Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good morning.
Thank you for inviting me to appear before the committee today.
I am speaking to you today from the unceded and ancestral territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations, which has been stewarded by them since time immemorial.
Tourism is an important contributor to Canada's economy. Before the pandemic, there was $105 billion in total spending, contributing 2% of annual GDP and two million jobs. Unfortunately, our sector has faced a prolonged recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.
Canada's borders reopened only one year ago, and international visitors have been slow to return. As of the end of August, we were still three million visitors below where we were at this point in 2019. Other key performance indicators are all still below prepandemic levels. Many businesses still face persistent hurdles, including low revenue, mounting debt and struggles to attract an optimal workforce.
The new federal tourism growth strategy sets out ambitious objectives to hit by 2030, including increasing our contribution to GDP by 40% and bolstering our international ranking. To reach these targets, industry and government will need to continue to work together. It will also require greater investment. TIAC has identified key recommendations to help with these targets.
Our first priority is the mounting debt burden faced by many tourism businesses. Loans made available served as a vital lifeline during the height of the COVID pandemic, but operators still face tremendous financial strain, and debt repayments have become daunting. TIAC appreciates the recent revisions to CEBA, but entrepreneurs still require near-term support to alleviate the debt burden, so we recommend the adoption of new measures to help tourism SMEs remain solvent.
Second is the need to rebuild the tourism workforce. A significant labour shortage remains during a critical time of regrowth for the sector. As such, we recommend extending the economic mobility pathways pilot program to those employed in a wide spectrum of tourism occupations, the creation of a dedicated tourism stream with a permanent residency track under Canada's temporary foreign worker program, and funding a workforce strategy for indigenous tourism.
Next is to invest in tourism assets. There remains a pressing need for investment in tourism assets throughout Canada, including airports, ports, accommodations, conference centres and attractions. We recommend that the government adopt a comprehensive approach to expanding Canada's tourism assets, including a tourism infrastructure fund to support major capital projects, a tax credit program to incentivize investment in the creation and upgrading of assets, and an investment incentive to provide airports with the capital to expand and update infrastructure. Such investment will ultimately lead to dividends for the government through increased tax revenue. It would also spur increased private investment, including direct foreign investment.
These investments need not necessarily come from new funding sources; existing programs like the investing in Canada infrastructure program could be fine-tuned with resources earmarked specifically for tourism.
Another key priority is expediting access for visitors to Canada. Application backlogs for visitor visas remain a deterrent for many international travellers. The government could bolster IRCC's special events program to ensure business event travellers do not face visa processing delays. For the cruise ship industry to prosper, we also need to ensure there is CBSA port coverage in all small communities.
Environmental sustainability is also an important policy pillar for TIAC. Government investment is needed for such things as the production of sustainable aviation fuel in Canada. We note that if this was done, Canada could become the global leader in the production of sustainable aviation fuel.
Finally, TIAC is calling on the government to ensure housing affordability in tourism hubs. We recommend the government create a working group to address concerns, assess needs and consider how tourism can contribute to affordable housing objectives.
In closing, I trust that the full submission we've provided will be helpful to you as you consider priorities for the federal budget in 2024.
Thank you.