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Dear Valued Member/ Cher membre
Canada's tourism industry is in crisis. We are not attracting people to come to Canada and once they arrive we lack sufficient people to work in our hotels to serve them.
The HAC has launched its 2012 Government Relations Grassroots Program to address these two issues: the funding crisis for the Canadian Tourism Commission and the severe labour shortage the lodging industry is facing.
Funding for the CTC has declined from $100 million in 2001 to $72 million in 2012 and $58.5 million in 2013.
The current budget allocation for Canada's national tourism marketing effort cannot be accepted. It is woefully inadequate. Canada will continue to lose market share at an accelerated pace by being under resourced against our competitors in important source markets. At the same time Canada is facing new direct threats; the United States and other countries have dramatically increased their marketing in Canada which will erode the domestic market and entice more Canadians to travel internationally.
The HAC in its proposal, "Driving Tourism Growth", has suggested funding options to the Minister of Tourism providing a base level of $126-$139 million to execute competitive marketing campaigns. The HAC's preferred model is a reinvestment of GST revenues. Alternatively, the HAC supports a model based on an arrival levy for non-Canadians.
The HAC continues to support the Temporary Foreign Workers Program and we commend the federal government for initiatives such as the new Accelerated Labour Market Opinion process. The permanent solution however, is to have temporary foreign workers graduate to permanent, full time staff under the Provincial Nominee Program. We are recommending the Government of Canada double Provincial Nominee Certificates to accommodate the demand for semi-skilled occupations.
All 306 MPs need to hear from the lodging industry before they return to Ottawa in the fall.
Our Grassroots program documents can be accessed by going directly to our website at www.hotelassociation.ca/grassroots.
It contains:
- Grassroots Campaign
- How Ottawa Operates
- MPs List (link to Government Website)
- MP Responsibilities
- Speaking Notes
- The Hotel Lobby Policy
- Driving Tourism Growth Policy
- Pre Meeting Notice
- Post Meeting Notice
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