora AI toanswer those questions.
And so one of our flagshipproducts, which is Aurora AI
Traveler Twin, and that isessentially a digital twin of

(24:20):
our best guest.
And so we're using that to allowall of these businesses access
to enterprise grade AI that isusually kind of gated, right?
You usually have to have a bigdata team or big investment, or
you're a Fortune 500 company andyou can build all of this.
But we've now shared the abilityto interact with a digital twin

(24:44):
of our best guests thatrepresent all of our
Um, and so we're providing thatuh through Aurora AI, and we'll
continue that product roadmapout, um, always focusing on
answering those biggestquestions.

SPEAKER_05 (24:58):
Well, and I just want you to clarify that digital
twin, because that's one of thethings I found fascinating, was
I'm meeting with your teambeforehand.
I was looking at some of thetools that you have rolled out
and the digital twin concept,just explain that a little bit
more to our listeners because Ithink that is really meaningful
for them to understand what thatis, how it works, because it's
it's very clear there's there'sso much benefit if you
understand that if youunderstand better understand why

(25:20):
it was conceived and what thatname actually means.

SPEAKER_02 (25:23):
So the digital twin is essentially taking all of our
rich segmentation informationthat we have on our customers,
as well as additional surveysfrom all of our international
markets and landing it all inone place, supported by the
additional data that we have inthe central brain.
And by grounding it on ourcustomer and the Canadian data,

(25:47):
uh, we're able to have a veryrich conversation.
So think about it as having yourbest customer sitting right
beside you the next time youcome up with a media campaign.
Right.
Or think about a new productdesign, or if you want to put
together an investmentprospectus, that's exactly what
you have.
And so you can uh rift back andforth uh with the AI, and it's

(26:10):
really mimicking what theanswers would be from your
customer in that specificsegment or specific market.

SPEAKER_05 (26:17):
Interesting.
Okay.
And one thing I wanted to callout on this topic, and this is
where, you know, when you'relistening to experts talk about
the Canadian market andopportunities for growth, one of
the things that I know that hasheld us back is accommodation.
And um, you know, especiallyliving in the US and when Canada
has had moments of increasedtourism, we also have been
somewhat limited by theavailability of hotels because

(26:37):
certain cities get overwhelmed.
But the reality is more hotelsare being built.
There's obviously the Rim Rock,which is one of the big
developments that's happeningout in Banff.
I'll call them out.
I know you guys should becareful about who you mentioned,
but I'm I you know when I hearthese different organizations
and what and what they're doingto invest in Canada and to bring
more uh travelers to Canada.
I was at a conference in Januaryin New York City and the Rim
Rock was what was all the talkand the buzz.

(26:59):
And it was really cool to be aCanadian on stage, and they gave
out a compass and it had theexact uh coordinates of the Rim
Rock, and I held it up on stageand just told everybody um to
meet me there in June of 2026when it opens, because now you
know how to get there, um, ifall of all other technology
fails.
But yeah, tell us a little ifyou would mind um about some of

(27:19):
the insights that you've beenable to glean from this.
So I share one example if peopleare looking to invest in this
market or advance theirbusiness, so that's a challenge
that we had that we'reovercoming now by building out
more accommodation and creatingmore opportunities.
What are some other things thathave stood out to you and how
people are using this tool orsome interesting insights of how
you and the team have beenlooking at the data and all of a

(27:40):
sudden getting some valuable newinsights about what Canadian
tourism actually looks like?

SPEAKER_02 (27:44):
Yeah, I think the best way to let the audience
know about how the tools work isgive you a couple examples.

SPEAKER_05 (27:50):
Please, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (27:51):
And so uh, you know, one around audience targeting.
Uh there's uh a great companythat is here, Bayo Fundy
Adventures.
Oh, yeah, of course, yeah.
Uh 12-person kayak uh tourcompany, and they used our
segmentation data, they used thedata collective and the traveler
twin, and were able to identifyuh adventure-driven segment, uh,

(28:14):
the US Outdoor Explorer.

SPEAKER_06 (28:16):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (28:17):
And with their investment in marketing, they
were able to direct theirmessaging specifically to
Target.
They were able to direct theirmedia based on what's available
in the Traveler Twin directly tothat market.
And over one season, they thinkabout kayak seat occupancy, and
they went from a 54% kayak seatoccupancy to a 98% kayak seat

(28:40):
occupancy.
So you're using that data andinsights uh to craft what really
differentiates your business andbring it right to that relevant
uh customer.
So they were able to do that.
Uh, another really great exampleof how it's being used on more
of a marketing front is uh ourfriends at Explore Edmonton used
it.

(29:00):
They were promoting aprofessional women's hockey
event.
They had a target of 20%out-of-town visitors to come to
this event.
They actually loaded theirmarketing uh taglines into the
Traveler Twin to see how youknow the guest would respond.
And so it didn't just givefeedback on that, it actually

(29:22):
gave a strategy.
They use this tagline to uh, youknow, look after your
out-of-town guests, use thistagline for more of the
community engagement down theroad.
Uh, they were able to actuallydouble the out-of-town
visitation that they wereexpecting for that event.
So, you know, they're passingback and forth.
You're you're able to have aconversation with the customer,

(29:43):
you're actually able to pull itback and use it in your own,
let's say if you have Claude orChat GPT, and you're able to
push back and forth between thetwo kind of instances and test
with that uh digital twin out ofyour customer.

SPEAKER_05 (29:56):
Well, let's make sure while we're having this
conversation that we ensure allof our listeners know where to
find these tools.

SPEAKER_02 (30:01):
Yeah, so if you're looking for us, uh
destinationcanada.com.
Uh, but uh the the CanadianTourism Data Collective uh is
where you're going to find it.

SPEAKER_05 (30:12):
Fantastic.
And I two last questions foryou.
Um and one of the things I justwanted to highlight, I
referenced uh Jeffrey Hintonwhen I was talking about the
godfather of AI.
Of course, he's English, buthe's based back in in Toronto
now, and you know, he was inCalifornia for many years.
And I think this is one of thethings that's special about the
city is the talent, uhespecially around AI and
technology.

(30:32):
I was just curious, when youguys are building this out, I
know you're based in Vancouver.
Um, is it Canadian engineers?
How are you guys putting thisall together?

SPEAKER_02 (30:40):
I love this question.
Yes, and yes, and yes.
Um proud of the team that weworked with.
So, you know, when we thinkabout our data, we started with
a relationship with ourstatistical organization in
Canada, StatsCAN.
And so that provides a lot ofthe core data that we have on
tourism.
We layer a lot of DestinationCanada's data that we're

(31:02):
collecting on our own into that,and of course, a number of
commercial data sources.
When we think about development,uh, we have developers from
coast to coast, uh both inVancouver and Halifax that are
actively working since day oneon the data collective.
And so it's all Canadiandeveloped.
And then the best part is we uhdo a lot of design thinking, and

(31:25):
so we get to work with all thebusinesses that have the
questions about tourism.
And they're in our process fromday one, um, accepting what
we're going to build all the wayto testing it.
So this is really Canadianthrough and through when you
look at it.
So super proud of not only, youknow, the teams that we've had,

(31:46):
but the talent that weabsolutely have and the talent
that we have within DestinationCanada that they've really
excelled to bring this.
We get to pace beside some ofthe biggest companies, Spotify,
uh, Marriott, uh, Amex, andwe've have Enterprise Grade AI
that's pacing right alongsidethem.
So so proud of the team.

SPEAKER_05 (32:07):
As you should be.
It's a terrific success story,and I'm so happy that this is
you know part of the overallsuccess of Destination Canada is
that you know, we are atechnology powerhouse.
You're leveraging both thetalented resources that we have
available, and obviously they'reexcited to be able to showcase
their country.
And and uh so uh the stars areall aligning.

(32:28):
I but I've got two otherquestions I just wanted to ask
you.
Uh given that you are across thedata, you're obviously you know
a senior executive atDestination Canada, and you have
access to all kind of theknowledge, and whenever I have
someone of um uh yoursignificance on the podcast that
has access to that perspective,I'm always keen for them to
share like an insight or twowith us about the overall trends

(32:49):
you're seeing in Canadiantravel, the overall trends
you're seeing in the industry,and obviously yourself
specifically to Canadian travel.
So um, and two final questions,any big insights on what's with
the happening in Canadian traveland where things are headed, and
then I'm keen to ask you whereyou're traveling to next.

SPEAKER_02 (33:05):
Oh, okay.
So, oh, there's so much to leanon.
But where I like to go is, youknow, from trends international
is is really growing.
We're seeing a lot a lot ofgrowth out of China.
So we're seeing that that was areally a long tail market for
us.
And so we're seeing that comeback online now uh in a much

(33:28):
more meaningful way.
And so uh that's an exciting,and you'll see a lot of, I think
we have uh more than double theamount of buyers here in at
Rendezvous Canada than we didlast year.
So uh that's uh an amazing kindof accomplishment for that team.
And so we're seeing a lot ofinternational growth.

(33:50):
And so I would say, you know,we're leaning into Canada having
a moment.
We're leaning into reallyresonating with our brand and
Canada naturally, and you'regonna see that everywhere.
Uh, that we go.

SPEAKER_05 (34:02):
Oh, that's awesome.
And obviously, speaking of whereyou're going or where things are
headed, where are you going?
What's next on your travel listfor Canadian tourism?

SPEAKER_02 (34:11):
Well, uh, I am going to Halifax next.
So we get to have our boardmeetings in Halifax.
So that's in a couple of weeks.
But I actually took a vacationjust last week and I got to
spend time in a Soyuz BC.

SPEAKER_05 (34:26):
Oh, amazing.

SPEAKER_02 (34:27):
Uh, you know, test out all the wineries there, go
for some nice golf.
Um, so it was an amazing uhopportunity to kind of go a
couple hours out of Vancouverand uh really dig in.

SPEAKER_05 (34:39):
Yeah, and El Soyos is actually right near the only
desert that we have here inCanada.

SPEAKER_02 (34:43):
It was very desert-like with great weather,
um, super warm and uh no rain.

SPEAKER_05 (34:48):
No, it's amazing.
When you even think of aprovince like British Columbia,
the number of, and even theirtagline here is from rainforest
to Rockies.
And I thought that wasinteresting because obviously
they're having to go at Albertaby leaning into the Rockies as
well.
Like we have the coastalmountains, we go into the
Rockies.
And I mean, one of the mostbeautiful parts to see of our
country is to travel fromCalgary to Vancouver.
And there is a border to crossthere, but no, you don't

(35:08):
actually have to pass one.
I mean, it's just it's twodifferent provinces.
Um, but there's so manybeautiful parts of British
Columbia, like there's uh justin and of itself, but there's so
much to see of our country, andI feel like I know I've been to
all the provinces, but I haven'tbeen to any of the territories
yet, so that's next uh for me.
I really wanted to get to theYukon.
And so um that's why I wasasking about the Arctic because
I know there's so much uhtourism being developed there

(35:30):
and um uh and new uhdevelopments, so it's anyway,
it's very exciting time.
Um, I can't thank you enough forbringing us in and making us a
part of Rendezvous this year.
It's a real honor to be here.
So a special thank you to youand the Destination Canada team.
Um, but just to finish off, Iknow you mentioned the website,
but if people want to reach outto you directly, Megan, after
this, what would be the best wayfor them to do that?

SPEAKER_02 (35:52):
Just uh check me out, Megan Farrigno on LinkedIn.

SPEAKER_05 (35:55):
Perfect.
I'm sure many people will.
But yes, thank you, Megan.
Thanks for sharing yourinsights, and we'll be sure to
continue to track your progress.
Have a great couple of days hereat the conference.
Wish you and the team everysuccess, and thanks again for
making the time to speak to us.

SPEAKER_02 (36:07):
Thank you so much for having us.

SPEAKER_05 (36:10):
I'm delighted that my next guest here is Sebastian
Benedict, who is the presidentand CEO of the Tourism Industry
Association of Canada, and theyare key to putting on this
event.
So, Sebastian, welcome to TravelTrends.
Great to have you with us.
Thank you for having me.
Fantastic.
And I know you're based inOttawa.
Actually, Gatno is home for you,but the office is in Ottawa.
Tell us a little bit about yourrole and specifically about the

(36:31):
Tourism Industry Association ofCanada.

SPEAKER_00 (36:34):
So we're basically an advocacy uh organization for
tourism operators.
So our job on every day is to goon Parliament Hill and convince
politicians to put programs inplace or change regulation that
can help tourism operators inCanada.
People don't realize, butthere's uh over 280,000 tourism
businesses in Canada.
So our role is really torepresent them on Hill.

SPEAKER_05 (36:53):
Fantastic.
And now, so the organizationitself, you put this event on in
partnership with, and you wantto give us a little bit of an
overview about how Rendezvouscomes together with Destination
Canada and all these partners,including yourself.

SPEAKER_00 (37:05):
Exactly.
So we collaborate withDestination Canada, who's the
Crown Corporation in charge ofmarketing Canada uh on the
international scene.
And for us, I like to comparethis as like the the Super Bowl
of tourism.
It's our biggest event of theyear.
We have over 1,500 people here,and it's a mix of buyers and
sellers.
It's like a big Tinder, right?
People are meeting 15, 10minutes appointment all day
long.
And it's tour operators fromaround the world that are coming

(37:27):
here and meeting with provinces,with operators to see what's
new, what do you have to offer,right?

SPEAKER_05 (37:32):
Well, one of your colleagues, Nicole Clark, I, you
know, have gotten to know theteam over the last few months
preparing for this event andlooking forward to meeting each
of you and being here for thevery first time at rendezvous.
I thought it was obviously agreat opportunity being I'm
based here in Toronto.
This is my hometown, and I'mvery much Canadian, but I travel
more than half of the time.
And for me, I meet a lot of thepeople, yourself and colleagues,

(37:54):
at other global events.
What I really wanted to makesure I did was take the time to
profile what happens here at therendezvous conference.
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground.
I know you've been to rendezvousconferences before, but you're
new in this role.
I know you've been kind of sevenmonths into this new role, so
you're coming back to rendezvousthis time in this new capacity.

SPEAKER_00 (38:12):
Yeah, definitely.
So before uh being the CEO atTayak, I was with L'Alliance de
l'Industrie Touristiques Quebec,which is basically the Quebec
equivalent.
Uh they do the the promotioninternationally for Quebec.
So I and we hosted the event uhtwo or three years ago in Quebec
City.
Uh so we I got the chance to seeit on the other side side of the
fence when you're like the oldcity and and everyone's coming
here, and it has such an impacton the city.

(38:32):
It's it's amazing.

SPEAKER_05 (38:33):
Yeah.
Well, one of the things thatobviously is really special
about Canada is we're abilingual country.
And I spoke at a conference lastyear in Quebec City, which was
really special because it was aFrancophone conference.
I was one of three Englishspeakers that was brought in for
that uh conference.
And being here at this event,seeing people from Quebec, but
also uh British Columbia,Alberta, the East Coast.
I've got a lot of family out inthe East Coast, my daughter's at

(38:54):
school in Halifax, and yourealize just how special our
country is when the peopleacross from coast to coast to
coast get together for an eventlike this.
And so, for you, given thatyou've been to this event for
many years and you've obviouslytaken on this new role and
you're key to this event, telleveryone about what brings
people to rendezvous, who comesto this event and what draws

(39:15):
them to this event each year.

SPEAKER_00 (39:17):
So obviously, from the the international buyers,
you know, they want to knowwhat's new, what they can sell
to their client for people tocome here.
And obviously, this year, givenwith everything that's happening
in the United States, we canreally see that there is this
curiosity and there's thisinterest in finding out like
alternative and what they canoffer.
And we're seeing this in theregistration and the amount of
new buyers that came this year.
So uh from an internationalseller's uh buyer's perspective,

(39:40):
this is what we're seeing.
And then for the people that arehere selling their destination,
it's it's a the perfectopportunity to showcase you know
what we have to offer.
If you're if you're a tourismoperator or you're a provincial
organization, you you can showwhat's new in my province this
year that people should comevisit.

SPEAKER_05 (39:54):
Yeah, and uh, people would have heard from the
introduction, you know, there's400 booths here, 60,000 meetings
that are happening, more than100 million in revenue that's
expected to be transacted overthe next few days here at the
conference.
We're sitting here together onday one of the three-day
conference, and this is uh thewindow of opportunity to have
these conversations because youguys have a very busy few days
ahead.
Tell us a little bit what'splanned for this conference.

(40:14):
What are some of the highlightsfor 2026 in particular?

SPEAKER_00 (40:18):
Well, I think for like I mentioned, for us it's
the amount of of new buyers thatare here.
You know, we've got recordnumbers of people here, and we
with the the shift in um inbehavior of a lot of tourists,
like it's really an opportunitywe need to seize uh right now.
So we really want to make themost out of it this week and
really leave a lastingimpression.
We had our our opening receptionin the CN Tower last night.

(40:38):
Uh, people were very impressed.
You know, we had almost 1,300people at the top of the CN
Tower for a great cocktail.
So we're we really want to makesure we leave a bang.
We we make that they know peopleare welcome here uh in Canada
and that they come this summer.

SPEAKER_05 (40:52):
Yeah, it's fantastic.
One of the things I got toexperience this morning that I
want all of our listeners toknow, because I've talked on
this podcast many times aboutdemographics and you know
changing customer behavior, andone of the interesting
highlights that MatthewUpchurts, who runs the Virtuoso
uh organization, had pointed outto me in one of our most popular
episodes, is that post-pandemic,we still haven't seen the

(41:13):
Chinese traveler return.
And so he highlighted that youknow there's a hundred million
Chinese travelers that have yetto re-enter the travel market.
And what's really interesting,sitting here together at the
rendezvous conference indowntown Toronto, is there is a
Chinese tourism contingent.
You have a special section setup, and your team was explaining
to me that these are vendorsthat have passed all the

(41:34):
regulations to be able tooperate inbound tourism to
Canada for Chinese travelers.
And were they busy havingmeetings this morning?
And that's a very encouragingsign for us in Canada to see
that we're gonna get groups ofChinese travelers, and I'm not
to touch on politics, butobviously they are connected.
Carney making a trip and us allof a sudden being able to open
up to uh having Chinesetravelers again is a really

(41:57):
exciting development forCanadian tourism.

SPEAKER_00 (41:59):
Well, I'm glad you raised this, and it's totally
connected.
And for us it was a big winbecause for years, because of
the tension with China, grouptravel was not allowed in
Canada.
So when you ask, you know, whatTIAG does, it's part of our role
as advocacy to Parliament tomake them realize, you know,
some of the stuff you're doingis impacting the tourism
industry, such as this.
So having uh this travel kind oftravel ban lifted now and being
able to have uh a group of uhChinese travelers come here for

(42:22):
us, it's a huge win.
We're it's one of the thingswe're most excited about this
year.

SPEAKER_05 (42:25):
What are some of the other big international markets
that come to this event eachyear?
One of them, I um uh a few ofyour colleagues talked about
Germany, how many Germans comingto Canada, and especially
Germans looking for indigenoustravel.
And obviously, there's a largeindigenous uh tourism component
here, and uh so that obviouslyis is one of the big draws.
But tell us from aninternational point of view,
what are the big markets thatcome to this event that are

(42:48):
sending travelers to Canada?

SPEAKER_00 (42:50):
Well, the United States remain, you know, the the
biggest market, and they they'vegot a good representation here.
But we often uh obviously haveuh France, you know, UK,
Australia, uh big presence fromAsia.
So we're we're we're reallyexpanding like Destination
Canada, beside the US, has eightkey market that they really
focus on.
Uh and you've mentioned most ofthem, and I I come to Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (43:11):
Now the other thing I wanted to ask you too is that
you know you're very close tothe trends that are happening in
Canadian tourism.
And one of the things that we'vecertainly seen is more Canadians
exploring their own backyard.
And it's you know, you mentionedit in context of we're having a
moment here in Canada, and partof that is because um Canadians
are choosing not to travel tothe US for uh I think we all

(43:32):
know the main reasons for that,um the geopolitical factors at
play and and the overall uh uhtense aspect of the relationship
and and tariffs and so forth.
So Canadians are making thedecision to uh stay home or
travel elsewhere, but they'redefinitely exploring their own
backyard.
How significant is that trend interms of the tourism increases

(43:53):
that you're seeing?

SPEAKER_00 (43:54):
Well, we believe it's the reason we had a record
breaking summer last year, wassixty billion dollar in in uh
summer.
For us in tourism, uh, we'reseeing that trend continue this
summer.
That we are we're obviously alittle scared when the war
started and the gas pricestarted to to increase.
We were wondering, you know, howthat will affect uh tourism
behavior.
What we're seeing so far isobviously people are kind of

(44:14):
changing their their behavior,but they're not canceling trips,
right?
It may if they were planning ondoing a road trip, let's say,
from Quebec to PI for to gocamping, they're still gonna go,
but maybe they'll skip arestaurant or they'll skip an
activity.
But what we're seeing is mostpeople doesn't seem to be
canceling their vacation, whichis good news.

SPEAKER_05 (44:30):
Yeah.
Well, one of the things I alsowanted to ask you is the type of
travel that Canadians arelooking for domestically.
And so indigenous travel iscontinues to be on the rise uh
for all the right reasons, butespecially with international
travelers.
When it comes to domestictravelers, what type of travel
experiences are you seeing themtaking?
You obviously mentioned the uhgas prices because one of the

(44:50):
ways that Canadians get aroundis the uh epic road trip.
You know, that we have a huge,uh beautiful country, but and so
many people take huge road tripsin the summertime.
They go camping, and I know uhNational Parks organization is
here.
What are sort of the travelstyles that you're seeing with
having a lot of momentum thissummer?

SPEAKER_00 (45:07):
Well, nature remains usually our number one solid,
right?
It's it's it's what people goto, and we have so much to offer
in Canada.
You mentioned earlier thedifference from coast to coast,
like it we have everything tooffer in one destination.
Uh, and then food remains a bigdriver.
Uh I I was lucky enough uh lastyear to be the one of the
persons that negotiated to bringthe Michelin guide in Quebec,
and and we saw the the impactthat this sort of of the for

(45:29):
food is and people who wouldlike to enjoy good food, the
impact that the whole culinarytourism can bring.
Uh so that's another driver thatwe're seeing.

SPEAKER_05 (45:37):
Yeah, culinary, I mean, across the conferences
I've been attending this year,culinary has obviously been a
big focus and continues to be.
The other thing is wellness, ofcourse.
People choosing to travel basedon being active.
And uh, when you say nature, Imean obviously one of the best
things you can do in thiscountry is you can hike, you can
cycle.
Um, is wellness a big driver aswell?

SPEAKER_00 (45:57):
Definitely, and and we're seeing a lot of
destination using that um as aas a as a promotion tool.
And I'll I'm giving anotherQuebec example, but because I
was there until until a fewmonths ago, but their their big
campaign was called WinterRepee, which is uh like a
play-on word of like come taketherapy during the winter in
Quebec with wellness with spaand everything.
So we're seeing a lot ofdestination uh leaning into this

(46:18):
whole like wellness and and youknow, take care of yourself uh
in our destination.

SPEAKER_05 (46:22):
Yeah.
One of the things when I was atthe Virtuoso Canada conference,
I did like this three-cityspeaking tour in Calgary and
Vancouver and Toronto, and theywould show stats to all of the
uh you know high-end luxurytravel agents about Canadian
travel, and one of the thingsthey pointed out was a real
increase in solo travel, whichobviously is another driver that
you know, especially um iffemale traveler taking group

(46:42):
trips.
Um so there's been a big rise insolo travel.
What the interesting when theypulled up put a list together of
the top solo destinations,number one was Canada for solo
travel.
And I said, How does that work?
Is that like going on a roadtrip on your own or going
camping and just solo uhexperiencing Canada?
But what what are you seeing interms of groups and how people
are traveling?
Is is solo travel uh a realthing here in Canada, or what

(47:03):
what are the other kinds ofgroups and travel styles that
you're seeing on the rise?

SPEAKER_00 (47:07):
It's very interesting.
You raise it, and I believe thereason is safety, right?
Like when if you're a solotraveler, the one number one
thing you're looking for is am Igoing to a save destination?
Right.
And this is one thing thatCanada can offer.
You know, we have a bunch ofstuff to offer, but one thing
our reputation has is we're alsoa safe destination.
So I'm completely convincedthese two are linked.

SPEAKER_05 (47:26):
Yeah, that's really interesting.
Actually, I'm hanging on you.
As soon as you said that, I wasthinking about people that I
know that have gone to Montrealor gone to Vancouver on their
own.
Like they've taken a longweekend, or people are more
comfortable traveling solo orjoining other group trips, and
especially given now you've gotthe infrastructure in place with
the accommodation, the tours,you can put together uh a trip
quite easily on your own.
The other thing when um we lookaround who's here at this event

(47:48):
that I wanted to ask you to helpuh illuminate the experience
here for our global audience.
We have all the provinces, allthe territories represented here
at the event.
We also have the indigenoustourism and then obviously um
new delegations like having theuh the uh Chinese tour operators
having a section.
Are there any other groups atnational parks?

(48:08):
I what are some of the other uhorganizations that come together
for an event like this that areworth noting that are part of
the ecosystem of Rendezvous?

SPEAKER_00 (48:18):
Well, uh you've met like this is the the biggest
chunk you've mentioned, butthere's uh there's tourism
operators, you know, as all uhuh for like for example, like
Fresh Track Canada, which is uhan operator we have out west uh
in uh in in Vancouver.
So uh besides just thedestination marketing
organization, you do have youknow uh operators and and
businesses that come here forit.

SPEAKER_05 (48:37):
Yeah, actually it's a really I'm glad you mentioned
that because as I learned theterminology, those are the
sellers, the ones that arecoming here.
A good example of that is ourgood friend John Gunter from
Frontiers North.

SPEAKER_00 (48:46):
Yes, I love John.

SPEAKER_05 (48:47):
Yeah, John's a fantastic guy.
Um I think the world of John.
Uh you've got Jason Saranciniwho runs Lansby, and um, and I
obviously I know the team atFresh Tracks as well.
Uh for our internationalaudience, what are some of the
other operators that they shouldbe aware of?
And clearly I know you can'tplay favorites, so I'm not
trying to put you on the spotand ask you which of your
favorites, but those are acouple examples because I know
Fresh Tracks overwhelminglydraws most of their business

(49:10):
from the U.S.
for Americans looking to come toCanada to take rail tours.
And it's a very substantialbusiness, a very meaningful
business.
And it's been around, there's anEnglish guy that founded it.
It's a great success, Canadiansuccess story, and they totally
just focus on Canada veryintentionally.
Are there any otherorganizations like that that are
worth noting for our listenersthat are thinking about
traveling to Canada and makingthat connection to say, wait a

(49:30):
second, Frontiers North, I knowum Newfoundland has some
incredible operators as well.
What would be a few that youwould call out that uh our
global audience might beinterested in knowing about?

SPEAKER_00 (49:40):
You're really putting on the spot with this,
man.
If if I give you a politicalanswer, I think it's more
something people underestimateabout this event is the
networking opportunity you get,right?
Right.
Like even uh you get here,there's people you you will not
think that you will meet, or orthat you'll meet people that
will pitch you in touch withpeople you never thought you
could meet.
So uh I think this is really thethe undertone of it, it's the

(50:01):
networking.

SPEAKER_05 (50:01):
Yeah.
Well done.
Well done.
That was almost a trickquestion.
But I just want to add toSebastian's point there.
The number of operators that arehere, I mean, some that I'm
familiar with, but many that Istill have to have a chance to
connect with and understand moreabout that, you know, if you
want to go and see the NorthernLights or if you want to
experience um uh uh polar bears,like there's so many, such a

(50:23):
diverse variety, becauseobviously, given the scope of
our country, there's so manydifferent opportunities to
explore.
Um, on that note, I know youguys have a website.
And for those people who aretrying to figure out choosing to
come to Canada this summer ormaking plans for 2027, what are
the best resources for them tolook at?

SPEAKER_00 (50:41):
Well, obviously, since we're an advocacy
organization, our website ismostly about this tourismcan.ca,
but something super interestingthat we've put there, the two
tools that people could findinteresting, we've put a visa
tracker, uh visa processingtracker on our website because
the federal government was kindof slow sometime on processing
visa.
And sometime when you want tovisit, you know, you have
international internationalpeople that want to come here,
you know, how long can it takeif they're from destinations

(51:04):
that are not uh that don't haveelectronic organization.
So if you go to our website, youcan see the visa processing
tracker.
You'll see on average the timeit took the federal government
to treat the visa depending onthe destination.
And then we did a breakdown byevery ride in Canada, the amount
of businesses, the amount ofemployees in every sector.
So for someone who's curious tolearn about how big tourism is,
uh they're easy tool you cannavigate on our website.

SPEAKER_05 (51:25):
That's great.
Well, I got two last questionsfor you, Sebastian.
And I won't put you on the hotseat, but I know um the but it
might.
So we'll see we'll see.
We'll see how you fare on thesetwo.

Okay, the the first question: for those people who are not (51:35):
undefined
familiar with Canadian tourism,there's obviously a lot of uh
stats that you might be familiarwith that maybe people aren't
aware of.
And so tell us if you wouldn'tmind.
Share one insight about Canadiantourism.
And the part that I alwaysreflect on when uh people think
about Canada, I'm always shockedto discover the number of
people, global internationaltravelers that I think are savvy

(51:58):
that have never been to Canadabefore.
I've lived in Australia, I'velived in the UK, I've lived in
the US, the number of peoplethat I meet, and they're like,
oh no, I haven't been to Canadayet.
And my mind is always like, howcome?
Why not?
And um, one of the perceptionsthat we have with our country is
beautiful landscapes, but it'sisolated.
That it's like, you know, thatpeople think they're just going
to be the reality is our cultureis so rich and diverse.
And so what might be either astereotype or what would be an

(52:21):
interesting fact about Canadiantourism that our global
listeners should know?

SPEAKER_00 (52:24):
It's 10% of the workforce.
So everyone you know in Canadaknows someone who works in
tourism, right?
If you think of other industry,like do you know someone in the
mining industry?
Do you know blah, blah, blah.
Yeah, everyone knows someone whoworks in tourism in Canada.
It's huge.
We don't realize it because alot of time it's a bunch of
small businesses and it's abunch of sectors together.
Uh, but when you put them alltogether, it's it's one of the
biggest sectors in Canada.
So this is the one I usually saylike it's one out of ten person

(52:46):
in Canada who works in tourism,and we all know someone who
works in the industry.

SPEAKER_05 (52:49):
Yeah, and we have so many when you go to uh uh
British Columbia, there's somany Australian accents and Kiwi
accents, and it's one of thethings that's actually quite
wonderful is um the number ofpeople that come to work for
summers, and um but yeah, okay,and last question, this was the
one actually might put you onthe on the spot a little bit
more.
I always like to people askpeople what their next trip is.
And so domestically, what's nexton your list of places to

(53:12):
explore in Canada?

SPEAKER_00 (53:14):
I'm well, I've got to be honest on this one.
I'm actually going to PI with myfamily in August this summer.
We we rented a campground forfor a week, so really excited uh
for my kids to discover it.
That my kids are five and three,so they're uh they're just
starting to travel for the firsttime.
So we're really, really excitedto bring them over there and
make them discover somethingelse.
Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (53:32):
Well, of course, Anna Green Gables country, Lucy
Maud Montgomery.
Uh there's so many reasons totravel to PEI, of course, to
Charlottown, um, which is whereConfederation happened.
It's such a small population andit's such a beautiful island.
Uh, I love the East Coast.
My daughter lives in Halifax anduh she's at university there,
and we are going this summer,and we're gonna go to PEI as
well again, because I just lovePEI.

(53:54):
And um, so I'm I'm I thinkthat's awesome.
The one thing I was amazed whenI went to PEI and went to the
Anne of Green Gables is thenumber of Japanese tourists and
how big that book is in Japan.
And it was just cool to see thatall these uh Japanese tourists
coming to Canada to PEI thathave a connection with this
place because they've read thesebooks from a Canadian author.

SPEAKER_00 (54:12):
Oh, definitely.
And then sometimes we don'trealize because a smaller
destination, you know, in thevolume, if you compare them to,
you know, Ontario, uh BC, itmight not be as big in a volume
number, but what it representsin their everyday, the impact of
tourism and travelers there forthem, it's huge.
So yeah, uh really happy to gothere and show it to my family
this summer.

SPEAKER_05 (54:31):
Fantastic.
Well, Sebastian, thank you fortaking the time to join us.
Thanks for the opportunity tobring travel trends and be a
part of this event and the eventspotlight for the very first
time.
Uh just to close off for ourlisteners that want to learn
more about tourism industry forall of our listeners that want
to learn more about the tourismindustry association of Canada
or connect with you directly,what would be the best ways for
them to do that?

SPEAKER_00 (54:51):
Uh they can find me on LinkedIn, so Sebastian
Benedict, uh, like the eggs, oruh the tools I mentioned are on
tourismcan.ca.

SPEAKER_05 (54:58):
Wonderful.
Well, merci beaucoup.
Thank you so much for joining usand uh good luck with the rest
of the conference.
Thank you.
Our next guest here live at therendezvous conference in
beautiful downtown Toronto issomeone who is also from Toronto
and a proud Torontonian as wellas a proud Canadian.
I have the privilege now tospeak to Vincenza Rinaldi, who

(55:20):
is the president and CEO ofDestination Ontario.
Welcome to Travel Trends.

SPEAKER_03 (55:24):
Oh, thank you for having me here.
It's such a pleasure.

SPEAKER_05 (55:27):
Of course.
I have to make sure we getOntario and a Torontonian as
part of this.
There's so many beautiful partsof our country, but this, after
all, is the most populous, andthis is the business hub, and
one of the big reasons we'rehere.
But uh before we get into that,tell everyone a bit about your
background in tourism.

SPEAKER_03 (55:43):
Oh, okay.
Well, um, my background, I'vebeen with Destination Ontario
for about eight years and now asthe president and CEO for uh
about two and a half years.
Um, actually, before my role wasmore in background, doing a lot
of the, you know, uh the HR andthe accounting and stuff like
that.

(56:03):
But I also did oversee theOntario Travel Information
Services.
So those are the people who havethe travel counselors who are
there to assist our visitors,whether they're uh arrived here
in Ontario or they're stillplanning to come to Ontario with
putting itineraries together.
So that's a little bit of mybackground on tourism.

SPEAKER_05 (56:24):
Well, I figured tourism has obviously a passion
for you and and meeting yourteam and getting a chance to, I
mean, obviously, and knowing theorganization.
But let's let's make sure all ofour listeners understand
Destination Ontario.
Give us a bit of an overview ofthe organization and what you
guys do.

SPEAKER_03 (56:37):
Right.
Well, Destination Ontario is anagency of the government of
Ontario.
We're actually part of theMinistry of Tourism, Culture and
Gaming.
Um, but we're on our own too.
So but we're a marketingorganization.
So we're there to basicallypromote Ontario as a travel
destination.
And we do that in variousmarkets around the world.

(56:59):
We're actually in 10 markets.
So we're in the European marketswith the UK, France, and
Germany.
We're in the Asia markets inChina, South Korea, and Japan.
We're also in Mexico, inAustralia, and of course, the
US, which is what our biggestmarket actually.

SPEAKER_05 (57:16):
Well, and we're obviously so close to the US and
multiple US states, and Americantravelers I know are still very
important uh for Canadiantourism and will continue to be.
And obviously, we have a greatrelationship.
We're uh um with our friends inthe U.S.
I've got many family membersthere, and I travel back and
forth.
And and so as we look at uhDestination Ontario and what
brings you to an event likeRendezvous, it's obviously a

(57:38):
pretty cool thing that it's inToronto this year.
Um curious to know this withthis particular rendezvous,
clearly you've been going torendezvous events for years.
What's particularly specialabout this year's event and what
were you most looking forward toabout being here?

SPEAKER_03 (57:50):
Well, first of all, we uh are so proud here in
Ontario to be hosting this worldevent here in Toronto in this
province.
Um hosting RVC for uh Torontoputs Ontario at the center of
it, you know.
So it's not just about Toronto.
When people come here to RVCthat we're actually able to

(58:10):
promote various parts of theprovince.
We want to showcase everythingthat we have.
And Ontario has so much tooffer, like we really do.
We're kind of like um you thinkabout the world, it's kind of
like the world in Ontario.
We got diversity, we have almostever almost all countries are

(58:31):
represented here in Ontario.
So we got very culturalcommunities, um, very welcoming
communities, and and there'ssomething for everyone.
So we're excited to um that it'sbeing hosted here in Toronto in
our beautiful province.
And so this is a big deal forus, and we're so excited about
it.

SPEAKER_05 (58:51):
For sure.
And and uh Vincenza and I arehaving this conversation at the
Metro Toronto Convention Center,moments away from the CN Tower
and the Sky Dome.
And I still remember the SkyDome first opened.
I was a kid when I was there forlike the All-Star Game and the
All-Star Game that year.
We were we were fortunate tohost it, and they we opened the
roof to the world, and it was aspecial moment that you know it

(59:12):
we opened and closed it, and thewhole idea was the world was
watching as we cheered for 20minutes as it opened and closed.
And it was a really cool momentin the city of Toronto growing
up here to be on the worldstage.
And so I love the fact that thisconference is here in Toronto
this year because obviously itmoves around as it needs to to
represent all of Canada, but Ilove that this year it's in
Toronto.
And so, with your involvementthis year, what are some of the

(59:33):
initiatives that DestinationOntario has underway at this
conference?

SPEAKER_03 (59:37):
Right.
Well, in addition to having 108Ontario sellers here.
So they're they're having theirbusiness meetings, you know,
they have their 15 minutesmeetings and all of that.
So, in addition to that, we'vealso uh hosted 17
familiarization tours.
So we've just completed seven.

(59:57):
We have 10 more to go.
Um, and that's really excitingbecause we actually get to bring
the sellers, I mean the thebuyers right on site.
They can actually experience thedifferent destinations, the
different attractions, thehotels, the restaurants, you
know, they get to see the, youknow, what used to be called the
Sky Dome Rogers Center now.

(01:00:18):
Um, you know, I I think we hadour Japanese uh fam tour there
just the other day, and they gotto watch a game and experience
it, and they were so excitedthey got to meet some of the
players.
So um it's really exciting to dothat.
So that's the kind of stuffwe're doing um while it's here
in Toronto.
And we we work in partnershipwith Destination Toronto as

(01:00:40):
well, because they're the hostcity.
We're the host province.
So we work together to make surethat um, you know, we're
welcoming the world to us.
We also have a um host nighttomorrow evening on Thursday.
It's gonna be at the RoyalOntario Museum, and we have the
whole museum to ourselves.
It's gonna be a fantastic event.

(01:01:01):
Again, another way of showcasingwho we are, welcoming them to
our uh our city and this uhOntario, our province.

SPEAKER_05 (01:01:11):
Well, as you mentioned, Ontario, our
province.
One thing I do want to make sureI call out for all of our
international listeners whenyou're looking at a map of
Canada, obviously Toronto is thecapital of this province, Ottawa
is the capital of the country,but Toronto is the capital of
Ontario.
We have Queen's Park here, andthat's where the legislature is.
But Ontario is a massiveprovince.
And it's both in population andin uh uh the size.

(01:01:33):
And one of the things that mostpeople are are not familiar
with, I always love uh whenpeople drive across Canada, and
I've had the uh the privilege todo it twice.
And and so to drive from Torontoto Vancouver, it takes about 48
hours, but half of that isdriving out of Ontario.
It takes about 24 hours just toget to Thunder Bay, and there's
so many spectacular parts ofthis province.
I have tree planted in thesummers up north.

(01:01:54):
Obviously, you've got manyfriends, I'm sure, um uh that
have cottages and people arevery familiar to the lifestyle
in Ontario.
There's so much more to Ontariothan just Toronto.
And so I would love if youwouldn't mind speaking to a
little bit of that for thosepeople who are trying to wrap
their heads around traveling toOntario about all the places
they could see across thisamazing province.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:15):
Yeah, exactly.
Well, just like you said, we'rea province of Canada, and we do
have, of course, have Toronto,which is the one of the most
diverse um cities in Canada, butwe also have Ottawa, which is
the prov province uh thecountry's national capital.
Um we have other cities as well,we have Kingston and London and

(01:02:39):
other urban areas as well.
Mississauga, which isapparently, I think, the the
fourth largest uh municipalityin the country.
Yeah, I grew up in Mississauga,so I know it's well, yeah.
Um but we also have, like yousaid, we have Muskoka, we got
the n northern Ontario.
So for people who love nature,um, who love fishing, who love

(01:03:01):
hunting, who love, you know,just outdoor hiking or um
motorsports, you know, or thosepeople who like being on
motorcycles.
There's so many trails and andum snowmobiling is a big one
too, that we that is all done inso many parts of Ontario.

SPEAKER_06 (01:03:20):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:21):
But it's true, like Ontario has so much to offer.
We have one country.
We have the Niagara region, wehave uh Niagara on the lake, we
also have um, you know, uh thevarious parts of Ontario where
you can get wine um or andgrapes um and fruit, you know.
So there's we have agritourism.

(01:03:43):
Um, there's so much to do inOntario.
I mean, I could just do a wholediscussion on that.
We have beautiful beaches.
People don't always think aboutOntario's because we're part of
Canada, and people don't thinkabout Canada's having beaches,
but we have beautiful beaches.
We have, you know, Wasega Beach,we have Subel Beach, we have um
Turkey Point, we have Sandbanks,we got Ontario Parks.

(01:04:07):
There's so much to explore inOntario.
And um, and sometimes it couldfeel overwhelming, even for
myself, you know.
But luckily, one of the thingsthat we do, and I think I
mentioned this just a bitearlier, is we do have travel
counselors.
They're professionals, they knowthe province, and they will help
you kind of build an itineraryfor you to make it a real

(01:04:29):
authentic experience.
So they'll they'll say, like,what are you interested in?
Are you coming with a family?
Are you on your own?
Are you really interested?
Are you like interested incities and shopping?
Are you more culture, like thearts or the museums?
And they help build um a greatitinerary for you.
And we have an amazing culinaryscene.

(01:04:50):
As you know, we have uh Michelinstar restaurants in Ontario, so
that's one thing we alwaysencourage people to check out
our culinary experiences aswell.

SPEAKER_05 (01:05:01):
Yeah, you hit many incredible highlights, and
obviously, yes, largestfreshwater uh beaches in the
world.
And and this is the part that Ithink a lot of people don't
understand about Canada is theseasonality.
And because you as soon as yousay Canada, they think cold and
you think winter.
And the reality is that is apart of it, and it's actually
one of my favorite times of theyear.
I love winter in Ontario.
I love going up to go skiing orsnowboarding.
I also love you know, themaples, tapping the maples syrup

(01:05:25):
trees and going like on doingthe sled rides, and like um that
that is also a special time ofthe year, but it actually only
is part of the year.
We have glorious hot summers.
We're experiencing it right nowas we're um uh you know having
another heat wave, and people dotake to the beaches.
So you hit on a lot ofhighlights.
The other thing I would love foryou to be able to share with all
of our listeners is what you'reseeing as far as some of the

(01:05:47):
trends in tourism.
You mentioned culinary,obviously, that's a major trend.
Um, but in terms ofinternational travelers coming
to Ontario, what some of theirmotivations are.
I love that you mention traveladvisors because clearly it's a
huge uh audience for us, andthat you know that they are.
Looking for their guests to makerecommendations and they don't
necessarily know that there is awine country, and all of a
sudden they can put together anitinerary that they you know

(01:06:07):
that's really special that theywouldn't have otherwise known
about.
And so tell us a little bitabout some of the overall trends
you're seeing at DestinationOntario.

SPEAKER_03 (01:06:14):
Well, as I mentioned earlier, we really do try to
promote our province to variousparts of the world, and we see a
lot of the internationaltravelers and our our numbers
are really going up in terms ofinternational travelers coming
here, but it depends wherethey're from.
But one of the things thatthey're really seeking is that
uh nature experience.

(01:06:36):
Um, you know, they love to cometo Toronto, but then they also
want to do a camping trip orthey want to do uh visit one of
our parks or like the AlgonquinPark.
Like the Algonquin Park, youknow.
Um there's so many, we have somany of those.
So we see that a lot.
And you were talking aboutseasonality in our Mexican
markets, they love to come inthe winter.

(01:06:57):
So you can imagine they theyexperience summer all the time,
right?
So they love to come here, theywant to see snow.
So they want to kind of go morenorth and and just experience
like more of the winter weather.
So we see that as a trend.
Um, but yeah, and and one of thethings we also know about the
our international travelers iswhen they come, they like to

(01:07:20):
stay longer.
You know, they stay longer, theyand they explore more places.
Um, so it really depends wherethey're from.
I mean, a lot of them love torent a vehicle and that's what
they'll do.
They'll and they'll go around intheir vehicle or they'll they'll
go by, you know, our via rail ortrains that we have.

(01:07:40):
Um so it really depends on themarkets that they're from.

SPEAKER_06 (01:07:44):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:44):
But um, yeah, so but mostly our European uh travelers
like to come in the summer toexperience our summer.
Um, and they're they're veryexcited to visit a lot of our
cultural uh attractions as well.
And the other thing is Ontariois very well known for is our
many festivals, especially inthe summer, but we also do have

(01:08:06):
them all year round.
Like you were saying, our maplesyrup festivals and you know, we
have food festivals.

SPEAKER_05 (01:08:12):
You know, like Carabana in Toronto.
I mean, it's just a hugefestival of Caribbean culture.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:16):
Yes, and we have Pride coming up, and then of
course, um, everybody knows thatFIFA is coming.
Yes.
And FIFA, we do have two gameshere in Toronto.
Um, so we have a lot of umpeople from all over the world.
Um, so we know that people whowho are huge soccer fans or
football fans, depends on whereyou are in the world, they

(01:08:39):
they're kind of like uh socceris like a religion to them.
So they'll they'll comeanywhere.
So we're we're so excited tohave a lot of these FIFA fans
coming here.
We know that once they come hereand sort of come for the games,
they are more likely to returnand and experience Ontario
again.
We also know that they're gonnabe staying beyond the games and

(01:09:02):
they're looking to travel beyondToronto too.
So we know that they want to goto Niagara, uh, which is a big
popular course.
We can't mention, can't not notmention Niagara because it's uh
iconic.
Um, but they also want to travellike to smaller towns, you know,
like Alora, you know, orTokomori, yes, or areas like

(01:09:26):
that.
So we're seeing we're seeingthose happening now.
We get it, we're getting a lotof calls uh for those types of
itineraries.

SPEAKER_05 (01:09:33):
Well, you've definitely done a j a fantastic
job marketing this provincebecause as I continue to take
family who are visiting, wealways have to go to Niagara
Falls.
You're absolutely right.
Everyone, that's a pilgrimage.
I always then take them toNiagara on the Lake, take them
to the Angelin pub, go to seesome of the uh wineries.
But then I always try and takethem to small town Ontario.
My mom now lives out in BritishColumbia.
When she comes back to Ontario,she loves visiting small town

(01:09:54):
Ontario, uh Prince EdwardCounty.
And like so, but I love that youmentioned Tobermory because
that's a special place for usthat we go to every year around
Canadian Thanksgiving, and it'sthe end of the season there, so
the shops are getting ready toclose, and it's just kind of a
really nice time of the year,the leaves are changing, but the
number of international touristsover the last four or five
years, it's amazing.
The world has discovered all ofthese beautiful little hidden

(01:10:16):
gems in Ontario.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:17):
Exactly, they're hidden gems, and you might what
our research tells us is thatwhen people come to Ontario, one
of the biggest drivers for themcoming is because we're
welcoming and we're safe andthey appreciate the diversity.
Um, so that's one of the mainreasons they're coming.
And when they come, theyactually experience like real

(01:10:38):
genuine um, you know, welcominguh atmospheres.

SPEAKER_05 (01:10:43):
That's wonderful.
I'm glad we had this opportunityto sit down together.
I was so keen to meet you.
And obviously, you know, I'm notonly proud Canadian, proud
Ontarian, a proud Torontonian.
So we have all of that incommon.
Yeah, and I'm just so um amazedum being here at this event to
see how it's all come together,but the real, you know, being at
the heart of it here in Torontoand hearing the success story.
So I really appreciate youtaking the time uh to share your

(01:11:06):
story.
And just to finish off, becauseobviously I know we're gonna
have inspired people both tovisit um this beautiful
province, but also to connectwith you and the team.
Um so what would be the best wayfor people to reach out after
this episode?

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:19):
Oh, absolutely.
If people want to reach out tome, I mean you can find me in
LinkedIn, just look up my nameand you'll see me there.
But also they could send me anemail at Vincenza.rinaldi at
Ontario.ca.

SPEAKER_05 (01:11:32):
That's fantastic.
And there you go.
Ontario.ca is where also peopleneed to go to learn more
information and um and plantheir next trip for themselves
or for their guests.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:40):
But we have a website destinationOntario.com,
and um they'll find everythingthere.
Our team does a great job insort of updating all
destinations.
We work with all our partnersacross Ontario, and you'll find
everything you need to knowabout Ontario attractions, uh,
tourism, uh, our events, allthere on destinationOntario.com.

SPEAKER_05 (01:12:02):
Fantastic.
Thank you for sharing that.
Thank you for making the time.
Vincenza, a real pleasure tomeet you.
Good luck with the rest of theconference.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:07):
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_05 (01:12:10):
Our next guest, I'm really excited to introduce to
all of you.
He's someone that I've admireduh for many years given the work
that he's done in Toronto.
He is the president and CEO ofDestination Toronto.
It is Andrew Weir.
Andrew, welcome to the TravelTrends Podcast here live at
Rendezvous.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:26):
I'm so glad to be finally doing this with you.

SPEAKER_05 (01:12:28):
I know.
We got a chance to meet in Vegasof all places at the Virtuoso
Conference.
We actually got paired together,and uh, we both were excited
that we're both from Toronto anduh we've kept in touch ever
since.
But this is the first time we'vehad the opportunity to record
together.
But um obviously this is yourhometown, and this is this is
this this event has come to you.
So tell everyone actually, firstof all, a little bit more about

(01:12:49):
your role in DestinationToronto.

SPEAKER_04 (01:12:51):
Sure.
Uh so I've been with uh I'vebeen with Destination Toronto
almost 21 years now, which ishard to fathom.
I've been in this role for twoyears, so I'm I'm the old guy
and the new guy all at the sametime.
Uh learning a lot every day andjust so uh grateful to have this
incredible team that we workwith and and the community
beyond our team.
So, you know, there's our ownstaff at Destination Toronto,

(01:13:11):
but the the community just feelsvery, very aligned right now.
And really, I think everyone'sgot the eye on the prize of
long-term growth of the tourismsector and not just growth for
growth's sake, but because ofthe impact it has on our
community.
So when you have that kind ofalignment, you feel like
everybody's rowing in the samedirection.
And and I think when you're inthe city, you can feel that that
momentum.

SPEAKER_05 (01:13:30):
Yeah, and what an incredible 20 years.
And that's why when I mentionedabout what you've accomplished
and how much you and your role,and especially now leading the
charge.
And you know, I seeing you atinternational events, you
obviously fill me with pride tosay, like, yes, that's Andrew.
He's you know, and you do such agreat job of representing this
city.
And then I see you at all theseevents in and around Toronto as

(01:13:50):
well.
You're constantly quoted.
I was actually doing a GBTAevent recently um when they came
to Toronto for their annualevent and um some of the stats
that you and your team had puttogether for that event.
So tell everyone on that note,Destination Toronto, tell give
everyone a bit of an overview ofthe organization and uh the
great work you guys do there.

SPEAKER_04 (01:14:08):
So, Destination Toronto, it's actually a good
time to be having thisconversation.
We just turned a hundred yearsold.
Wow, that's awesome.
Which is amazing.
Um obviously no nobody here waspart of it when it started, but
it started in 1926 and it was uhestablished to be the Toronto
Convention Visitor Association.
We've had different names.
A lot of people know us asTourism Toronto, which we were
for about 30 years.
Now we're Destination Toronto,but we are the the promotional

(01:14:31):
organization for the destinationpromotion organization for
Toronto, and um that encompasseseverything from uh convention
sales and servicing to a globalmarketing function, and
increasingly moving more andmore into engaging with local
stakeholders and and being acatalyst for improving the
product on the ground.
It's not just about selling andmarketing, although that's

(01:14:52):
always gonna be the core of thebusiness, but also having a hand
in how we improve ourcompetitiveness for the long
term.
So you put all those thingstogether, and our our business
is uh is you know, we we use theword ignite.
We ignite Toronto's visitoreconomy, and uh that's the role
we play and proud to do it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:15:08):
Well, and the other thing, obviously, you in that
hundred years, one of the keyroles that Toronto played is
that you were actually the hostof the very first rendezvous way
back in 1977, going back 49years.
And I was saying at the verybeginning of this episode of
ours, the listeners heard uhwhen I was speaking to Megan
about the fact that I think 49is particularly special because

(01:15:28):
of the 49th parallel.

SPEAKER_04 (01:15:30):
So, you know, because it's our hundredth
anniversary this year, I'vespent a lot of time going back
through old documents, just thearchives, annual reports, and I
came across the 1978 annualreport that was reflecting on
last year we hosted the veryfirst this thing called
Rendezvous Canada.
And I this was just a coupleweeks ago that I found that, and
it was ironic because here wewere preparing to host this one,

(01:15:52):
which is our third one in thelast seven years.
Yeah.
We had it in 2019 and then againin 22.
And um, you know, this it is notcoincidence that it's here this
year.
This was very deliberate on ourpart to bring this to Toronto in
a time when, first of all, weknew the city would look great,
getting ready for the World Cup,and um it's just a great time of
year.
But more importantly, we've beenvery strategically focused on

(01:16:14):
international diversificationover the last couple of years.
So as we've been building moreand more of these inroads into
well-established markets likethe UK and Germany and Mexico
that had frankly taken a stepback during the COVID period and
it's been a rebuild, but alsothis huge opportunity in front
of us in new markets, everythingfrom China to South Korea to the
Netherlands and Ireland, thatwe're seeing a lot of

(01:16:35):
opportunity momentum.
We're so fortunate to have greatdirect air service as a city.
So people can get here, butthere's a lot of markets that
the message isn't um is hadn'tbeen told, hadn't been delivered
as aggressively.
So this is about building thesepartnerships, right?
It's very often the touroperators and the trade that are
at the front of the of thatrelationship with the customer

(01:16:57):
and the and the travelers uh insome of these markets.
And so this helps us get moreawareness of Toronto, build
long-term demand, uh, andparticularly help us diversify
our market, which is which iscritical right now.

SPEAKER_05 (01:17:08):
Yeah, well, what's also interesting too, in terms
of correlating that timing, isthat the CN Tower officially
opened in June of 76, as youwould know, because you
obviously have uh I'm sure manyfacts memorized about the city
of Toronto, but obviously thatis the landmark that we are
globally recognized for, andobviously for many, many years,
it was the largest freestandingstructure of the world.

(01:17:28):
And uh interestingly, as as youknow, Andrew, last night at the
opening, uh 1,300 people fromthis event go up to C and Tower.
So here we are, you know, CNTower is about to celebrate its
50th uh birthday coming up, andthis event celebrating 49th year
in Toronto.
You're starting to uh share someof the reasons why this year is
particularly meaningful,intentional, and special.

(01:17:48):
And I'd love to hear a bit moreabout that and how it came to be
and what some of the factorsthat with planning for this
event were um that youcontributed to this year.

SPEAKER_04 (01:17:58):
I I'm happy to talk about that, but let me let me go
back to this 50th anniversaryfor a minute because it somehow
in the city there was a bit of alike a tourism baby boom about
50 years ago.
We had the CN Tower.
Yeah, the Blue Jays are 50 yearsold.
Last year, the Toronto Zooturned 50 years old.
TIFF, our film festival, turned50 years old.
There was something in the waterin the mid-70s in Toronto, and

(01:18:21):
you know, these things are kindof cyclical too when you think
about what was happening.
Soon after I started withTourism Toronto, as it was in
the time, the big story we weretalking about was something
called the Cultural Renaissance.
The ROM was being reimaginedwith the Daniel Liebskin
edition, the Art Gallery ofOntario was being reimagined
with the Frank Gary edition, theFour Season Center Opera House
opened, Illuminato started, theNuit Blanche started.

(01:18:43):
There was this whole culturalrenaissance at the time, and so
there are these phases ofbuilding, and we kind of we can
within the tourism business, wecan track time by some of these
key developments and developmentphases.
And I think we're gonna lookback on this period now as uh in
a couple respects, but one willbe I think the revitalization of
our waterfront.

(01:19:04):
When you think about this as thedecade of the just complete
transformation of our waterfrontfrom the central waterfront to
everything happening in thePortlands and the eastern
waterfront we're seeing withBadacity Park and uh everything
that's opening in that area, theparliament slip, and then you go
to the west side of thewaterfront where you've got
Ontario Place and all theredevelopment of exhibition
place.

(01:19:24):
So I think when we look back,that's what this phase will
become known as.
Now, I'll leave that for aminute.
Let me come back to the questionyou actually asked me, which is
about why are we here?
Why are we hosting rendezvousright now?
Um it's uh this really was astrategic choice to host this
event, not just because it's agood event to host, but we
wanted it this year at thistime, uh, and worked closely

(01:19:46):
with Tayak and DestinationCanada and Destination Ontario
to make that happen.
I mean, it takes a it takes apartnership to make that happen,
and so all those players havebeen very instrumental in making
this happen.
And this is because we havereally prioritized, and our
board and our community hasprioritized market
diversification.
We to be successful, Toronto atits best, we have a very

(01:20:06):
diversified visitor economy.
We have business travel, we haveleisure travel, we have
domestic, we have US, we haveinternational.
And during the COVID period, wesaw that some of those engines
weren't firing at the samelevel, right?
Domestic travel was very strong,and thank goodness it was,
because international just felloff entirely.

SPEAKER_06 (01:20:24):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (01:20:25):
We need to get back to having all of these engines
firing at a very strong level.
And so that's forced us to nowreally put a premium focus on
redeveloping the internationalmarkets.
Part of that is getting back towhere we were before, but we're
not we can't be in this recoverymindset.
We need to be in a growthmindset.
We need to be looking not atwhere we were in 2019, but where
are we going to be?

(01:20:45):
And the opportunities ahead ofus are doubling down on the
success we're seeing in the UKand Germany and Mexico, and at
the same time, building newdemand in markets like the
Netherlands, China, South Korea,Brazil, um, Ireland.
Like these are Switzerland,these are opportunities, and we

(01:21:06):
can't pursue all of them at thesame time.
So part of what the value ofthis show is is understanding,
because tour operators are herefrom all those countries, we're
learning where the bestopportunities are so that we can
direct investment to where thehighest return will be to
deliver more of thatinternational business to the
city.

SPEAKER_05 (01:21:20):
Yeah, that's great.
I would you want to go back andwhat you just shared was very
meaningful to me because I camehere when I was just uh uh five
or six years old from Englandand moved to Mississauga.
And uh in so many ways, my lifetrajectory is very connected to
the city of Toronto, both thepopulation growth and and so
that late 70s, early 80s, andall of those.

(01:21:40):
I mean, I'm a huge Blue Jaysfan.
So for me, coming to Rendezvous,this is my first rendezvous.
I was very keen to be here forthis because it's in Toronto.
And the one thing I was justgonna call out that uh when
Andrew mentioned about beingvery intentional, you know, the
last year it was in Winnipeg theyear before, it was in Edmonton,
you know, two years ago ithelped generate 65 million,
maybe 80 million, but this 100million plus.
And I think that's one of thethings about Toronto is this is

(01:22:02):
the economic hub of our country.
And obviously, I know we're bothbiased, and um, you know,
there's and over the course ofthis podcast, we've talked about
from coast to coast to coast andhow what brings us together as
Canadians.
So I'm proud to be Canadian, anOntarian, and a Torontonian.
But I think it is particularlyspecial it's here in Toronto.
And so when you look at theeconomic impact, and this is one
of the things I find reallyfascinating when I read your

(01:22:24):
reports, um, you know, thisparticular event is gonna bring
in more than$7 million of directeconomic impact.
And you've got more than 4,000hotel nights.
When you think about an eventlike this, when it and how
important it is, because butyou're also having this event
why there's Toronto Tech Weekhappening, why the there's so
much going on in Toronto.

SPEAKER_04 (01:22:44):
There's even more to it than it seems.
So, I mean, you're absolutelyright.
Having an event of this scale,this size, it's about 1,500
people, um, is criticallyimportant, any any time of year.
What was really important wasthis was a time when initially
we couldn't sell meetings in Maybecause the FIFA World Cup had
uh had basically blocked out theentire city.

(01:23:05):
So most of the meetings thatwould take place that this month
were booked years ago when someof those rooms became available,
some of the some space openedup, then we could actually sell
into this space.
That's when we had theconversation with Tayak and with
Destination Canada aboutbringing rendezvous here.
So it was an opportunity like itit has an outsized impact right
now because not only is itbringing critical millions of

(01:23:28):
dollars and thousands of roomnights, but it's doing it at a
time when we otherwise had ahard time selling because we had
missed a lot of the saleswindow.
Yeah.
So that that's an importantthing.
Now, in terms of the overallimpact of the event, it's also I
think we need to recognize howstrategically important Toronto
is to the success of this eventbecause these are buyers coming
from markets around the world,and the benefit we have in

(01:23:51):
Toronto is we've got directflights to all of them.
So it is more difficult for someof the buyers to travel to
places like Winnipeg andEdmonton.
It's absolutely worth going, butit just takes a couple extra
steps.
Whereas coming to Toronto, it'svery easy.
It's one flight for just aboutall of them.
And as a result, we see wherewe've seen you know just under
400, just over 400 buyers at theprevious few shows, we're well

(01:24:13):
over 500 this year.
So it's not only good forToronto, but it's good for every
single Canadian seller anddestination and hotel and tour
and attraction and experiencethat's here because they've now
got more of the world, more ofthe buyers here.
So this is how we benefit eachother that Toronto is able to
draw more of the buyers here.
And frankly, we're able to puton a great Canadian showcase.

(01:24:34):
I love the fact that whenthey're in this room, when
they're as we sit here in the onthe show floor here with all
this business humming around us.
Exactly, the buyers areexperiencing all of Canada,
truly, from coast to coast tocoast, and it's a wonderful
showcase of the entire country.
But when five o'clock hits andthey leave, it's all Toronto.
Yeah.
You know, they're going outthere and they're intermingling

(01:24:55):
with all the Blue Jay fanscoming out of the game.
Uh last night it was on the wayin.
Today it's an afternoon game,it'll be on the way out.
But they're seeing that energy,they're seeing that city energy.
They're walking around andhaving great meals at great
restaurants all throughout thecity.
They were here early on theweekend before, and there's many
of them are staying for theweekend after.
So they're they're getting outto different neighborhoods
around the city.
They're getting out and doingthe attractions, they're getting

(01:25:16):
out on the water, they'rethey're experiencing the city at
a level of depth that is onlytrue for Toronto because all the
other destinations that arehere, they only have their 10
minutes with that buyer on theshow floor.
We get everything after.
And that's the impact of beingthe host city.

SPEAKER_05 (01:25:30):
Yeah, and the one thing I love about international
travelers coming to Toronto istruly how multicultural this
city is.
And gradually over the last 20years, Canada has become
multicultural.
But growing up here in the1980s, this city was already a
very multicultural.
And my expectation when I workedand lived in other countries was
the same, but it was never quiteas multicultural as what I knew
Toronto to be.

(01:25:50):
And it's only become moremulticultural in the last 20
years.
And you mentioned the Blue Jays,I've got my city Connect Friday.
The Jays are playing the MiamiMarlins right now.
I saw Jays fans going by atlunchtime and gave that buzz of
the city that I absolutely love.
And the tagline of that isdiversity is our strength.
And that's something I loveabout the city of Toronto.
And I think so internationalpeople coming here seeing that,

(01:26:11):
um, seeing how well everyonegets along, how safe, how clean.
Everyone always makes thosecomments, right, about Toronto.
And those are true as well.
But um, but at the same time,there's something to be said for
um uh the culture and thediversity in this city and how
comfortable everyone feels.
Because a couple of times onthose podcasts, people have
mentioned the word welcoming.

SPEAKER_04 (01:26:29):
Well, that that's I think what's important.
You know, diversity is we'vedone a ton of research on this,
and and um diversity is tough tosell because everybody wherever
they live, they think it'sdiverse.
They think, you know, they'vegot some restaurants from some
different places around theworld down the street.
So why would I need to go toToronto for that?

(01:26:49):
But then when they do come here,they look around, they ride the
subway, they walk the streets,and they they see, oh, now I get
it.
Now I see what you mean, I seewhat you were talking about all
along.
So it's hard to sell in advance,but it's very appreciated when
it's here.
What we really can sell and whatdoes resonate is not the fact
that we're diverse, but what itfeels like and means.
So you see that through food.

(01:27:11):
Right?
You we can we can talk about thethe food experiences that are
all throughout the city, notjust downtown, but when you
think about some of theexperiences from Scarborough and
North York, where you get someof that real authentic global
cuisine and experiences that umand often with a story too,
because it's so genuine.
Um, that's part of what we cansell.
When you think about the filmfestivals, we have dozens and

(01:27:33):
dozens of film festivals allyear long from different parts
of the world, and not a lot ofcities could sustain that.
And but it happens in Torontobecause we have people from all
these places that arecelebrating their own culture,
and so and you see it withfestivals, and and then at the
end of the day, there's thissense of welcome.
And let's be honest, right nowaround the world, people are
thinking very carefully abouthow welcome they will feel, and

(01:27:55):
Canada really shines.
It's a it's an opportunity.
I think we've gotta we have toseize this moment as a Country,
certainly as a city, but as acountry, because people are
looking for what we have rightnow.
And at a moment that we havethis distinguishing chasm, we
need to leverage it.
You know, we need to raise thebar, raise the baseline of

(01:28:15):
visitation and our reputation.
And it's it's happening, butwe've got to double and triple
down on this opportunity.

SPEAKER_05 (01:28:20):
Yeah, and it's wonderful as we both know,
having been at internationalconferences together at the same
time, when people respond to usas Canadians and then they hear
from Toronto.
And most people, if they've beento Canada, they've most often
been to Toronto.
So they're like, oh, I've beento Toronto, went for the
conference, and I love Toronto.
You always hear people justinstantly react, and it's always
wonderful to hear that.
Um the one thing I wanted to askyou, Andrew, too, is that over

(01:28:41):
the course of this eventspotlight episode, as we've been
focusing on Canada and then uhOntario and all the amazing
places across this country.
But while you and I aretogether, I want to focus on
Toronto because our globallisteners still many people have
not been to Canada.
And even us just sharing some ofthose highlights, for me,
obviously, yes, cuisine, butspecifically markets.
I love St.
Lawrence Market, I loveKensington Market.

(01:29:03):
I watched a documentary on myflight home on Air with Air
Canada last night aboutKensington Market and how it's
evolving and changing.
You know, it's a Jewishneighborhood and it's Portuguese
and Caribbean, and you just itis so incredibly diverse, and
it's it's a real gem of thiscity.
But when you look at the cityand how it's evolving and
changing, what are some of thethings that you're looking at or
paying attention to as sort ofthe big overall trends?

(01:29:24):
Of course, you know, we haveFIFA, we have events that are
coming on um this year.
But in terms of you know, 2026going into 2027, when you look
at why people are traveling toToronto, where they're coming
from, what are some of theoverall themes and trends that
you're really paying attentionto?

SPEAKER_04 (01:29:39):
I would say there's a couple of big trends that
we're watching.
Some that are global in nature,some that are specific to
Toronto.
I uh you know, one that we'vereally seen a lot over the last
number of years is theimportance of events as a driver
of visitation.
More and more people arechoosing a destination because
they have a ticket forsomething.
It could be a meeting or aconference, but it also could be

(01:30:00):
a concert.
And so the new Roger Stadiumthat's been built as a temporary
stadium, but it's a 55,000-seatoutdoor summer concert stadium
that gives us someinfrastructure that we didn't
have in the city before.
And as a result, we've got fivedays, five shows of Bruno Mars,
and we were one of only sixcities that had the OASIS tour
last summer, and and we'reseeing a lot of the K-pop bands
come through.

(01:30:20):
And and that is drivingvisitation to a much greater
degree than we've seen before isthe ticket people hold, and it's
sports also.
People are traveling more andmore for sports like uh, you
know, whether it's the World Cupor it's the Blue Jays, because
we've got Canada's only baseballteam and we had that great run
to the World Series last year.
Tell you one of the reallyinteresting trends that I think

(01:30:40):
is very exciting, and we arejust at the front edge of
something that is going to growand grow, is the women's
professional sports.
Yes.
So the Toronto Tempo.
So I was at the opening game inthe Toronto Tempo about two
weeks ago, and God, the energythere was exceptional.
And and and that just keepsplaying back, and people see
that and they want to be part ofit, and that team's going to be
very successful for a long time.

(01:31:01):
We've seen it with the TorontoScepters and hockey.
We're seeing it now with theNorthern Super League, with
Toronto um AFC Toronto, thesoccer team.
We're seeing it other women'ssports like the National Bank
Open, the tennis tournament,where we've got a Canadian
defend as the defending championon the women's side.
So the there's just this energyand momentum behind women's pro

(01:31:22):
sports that again, I think givesToronto a place to shine, a
place to stand out.
And so if you're interested in,and it's not just for women to
watch, you know, that thatstadium was 50-50 men and women
when I was at the tempo game,and I think we'll see a lot of
that.
And the same is true at theScepters as well.
But if you want to seehigh-level sports, it's a very
accessible ticket, a veryaccessible game with a great fan

(01:31:42):
experience and a terrificproduct on the field or the
court or the ice.
And so we'll see more of that aswell.
That that that idea of theticket driving visitation, I
think, is one of the big trendswe're seeing for sure.

SPEAKER_05 (01:31:52):
Yeah.
And just one quick thing onthat, because having lived in
Vancouver, Melbourne, London,and and LA and uh and and
calling Toronto home, one of thethings that always comes up for
myself and friends who live inToronto when people ask why we
choose to be uh living here islike there's always something
on, there's always somethingdue, there's always either a new
concert, new stand-up comedian,there's just there's always
something entertaining to be inthe city, and it's walkable, and

(01:32:14):
it's uh and so for those peoplewho know, they know, and the
people who've come andexperienced it, and obviously,
hopefully as a result of thisevent spotlight and our
conversation, more people willrecognize the opportunity for
Canada and specifically forToronto.
Um, two last questions for you,Andrew.
When you think about the outcomeof this event, and obviously you

(01:32:34):
were highlighting already someof the benefits of the event
being in Toronto.
We talked about some of theimmediate economic impact.
What are so the long-termimpact?
It sounds like you've got allthese international buyers that
are here coming into Toronto.
Clearly, this long-term benefit.
What are some of the bigoutcomes that you think will
result from you know the 49thevent being here in Toronto that
will have a lasting impact?

SPEAKER_04 (01:32:55):
Uh let's maybe look at it from the standpoint of
rendezvous and then the WorldCup is a one-two punch.
So over this six-week period,the international awareness and
exposure that we're building forToronto is unlike anything we've
been able to do before, whereyou've got global media
attention.
On June the 12th, when TeamCanada plays, there's no other

(01:33:16):
game in that time slot.
Anyone watching the World Cupanywhere in the world is
watching Toronto.
Yeah.
And so that exposure combinedwith some of the media that are
here on site is building demandand awareness.
But then all these relationshipsbeing developed on the sales
floor here at Rendezvous Canada,that is building the conversion
channels.
It's building the means by whichpeople can buy that trip.

(01:33:36):
It's one thing that they'reinterested in coming to Toronto,
but to be able to buy uh an airand hotel package with some
attraction passes or a flydrive, so they're going to come
to Toronto.
And then very often they'repackaging that with Niagara
Falls, Ottawa, Muskoka, otherparts of Ontario, maybe going
beyond into Quebec, that's agreat trip.
And the more of these touroperators and travel buyers that

(01:34:00):
are packaging that in ways thatare responding to what the
customers are looking for,what's that enabling us?
That's enabling us to do isbuild demand, build interest and
demand, but then also build themeans by which people can
convert and buy that product.
So think of it as a one-twopunch, and I think we'll see a
significant lift.
You know, certainly the theintent is to see a significant

(01:34:21):
lift in international demand andinternational visitation to the
city over the next 10 years.
This is not about having a greatmonth.
This is about raising the floorand kind of that that hockey
stick kind of line uh trajectoryimprovement in our business.

SPEAKER_05 (01:34:35):
Well, and that's what I look forward to as well.
And I was keen to ask you thatbecause the people who are here
for the first time, the peoplewho are listening to this, and
the overall benefit of profilingthis amazing city that we've
chosen to call home is that moreand more people will choose to
come to the city, more peoplewill realize all the amazing
opportunities there are toexplore in Toronto and Ontario.
And so that kind of brings me tothe final question that I wanted
to ask you, even though therecan be a little bit of rivalry

(01:34:58):
amongst the different regions,because I was speaking to uh
David Goldstein earlier becauseas our listeners uh are about to
find out, next year it's goingto Calgary.
It's officially gettingannounced here at the event
tomorrow, but we can share it onhere because this is being
released after the event.
Um and he was chiding that youknow that they're going to try
and outshine Toronto next yearand and obviously all the power

(01:35:19):
to him.
Um, but obviously the reality isthe benefit of this event being
here this year will still be umrealized for years to come for
people who've now put this hasput Toronto on the map for them.
They've made businessconnections here, they'll come
back to this city, and hopefullyit'll do great things for
Calgary next year as well, andall the cities that this goes
to.
But I do think there's somethingspecial for Toronto, just given

(01:35:41):
the size and scale of our city.

SPEAKER_04 (01:35:42):
But look, I mean, you know, Winnipeg did a great
job with this event last year.
Edmonton did a terrific job theyear before.
Um, we're always going to try toone up the one before.
Good good luck to Calgary.
Um, you know, I I wish you thebest.
But I think what I think what'smost important is this is Team
Canada, right?
We we are all we're all wearingthat red jersey.
This is Team Canada, and we winwhen Canada is in more demand.

(01:36:04):
Because at the end of the day,you know, people around the
world dream about a trip toCanada, first and foremost.
The identity is at a nationallevel.
And so Canada's got to win.
And I think this is anopportunity for it to win and to
see the the unity of the countryaround uh bring putting forward
uh a story that that resonateswith visitors, that resonates
with travelers, and to beingthat welcome place, that

(01:36:27):
alternative to other parts ofthe as other parts of the world
turn inward, we are turningdecidedly and deliberately
outward.
And that's uh a huge competitiveadvantage, and we're all in that
together.

SPEAKER_05 (01:36:38):
Yeah.
And on that note, this is what aquestion I wanted to finish off
by asking you.
You know, I know you travel alot internationally, you're
always representing this city ona global scale.
So I see your LinkedIn updatesand uh I know you're always on
the move.
But when it comes to personaltravel in Canada, what's next on
your list of places you want toexplore in this amazing country
of ours?

SPEAKER_04 (01:36:58):
I've never been to the territories, I've never been
to the Yukon or NorthwestTerritories or none of it.
And that's um, to my greatpersonal shame, I need to, I
need to go have that experience.
Um and I kind of feel like it'ssomething you need to do twice.
You need to do uh a summerversion of it, but you also need
to do the winter version uhbecause that's the real
experience and the northernlights.

(01:37:20):
Um so that's that's the higheston my list.
It's just an experience Ihaven't had that I think every I
would uh not just every Canadianshould, but from what everything
I've seen, the images and everytime when I walk through that
area, the floor here a fewminutes ago, um, it's just
stunning imagery.
And I just want to go with mycamera and spend some time and
experience that region.

SPEAKER_05 (01:37:38):
You and me both, as I'm our listeners heard, those
that I've not been to uh uh theNorth and I haven't been to any
of the three, I've been to allthe provinces, but none of the
territories.
So I will follow your leadthere.
And it was the same thing for mewhen I saw those booths and what
they each have to offer Yukon,Nunavut, and Northwest
Territories.
So uh I'm with you on that, andobviously uh Team Canada all the
way.

(01:37:58):
And uh uh Andrew, just as weclose off, if people want to
learn more about DestinationToronto or reach out to you
directly, what would be the bestways for them to do that?

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:06):
So destinationToronto.com is uh
where you'll find all the bestinformation.
Uh and you can find us onLinkedIn, but you know, start at
the website and then you canconnect with us all the various
ways.
Once you're on the website, youcan also use our AI assistant
that we call Six, um, which isuh very allows you to have very,
very customized, have a greatpersonalized conversation with
Six.
Tell it exactly what you want.

(01:38:27):
These are not pre-programmedanswers.
This is going to respond andgive you very, very personal
information.
So have a have a greatconversation with Six.

SPEAKER_05 (01:38:34):
Well, I love that you and I have been repping the
Six here in this conversation.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:37):
Well, we called it that for a reason.

SPEAKER_05 (01:38:39):
Indeed.
Uh Andrew, I'm so glad wefinally got a chance to sit down
and record together.
I look forward to morecollaborations in the future,
but terrific to see you againand all the best with this
conference and success withToronto in 2026.

SPEAKER_04 (01:38:50):
Thank you.
So glad to be part of it.

SPEAKER_05 (01:38:54):
I now have the great pleasure and privilege to speak
to a true industry legend inCanada, Marsha Walden, who is
the president and CEO ofDestination Canada.
She's been in that role now forover five years, and she's
actually going to be retiringshortly.
And so I'm so glad that we getthis opportunity to sit down.
I've been working with yourteam, Marsha, as you know, to

(01:39:16):
bring this event spotlighttogether, which has been
wonderful.
It's been fantastic having theopportunity to be here live and
to have the interviews that ourlisteners have heard.
But I really wanted to close offthis special event spotlight by
speaking to you.
So, Marsha, welcome to TravelTrends.
Thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 (01:39:30):
Well, thank you for inviting me.
It's great to be here with you,Dan.

SPEAKER_05 (01:39:34):
Of course.
And I, you know, when we startedthe conversation uh with
Destination Canada and thisincredible event that you put
together, and now we bring thisevent this conversation and this
event spotlight to a close.
I want to make sure that westart off with your background
and a little bit more about howyou got into this space.
Because I know you worked atDestination British Columbia and
your background is very muchdata-driven performance
marketing, which is sointeresting because you know we

(01:39:56):
started this conversation withyour CFO and chief data and
analytics officer.
So clearly there's a somesimilarity in backgrounds there.
Um, but obviously your focus hasbeen marketing and leading this
great organization.
Tell us a little bit about yourbackground first and this great
organization you've had theprivilege to run.

SPEAKER_01 (01:40:14):
Oh, well, thank you.
Um, obviously, since I'm aboutto retire, it's a very long
story.
Um, but uh I'll make it short.
Um really right out ofuniversity, I I was fortunate
enough to join one ofVancouver's largest ad agencies.
And so I spent the first 17years uh working for various uh
clients all across Canada,flagship industries, got a great

(01:40:38):
lesson in how uh sales,marketing, and operations works
for all kinds of differentindustries.
It was super fascinating for mywhole career.
And uh then I took a couple ofyears off because I had three
kids and I wanted to spend sometime with them, and then I
jumped back in and um uh led themarketing work for um from a
corporate marketing perspectivefor the Lottery Corporation of

(01:41:01):
British Columbia, BCLC, and hada chance to work in really
unusual um roles there fromstrategy and transformation to
operations to marketing, ofcourse.
Um and uh learned a lot,frankly, about leadership in
that um organization.
They were really good at uhtraining their staff and giving

(01:41:22):
them the tools they needed to beleaders.
And then all of a sudden, oneday I got a call from a
headhunter saying, we think wehave a good role over here at
Destination British Columbia.
They're looking for someone witha strong marketing background
and someone that can reallytransform an organization that's
been inside government for acouple of years and bring them
back outside as a crown.
And so, lo and behold, there Iwas at Destination British

(01:41:43):
Columbia for seven years.
And then I got another phonecall.
And um, weirdly, it was in theearly months of the pandemic,
and um, this person asked me ifI would like to please apply for
the role at Destination Canada.
So I thought about it hardbecause I really loved working
at Destination British Columbia.
It was a great role, great team.

(01:42:04):
But I also thought, you knowwhat, I can help BC at the same
time I help Canada.
So um I made the jump.

SPEAKER_05 (01:42:10):
Yeah, that's an amazing story.
And what perfect timing, too.
And especially given yourbackground, BBDO, which is
obviously one of the world'srecognized advertising firms, so
having that role, and then evengaming.
When I was interviewing uhVincenza with Destination
Ontario and she was describingher role, and she mentioned and
gaming, because tourism andgaming, obviously, actually in
government organizations gotogether.

SPEAKER_01 (01:42:31):
They often do.

SPEAKER_05 (01:42:31):
And gaming is all about data and really knowing
your customer and trying to andso um clearly, then when you got
back to tourism and destinationBC and then leading this role,
and uh Destination B Destinationuh Canada is based in Vancouver,
of course.

SPEAKER_01 (01:42:46):
Yeah, it's uh it's really the only federal crown
that is, and lucky me, I happento live there.
So it was uh really, I think, amatch, uh a natural match in the
end.
And uh it's been uh well, closeto six years now, but it's time
to enter a new chapter with myhusband.

SPEAKER_05 (01:43:02):
Uh good for you.
I'm I'm I'm thrilled for you.
Obviously, and the industry, I'msure you'll still come back and
and and visit.
Hopefully, you'll be back for arendezvous next year just to say
hello to everybody.
That's yours to determine intime.
Um, but as we sit here and havethis conversation in Toronto in
uh uh 2026, and you think aboutthis rendezvous is obviously
particularly special andmeaningful for you because it's
your last in that role.

(01:43:24):
Tell us a little bit about thisyear's event and in terms of
what you were very focused onachieving with kind of, I guess,
your last major rendezvousevent.

SPEAKER_01 (01:43:32):
Yeah, well, I think one of the things that I find so
powerful about this event is itreally gives you that incredibly
tangible sense of how businessgets done in our industry.
You can see the deals being madeat every table, and we've got
1,400 delegates here just, youknow, writing deals and giving
rates and uh figuring out whatuh capacity they have in

(01:43:53):
different types of uh uh uhexperiences and seasons, et
cetera.
So it's a very palpable way ofseeing the industry in action.
And more than ever, you know, Ithink tourism is being seen as
an economic engine to helpCanada sort out some of our
economic challenges at themoment.
And we have such a strong basisof exports in our industry.

(01:44:17):
And I think the general Canadiandoesn't even think about tourism
as an export.
But here we are.
All this business on this flooris export business,
international buyers buyingthings from Canadian sellers.
And so it's a great way of umbringing that story to life in
living color.

SPEAKER_05 (01:44:33):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
Sebastian Benedict, who was onthe podcast just uh a few
moments ago, as our listenersheard, was talking about the
fact that one in ten Canadiansworks in tourism.
And I was at the Virtuosoconference, I did their uh
Canadian tour, Calgary,Vancouver in Toronto, and they
were highlighting stats to allof the luxury travel advisors,
and one of them was that thenumber of people working in
tourism globally will be more atlike 12.8% of the pot global

(01:44:56):
population.
And so I think the reality foryou know it may be 10% today,
but it could be 12, 14 or morein the future, given Canada's
role globally in tourism, moreinternational travelers, and as
you mentioned, some of the othergeopolitical challenges and
tariffs and other things that wehave going on.
The fact is that more peoplewill be working in tourism.

SPEAKER_01 (01:45:16):
Well, I think that's uh a hundred percent true
because we can see already theforecasts for the global tourism
industry are far outpacing theeconomic forecasts for the
economy as a whole.
And so we'll be growing at ratesthat are really um almost double
uh what every other industrywill be able to achieve.

(01:45:36):
And so that requires workers.

SPEAKER_06 (01:45:38):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:45:38):
And um, you know, Canada, I think, can keep pace.
There's uh in terms ofinternational volume, there's
two trillion dollars out thereup for grabs.
We're only currently getting 31billion of it, so there's a lot
of upside for us.

SPEAKER_05 (01:45:51):
Yeah.
Well, and your colleague Meganwas talking about the 10% growth
compounded over the next 10years, and I I obviously that's
what you have modeled.
And I'm, if anything, I'm morebullish that I think it could be
even more significant than that.
One example, obviously, you havethe Chinese delegation that's
here, and we talked about thaton this podcast as well, because
that's very exciting to see withthe groups, and Matthew
Upchurch, who I've mentionedthat runs Virtuoso, it

(01:46:13):
highlighted to me thatpost-pandemic, there's still a
hundred million Chinesetravelers that have not
re-entered the global tourismeconomy, and they're starting to
now, and Canada's going to beone of the direct beneficiaries
of that, and I think that'swonderful.
And this is where there's goingto be more and more opportunity.
And so, what are the few otherthings on a legacy?
Uh, you know, as you prepare touh retire, which I'm interested

(01:46:35):
to see how long you can retire,see if you you know can stay
away from this industry becauseclearly you love it so much.
Um, but what are some of theother legacy things from this
event you're looking forward to,you know, kind of like uh as you
as you uh take that moment toenjoy the time with family, so
to see the the positive changesthat you've put in place that
will last the next 10 years ormore.

SPEAKER_01 (01:46:55):
Yeah, well, obviously you you hope when
you're in the middle of yourcareer that you're establishing
some things that will carry oninto the future.
And and I know our our team, ourexecutive team is still very
bullish on our 2030 strategy.
We're in fact gonna achieve whatwe thought was a stretch target
two years early.
So we're going to be at$160billion by 2028, not 2030.

(01:47:19):
And so we know we're on theright path uh as an industry and
that there's lots of upside.
And when I think about legacy, II think, first of all, you know,
you had a chance to talk toMegan.
You know how strong our uh datacollective is in fueling not
only the decisions we make, butthose of the 280,000 businesses

(01:47:39):
uh across the country.
But in addition to that, um, youknow, we're in the middle of
incredible upheaval, not justfrom all the obvious things
around um uh global strife uhand economic strife, but um the
way technology is going toimpact how consumers make travel

(01:48:01):
decisions, how they purchasetravel, how they research
travel, that is fundamentallychanging the marketing model
that we all have and the saleschannels that we'll be using.
So you probably heard a lotabout this from Gloria about how
we're gonna operate in differentkinds of ecosystems in future.
And as a marketer, first of all,that's daunting to imagine

(01:48:22):
everything you've ever knownabout the way things are gonna
happen is gonna change over thenext couple of years, and you
have to be ready for that.
But we also have aresponsibility to lead the
industry in a way that allowsthem to understand what's coming
and be ready or more ready forit.
So, you know, we take thatresponsibility really seriously.

(01:48:42):
We have a lot of thingsunderway, and candidly I would
have loved to have seen themthrough, but it's enough to
ignite them and then let themtake off on their own.
I'll watch from a distance.

SPEAKER_05 (01:48:53):
Well, that's a perfect example because uh we
were talking about Aurora AI,and actually uh during the
recordings, I took some time toactually go and do a
demonstration, which I just wantto make sure that everyone
tourism data collective.ca andthen slash aurora-ai.
You can go and have a demoyourself because I was sharing
with Megan uh a tourism conceptthat I had, and she was actually

(01:49:14):
helping me workshop it and um toput a business case together.
And it's based on the idea ofhaving cabins across Canada,
encourage people to drive acrossCanada to actually do the epic
road trip.
But one of the challenges wehave is limited accommodation
along the way.
And obviously, you can onlytypically travel during the good
times, you know, of this thesummer months.
And so, how do we create moreopportunities for people to
travel year-round?

(01:49:34):
And so I was checking out someof the data and I was like, wait
a second, I could really usethis, and I'm sure many uh
entrepreneurs in Canada can orother investors looking to enter
the Canadian market.
And one of the things I justwanted to highlight from what
you just shared, I did haveanother executive recently, not
on the podcast, but at a dinnerfunction, who was talking about
AI and he's about to retire andjust said, I'm glad I'm retiring

(01:49:55):
now because I don't understandit.
And I'm I'm I'm definitelyconcerned about what.
The impact.
Whereas I look at you and I lookat the team and look at what you
have uh bravely done withembracing AI and even the
session that was happening rightnext to me on generative engine
optimization.
And I'm gonna share that withour listeners in the notes
because you guys have put agreat presentation together.

(01:50:15):
And it's exactly what you said.
The consumer journey is changingcompletely now, and you guys are
you guys are meeting the momentas Destination Canada.
So full credit to you and theteam for making sure that you're
there and relevant.
I can see how enthusiastic thelisteners are to that
conversation.
So these are the things thatstand out to me, Marsha, and you
know, just finally having achance to meet you as lasting

(01:50:36):
legacy from your leadership andputting that strategy in place,
building the right team.
So um, but tell us as as youhave this last conference, some
of the other things you arelooking to enjoy at this
conference.
I was amazed at the lunch, oneof the uh the singers, William
Prince.

SPEAKER_01 (01:50:53):
Oh, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_05 (01:50:53):
What a beautiful singer.

SPEAKER_01 (01:50:55):
Yeah, yeah.
And all original work that weheard.
Yeah, and it was so compelling.
And you know, I've been to a lotof these luncheons, as you might
imagine, as I'm sure have you.
And generally, you know, thefirst five or ten rows of of
tables, pay attention towhatever's happening on the
stage, and the last five or tenare yakking amongst themselves
and not paying attention.
You could have heard a pin dropfrom that room from one end to

(01:51:18):
the other.
Everyone was mesmerized by whatthey were hearing.
So it was a really great and themeal was good too.

SPEAKER_05 (01:51:24):
Yeah, yeah.
And I I I was looking him up atthe same time, and I was like,
how come I've never heard of himbefore?
But obviously, these are sort ofthe gems that you can bring
together for a conference likethis.
How did you find him?
How did you guys get him?

SPEAKER_01 (01:51:35):
Well, we didn't.
Uh Travel Manitoba, who washosting online.
Of course, yeah.
He's uh obviously extremely wellknown in in uh Manitoba, but
also he's hosting a big concerthere in Toronto.
And so I think the reason theywere able to get him on the
stage at our rendezvous becausehe's got his own gig going on,
and he's like, Yeah, I'll dropby.
But he was very engaging, andyou know, and uh every host that

(01:51:57):
we have over lunch here just umshares what's so special about
their home uh and their provinceand wants to share it with the
world, and that's what's sowonderful about our industry,
isn't it?
It's that people feel thisenormous sense of pride in where
they live and what they have toshare.
And they and we have suchopen-hearted um citizens in our

(01:52:19):
country that it it's part ofwhat makes us a really
compelling destination.

SPEAKER_05 (01:52:24):
Yeah.
The one thing that certainly hasbeen a um uh a through line in
these conversations is the ideathat we're welcoming.
And you know, people alwaystease us as Canadians for saying
sorry, we're always apologeticfor everything.
And that is certainly true.
And um and people often say tome, and I'm sure it's the same
for you, having just met you andseeing the way your team
responds to you, is that peoplesay, You're really as nice as

(01:52:46):
you sound on the podcast.
I'm like, Well, that's just me.
I'm just like that's as a andand like that's it's like a
Canadian thing.
I'm like, but I guess you know,we are uh um and I it's it's it
is something that is unique thatI and I love about being
Canadian because that's just anassumed and um is that we are
welcoming, we are kind, we arevery polite, we are all of those
things by and large.

SPEAKER_01 (01:53:06):
And so when you you know when you see our marketing,
yeah, and and we're all uh youknow putting out content that
really is summed up under Canadanaturally, yes.
I mean we are naturallyopen-hearted, open-minded, and
uh full of open spaces.
And so that is just who we arenaturally, and we uh want to
share that.

SPEAKER_05 (01:53:26):
Yeah, well, just to finish on looking forward, and I
also want to ask you a questionabout your personal travel
plans, uh, since you're gonnahave some more time to explore
all these incredible places.
Uh, and we'll finish with thatin a moment.
But before we do, um when youlook at 2027 and beyond, I know
it's just been announced uh orit's gonna be announced
tomorrow, uh, officially at theconference.

(01:53:47):
We can share it here becausethis will be post um the event
itself.
But next year it's gonna be inCalgary, and so it'll be in
Alberta, and I think that's avery timely um for many reasons
for it to be in Alberta, to bein Calgary, uh Alberta, Canada,
very importantly.
And it's you know, the one ofthe things I love about what
I've seen at Rendezvous and anduh uh why I've appreciated being

(01:54:08):
here is that all of our countryis represented.
I mean, from coast to coast tocoast, we have beautiful East
Coast.
My daughter lives in Halifax,and I think we all have stories
and connections to people thatlive across this great country
and how amazing Ontario is as aprovince, and how amazing BC is,
how beautiful it is.
But and now all of a suddenthere's a great deal of
attention being paid to theterritories finally, like Yukon
and um and Northwest Territoriesand Nunavut, and it's actually

(01:54:30):
came up on multipleconversations that that's where
people want to go.
Megan's just went to NorthwestTerritories, and just speaking
to Andrew, it's where he wantsto go next, and that really
excites me.
But yeah, so um when you thinkabout Calgary and what's next,
for our listeners that are nowkeen to get involved.
I know it's an invite-onlyevent, and we'll share more
details as I uh do the wrap-up.
Um, but tell us a little bitabout Destination Canada going

(01:54:51):
forward into 2027, that 2030plan, and and plans for next
year in Alberta.

SPEAKER_01 (01:54:56):
Yeah, well, let's start with plans for next year.

SPEAKER_05 (01:54:58):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (01:54:59):
Um next as you've said, uh, rendezvous will be
hosted in Calgary next year.
Calgary is a great host.
They have so much experience inhosting business events, you
know, hosting major sportingevents.
And so we know that they'regonna do a bang up job.
And um uh and you know, peopleget excited from around the
world when you're in places thatthey're dying to see.

(01:55:20):
And so Calgary is one of thoseplaces, and the region is
incredibly um inviting and uhlots of reasons to be in and
around Calgary, uh Banff beingonly one of them.
Um and so we're really lookingforward to that, and um we see
Calgary getting a lot of newinvestment and new hotel
properties and things, so um,we'll have a chance to witness

(01:55:43):
that as well.
Um so uh it happens to be our50th uh year of posting
rendezvous.
So there'll be you know manyreasons to celebrate there, and
we're sure we'll get a really,really good turnout.
This was a record year, but I'mnot holding my breath that next
year won't break those recordsagain.
So um we'll uh we'll make surethat it's uh a very good show as

(01:56:07):
we have done this year.
Um looking farther beyond, Imean, we are really just trying
to get better at competing.
I mean, travel is such alucrative uh global industry
with such great growth prospectsthat every nation in the world
is starting to wake up to whatits potential can be in driving

(01:56:27):
their economy and driving thesocial fabric and making people
really appreciate what isspecial about the food they eat,
the places they have, the thingsthey do with their family, and
sharing that with the world.
And um so you know, when we lookahead, we see enormous potential
for economic growth, but alsoenormous soft power in what

(01:56:48):
travel represents for ourcountry and keeping us connected
and feeling like one nation.
Yeah, and also in how we takewhat Canada is to the world.
So when our prime minister isout there inviting people to
come and invest in this country,the first thing they want to
understand is what is theculture, the safety, the
regulatory environment, thelevel of government, uh

(01:57:11):
governance and government thatyou can expect when you bring
your money to a country.
Well, travel helps to conveywhat that looks like.
Yeah.
Um for new investors, for newcitizens, for students.
I mean, we're a big part of allof that um Canadian fabric.

SPEAKER_05 (01:57:28):
Yeah, yeah, very well said.
Obviously, one of the latestreports, as you would have read
as well, was that uh globalinvestment in infrastructure,
Canada ranks number one for thefirst time ever, that people see
us absolutely as safe, uhmatching uh people's values.
And so it's uh it's an excitingmoment.
And uh I was speaking to my goodfriend John Gunter earlier, and
he he and I said Canada's reallyhaving a moment.

(01:57:49):
And he's like, let's make sureit's more than a moment.
Yes, let's make sure that tea atlunch today.

SPEAKER_06 (01:57:53):
Okay, good.

SPEAKER_05 (01:57:54):
So it will be.

SPEAKER_06 (01:57:56):
Yeah, and exactly it will be.

SPEAKER_05 (01:57:58):
So um, you know, it's uh it's uh such a great
legacy that you leave behind.
Obviously, I wish you everysuccess with retirement and
being able to enjoy it.
So just to finish on that, um,what do you have planned for
your personal travels?
Where else in Canada do youstill need to explore or you're
looking to go back to?

SPEAKER_01 (01:58:13):
Uh well, you know what, travel is one thing, and
that that's in the the fun partof the uh of my triple F's.
So it's gonna be fun, family,and friends.
Nice.
And uh so yeah, we've my husbandand I have lots of travel with
friends uh planned um over thenext six months and and beyond
in Canada and elsewhere aroundthe world.

(01:58:36):
And then uh my family, uh two ofmy three kids live very close by
and they eat I have three littlegrandsons.
Oh, amazing.
So three, two, and and almostone.
And so I'm just looking forwardto the next chapter investing in
a part of my life that um Ithink will be the part that is
really my legacy.

SPEAKER_05 (01:58:54):
Yeah, well, absolutely very well said, and
obviously that that's a greatway to close.
And one of the things that's sospecial about this country
sustainability and trying topave the way for future
generations to be able tocontinue to experience the great
nature and everything that wehave and to protect it and the
investment that you and the teamhave made in indigenous culture
and tourism, which Gloria Laurietouched on when she was on the

(01:59:15):
podcast, that really alerted meto the opportunity and potential
and seeing that here.
It's another one of those majordevelopments and a big step
forward uh for us and a reasonthat international travelers are
choosing Canada.
So it's wonderful that the starsare uh aligned and um yeah,
wonderful to meet you, Marcia.
Thank you for making this allpossible.
Really uh terrific to meet youand yeah, enjoy all that travels

(01:59:37):
and the three Fs and andhopefully I'll see you at some
point in the future.

SPEAKER_01 (01:59:41):
Thanks.
Well, nice to chat, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (01:59:43):
I really hope you enjoyed this special spotlight
as much as I did.
I just wanted to say a specialthank you again to Megan Farino
from Destination Canada,Sebastian Benedict from the
Tourism Industry Association ofCanada, Vincenzo Rinaldi from
Destination Ontario, Andrew Weirfrom Destination Toronto, and
Marcia Walden, who you justheard from, the president and

(02:00:05):
CEO of Destination Canada.
What a wonderful way to closeoff this conversation.
I think all of these leaderspainted a very powerful picture
of a tourism industry here inCanada that is growing,
innovating, and really competingsuccessfully on the global
stage.
And I'm so impressed to see thescale of rendezvous.
That certainly speaks for itselfwith the 1,400 delegates that

(02:00:28):
came together and the over 500national buyers from 24
countries.
There's been over 500 Canadiantourism companies here, and I am
very bullish on the future ofCanadian tourism based on what
I've seen here and what I seehappening across our country.
So the most exciting story isdefinitely ahead as Canada

(02:00:49):
continues to strengthen itsposition of one of the world's
most respected and desirabletravel destinations.
And Destination Canada does afantastic job reporting on
Canada's global reputation as itcontinues to rise, supported by
travelers seeking theseauthentic experiences,
nature-based adventures,cultural connections, and truly
meaningful travel opportunities.

(02:01:11):
This, as I've said to ourlisteners over the course of the
year, is the year oftransformational travel.
And when I look across the roomhere and I see the incredible
experiences, including theindigenous travel opportunities
that Canada is going to becomeknown for.
It's wonderful to see.
And I'm very, very optimisticfor the future.
And I just want to finish bysharing a few stats on the

(02:01:32):
international outlook forCanadian travel.
And I mentioned China in thebeginning, and they are
forecasted to lead outboundtravel to Canada in 2026,
increasing by 27%, the strongestgrowth among Destination
Canada's core internationalmarkets.
South Korea is expected to growby 10%, Japan by 3%.
And then when we look in NorthAmerica, there's a big trend

(02:01:55):
that I've been speaking about onour podcast about regional
travel.
And Mexico is expected toincrease by 10%, and the United
States by almost 5%.
So it's wonderful to see manypeople across North America
deciding to come to Canada.
So it just gives you an idea.
And I know many Canadians aretraveling to Mexico as well,
which is also wonderful.
So travelers clearly are seekingthese authentic, immersive

(02:02:19):
experiences from culinarytourism and festivals to outdoor
adventures, waterfrontdestinations, and road trips,
one of my favorite ways totravel throughout Canada.
And one thing that we alsohighlighted as well is
artificial intelligence, whichCanada is known for, especially
here in Toronto, that's rapidlybecoming part of the travel
planning journey, creating newopportunities for Canadian

(02:02:41):
destinations and tourismbusinesses to reach global
travelers.
So I definitely encourage you tocheck out the AI tools on
destinationcanada.com.
These trends certainly reinforcea message we've heard repeatedly
throughout these conversations,which is that Canada is well
positioned for tourism growthand the relationships being
built here at Rendezvous Canadawill really help shape that

(02:03:01):
future.
I just want to finish bythanking the incredible teams at
Destination Canada, DestinationOntario, Destination Toronto,
and the Tourism IndustryAssociation of Canada for their
collaboration and support inmaking this event spotlight
possible.
We also want to extend ourappreciation to all the
organizers, volunteers, buyers,sellers, media partners, and
tourism professionals whose hardwork makes Rendezvous one of the

(02:03:23):
most important tourismmarketplaces in the world and
the PR team I had the privilegeto work with as well.
For more information to learnabout these organizations, check
out destinationcanada.com, checkout Tourism Industry Association
of Canada at TIAC slash AITC.ca.
So we have our English and ourFrench version, but T I A C

(02:03:45):
AITC.ca.
And to learn more aboutRendezvous Canada, future host
destinations and otheropportunities to participate in
upcoming events, visitrendezvouscanada.ca.
And looking ahead, the industrywill gather again for Rendezvous
Canada in Calgary, Alberta.
And we encourage tourismleaders, destinations, travel
buyers, media, and industrypartners from around the world

(02:04:08):
to learn more and considerjoining us there.
And finally, to all ourlisteners around the world,
thank you for spending time withus.
Your interest in travel toCanada really fills my heart
with a great deal of joy.
And I'd love to hear commentsand feedback on this episode,
which you can share on oursocial channels.
We do post clips and highlightson YouTube, Instagram, and
LinkedIn.

(02:04:28):
You can find out moreinformation about Travel Trends
Podcast on our website,traveltrendspodcast.com, and
check out more spotlightepisodes there too.
And on behalf of our TravelTrends team, thank you so much
for joining us for the specialRendezvous Canada twenty twenty
six event spotlight.
Until our next episode, safetravels.

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