Industry committee  Canada was good value at that time, plus Americans who did travel stayed closer to home, and Canadians visited Canada more. So a little bit of it was Americans staying and visiting Canada instead of going abroad. That was most of it. But we exist right now in a bit of a perfect storm because of the Canadian dollar, the confusion over border documentation because of WHTI, the passport issue, the congestion at the border, and also fears that there are going to be--and there are on busy weekends--four and five-hour waits, and so on.

Industry committee  Yes, in Ottawa, Montreal, or Toronto it's frustrating to get off the plane after what might be a half-hour or one-hour flight and wait half an hour for a taxi. I think our three major cities in the triangle are going to have to address that problem. Obviously Vancouver's monorail system from the airport to downtown is really going to help that community.

Industry committee  I'm going to turn this over to Chris, but I'm going to give you an anecdote. We were hiring somebody the other day who had been working a couple of jobs for the last couple of years. They were working in human resources at a department store as a human resources manager and also working at a restaurant.

Industry committee  Actually, the business travel is holding its own. Because of the strength of the Canadian economy, business travel is strong in Canada. We are worried about the convention sector over the next three to four years because of the appreciation of the Canadian dollar. When we're competing against other countries in the world for foreign conventions, particularly the U.S., how we price Canada for foreign conventions.....

Industry committee  One of the greatest benefits of tourism is our diversity. One of our biggest disadvantages is our diversity as well. People misunderstand our industry because they can't touch it like a factory or a storefront. We see ourselves as eight different industries within our sector. Internationally right now it's at five different industries within the tourism sector.

Industry committee  We've been pushing the government for negotiations for five years.

Industry committee  We've been pursuing ADS status--approved destination status--with China for at least five to six years. The first country to get it in 1999 was Australia. We were at that time considered to be a frontrunner with Australia for approved destination status in 1999. Now if we got approved destination status, we'd be something like the 90th country to get it.

Industry committee  Festivals and events are what animate our country and what put us as a great attraction to visitors from other countries. For example, at the highest level, obviously, are the Olympics, which I've mentioned, but there's the winter carnival and other events, the Grand Prix in Montreal and so on, which are critical as drivers and motivators for travellers to come to any destination.

Industry committee  Most definitely, yes, is the answer to that question. It would be a big help to our industry to have some of those funds that were taken out of the system, that were accessible to industry for hosting events, put back into place. Obviously, we have the same agenda as the government to make sure these funds are passed on in an accountable way and that they're actually doing what they're intended to be doing.

Industry committee  For sure. Out of every dollar that's spent on tourism, 30 cents goes into tax revenues. The biggest winner of that revenue is the federal government. The second-biggest winner is the provincial government. The municipal revenues are also elevated. That's 30 cents on every dollar.

Industry committee  Yes, Russia wouldn't have.... Of course I'm talking about the exotic nature that Russia would offer, and China is another example.

Industry committee  It was 2002.

Industry committee  About 90%, or just over 90%.

Industry committee  We won't even talk about Dubai, which is investing billions and billions of dollars into infrastructure and new products, because that's an anomaly, I believe. But certainly there are more countries marketing their destinations than ever before for tourism. The World Tourism Organization, our international body, released a study that showed that out of all the countries that were marketing their destinations, in one year their advertising had gone up 11% on average.

Industry committee  Canada used to lead in those areas, but right now I think countries like Costa Rica, New Zealand, and Australia are positioning themselves far better than we are as being destinations for eco-tourists or for sustainable tourism. Those are areas we should be excelling at, because we are known as a natural destination and one with lots of pristine, open environments.