Tourism is essential to the vitality of local businesses and communities across southern Ontario, bringing millions of visitors to the region each year. Indigenous tourism offers unique opportunities for Indigenous cultural expression and preservation to be shared with visitors from around the world. The Government of Canada is continuing to support the tourism sector as Canada recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring local tourism businesses have the tools they need to position themselves for a strong and resilient economic future.
Today, the Honourable Helena Jaczek, Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) announced a total investment of $68.5 million through the Tourism Relief Fund for Indigenous Tourism Ontario and 11 Regional Tourism Organizations (RTOs) across southern Ontario. This investment will help tourism businesses and communities safely welcome back visitors, recover from the impacts of the pandemic and prepare for future growth.
With an investment of $3.5 million, Indigenous Tourism Ontario will provide non-repayable contributions of up to $100,000 to Indigenous businesses, not-for-profit organizations, Band Councils, and Indigenous communities to invest in new or enhanced tourism experiences, upgrade tourism assets, and attract domestic and international tourists. ITO will also deliver the Renew Indigenous Tourism program to support Indigenous organizations, businesses, and entrepreneurs as they work to recover from the pandemic. This investment will support up to 40 Indigenous projects to create and maintain up to 100 jobs.
As part of this investment, 11 RTOs across southern Ontario will also receive a combined investment of $65 milion to distribute funding through non-repayable contributions of up to $100,000 to southern Ontario tourism-oriented businesses and organizations to innovate and invest in new and enhanced tourism experiences to attract visitors from within Canada and around the world. This investment will support up to 1,300 tourism entities and create or maintain up to 4,100 jobs. Please see the backgrounder for additional project details.
In total, this overall investment will support 1,340 tourism entities and create and maintain 4,200 jobs. More information on how to apply for support will be available on the ITO and eligible RTO’s websites shortly.
As well, the application portal for the Tourism Relief Fund remains open on the FedDev Ontario website and interested organizations are encouraged to apply online.
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GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
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