Industry committee  Our report alludes to the fact that we need more money in emerging markets. The CTC addresses nine countries, as Michelle and Steve talked about earlier. That's great, and they're doing a good job in those nine markets. Seven of them are growing. Japan and the United States are problems.

Industry committee  We found the Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism to be very helpful, accommodating, and accessible. She has shown a willingness to work with us. In our report we haven't been prescriptive in terms of what those strategic investments would be yet. Obviously it takes a public and private sector consultation process to go through that exercise.

Industry committee  Certainly the announcement is reflective of the tone of our competitive report in that we're on the verge of a crisis. It's just one signal that this report is right on the mark. Be aware, though, that the Air Canada announcement is for this fourth quarter and the first quarter of next year.

Industry committee  For once I think our industry is ahead of the curve here. We have provided the government with seven strategic areas that will soften the blow and mitigate the challenges we have going forward with fuel, the Canadian dollar, and so on. Our recommendations result from a year-and-a-half consultation process that involved the most senior in our industry, including the heads of hotel companies, airline companies, railway companies, and so on.

Industry committee  The realm of marketing and research is within the Canadian Tourism Commission's purview, so I defer that question to Michele and Steve.

Industry committee  I agree 100%.

Industry committee  Obviously we don't have any scientific way of knowing what the direct impact will be. Fuel prices are changing by the day. The response we're hearing from our industry is not positive. Air Canada's announcement of less capacity in itself will cut travel. Increased cost has an effect on tourism.

Industry committee  Obviously that's another very important question. We need open skies agreements with a number of countries. As Jim said earlier, we only have five open skies agreements. We need them with the European Union. That is under way now. We need that desperately. After 1995 when the Canada-U.S. open skies agreement was signed, there was an immediate impact on our industry in Canada.

Industry committee  We're at a $10 billion travel deficit. We are spending $10 billion more than visitors to our country spend.

Industry committee  They're $70 billion.

Industry committee  That's the $64,000 question. We're not on the front line of the negotiation. It's frustrating to us. Back in 1999 when the lineup started in order to get ADS status with China, Australia was the first country to get it and we were second or third in the queue. Now if we got ADS status we'd be 135th in the world to get it.

Industry committee  Do you want to handle that one, Michele? You're aware of a couple of research projects on that. Some of the numbers are pretty scary, so we don't want to be overly optimistic. Please go ahead, Michele.

Industry committee  Most of the $70 billion Canadian market, 60-odd percent of it, is from Canadians travelling within Canada domestically. The ability to incrementally increase that percentage faces a question mark, and it is a lower-yield market. In other words, a Canadian traveling in Canada is a lower-yield traveller than one from further away.

Industry committee  I'm sorry. An American travelling to Canada for four days will spend $2,594--this is out of the Conference Board report commissioned by the CTC--and $1,800 in the United States. That's a difference of $740 more that they will spend in Canada. Of that, $560 comes from air costs, the difference in the U.S. versus Canada.

Industry committee  That's a difficult question to answer specifically, but obviously investments like we're seeing in northern Quebec now with Le Massif project are certainly helpful. Blue Mountain is a smaller scale of a Mont-Tremblant or a Whistler. Those kinds of investments certainly are helpful.