I don't. I'm sorry.
Evidence of meeting #29 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #29 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
I don't. I'm sorry.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
First of all, thank you for your presentation. It's great to have you here.
Do you administer the MTEP program?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
Do we administer the program?
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
Yes, do you administer the program?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
We don't, no.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
So you have no input as to where those funds are allocated, what programs receive funds, what events receive funds?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
We don't.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
That's not in your mandate whatsoever?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
That's not in our mandate.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
Were you aware that the FrancoFolies received $175,000 from the Canada Arts Presentation Fund last year?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
I'm afraid I didn't know that.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
Were you aware that they received $175,000 in 2008-09 from the Canada Arts Presentation Fund?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
No.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
So, in fact, they were getting some funding from the federal government. In fact, it was $100,000 more than in the previous five years, in which they received $75,000. Were you aware of that?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
No, I was not.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
Well, that wouldn't surprise me. You wouldn't know that information because it's not under your administration or your mandate. Is that correct?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
Correct.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
It's not in your mandate to know what every federal department is giving to every event across the country, even though you work with the Canadian Tourism Commission.
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
Correct.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
You talked about China and your investments in China, post the Olympics. Why is China so important as an emerging market that we want to tap into?
4:05 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
Chair, that's a great question. China is really a burgeoning economy. We have taken awhile to get approved destination status. Now that we have it, we definitely don't want to squander it.
We have been invested in China for five years, but not marketing in China. We have focused on working with the travel media to get them to come to Canada and tell our stories. We have focused on working with the travel trade--tour operators and travel agents themselves--to help them get ready to sell Canada when the day would come.
That day came this summer, and the opportunity really is great. Many other countries have had ADS in advance of us. We know the Chinese are very interested in Canada itself. After getting ADS, the China National Tourism Administration, which administers the ADS program, brought their inaugural tour to China this summer, and it was by far the largest inaugural tour they've ever brought. These are great indicators that the Chinese are really interested in Canada and that an investment in marketing to sort of create the demand for Canada as a destination is timely, and the time is now. We're very excited about that opportunity.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
You mentioned that 2009 was sort of a down year for tourism across Canada, probably in a down decade. Probably since 9/11 things have been very tough. You say that starting this year, with the Olympics as a catalyst, we might be seeing a rebound.
Could you elaborate on that with a couple of points about what you meant by that?
4:10 p.m.
Senior Vice-President, Marketing Strategy and Communications, Canadian Tourism Commission
Sure. We have seen a rebound in our Statistics Canada data. September's numbers will be coming out in the next week or so, again a demonstration of double-digit increases in almost all of our markets. There are a couple of markets that are still faring poorly, but they are not necessarily economy related.
We do see some great opportunities and we do believe we are getting greater than our share of those opportunities. We invest in marketing programs. We've already demonstrated the return on investment that we're getting, and those returns are for all of Canada, for all of Canada's experiences, for all of Canada's destinations--cities and provinces--and they are reasonably well distributed across the country, so we're pleased with that.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Armstrong Conservative Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS
I have one further question. We looked into domestic tourism, and we have funded a lot of events for domestic tourism across the country. What percentage of tourist dollars come from external tourists coming to Canada from other countries? What percentage of that industry is provided by people from outside Canada?
