Travel still has the power to do enormous good in the world. At its best, travel changes us. It connects people to place, turns curiosity into understanding, sustains communities and protects the cultures and landscapes that make a destination worth visiting in the first place. Done carelessly, it takes far more than it gives. That is the truth the industry is being forced to confront.
At a time of fuel scarcity, cost pressures and climate anxiety, travel is under pressure to justify itself, and rightly so. The industry is now being asked a far tougher question: what does tourism actually give back? Who benefits? What is left behind when the visitors go home?
Canada is putting forward an answer.
This is a destination making a deliberate effort to build tourism around responsibility, intention and long-term value. It is investing in experiences that support communities, honour culture and protect the natural environments at the heart of the journey itself.
On Earth Day, Karryon caught up with Destination Canada Australia managing director Julie King to examine an uncomfortable truth for the industry: if travel wants to keep growing, it has to prove it deserves to. From Indigenous-led tourism to slower, longer journeys and a broader commitment to regenerative tourism, Canada is making a serious case for travel that gives back as much as it takes.
With this year’s Earth Day theme, ‘Our Power, Our Planet’, centred on action, what’s one travel experience in Canada that shows how that’s playing out on the ground?
Indigenous-led tourism is one of the most powerful examples.
These experiences are grounded in thousands of years of knowledge about living in balance with the land and they’re becoming a defining part of Canada’s tourism offering.
Whether travellers are joining a cultural wildlife tour with an Indigenous guide on Vancouver Island, learning about traditional food harvesting or hearing stories tied to the landscape in the Yukon, they’re gaining a deeper understanding of the ecosystems and cultures that shape the country.
At Destination Canada we talk about moving beyond sustainability to a regenerative approach to ensure travel contributes to the ongoing vitality of a place, its people, its culture, its businesses and the natural systems that sustain it. Regeneration goes beyond reducing harm. It is about actively strengthening communities and ecosystems so that each visit leaves a place better than it was found.
Indigenous tourism is a powerful expression of that because it supports cultural revitalisation, local economies and stewardship of the land, all at once.
There’s growing scrutiny on long-haul travel and emissions. How do you talk to Australians about travelling to Canada in that context?
Canada is a destination that genuinely rewards commitment and many Australians are shifting away from short, high-frequency trips toward fewer, longer and more meaningful journeys, which Canada is perfectly suited to.
Through Destination Canada’s Tourism Pledge, launched in Australia with a founding group of industry partners who now form our Strategic Advisory Group, we’re working collectively with the sector to grow tourism in ways that benefit communities, culture and the environment. It’s an initiative we’re now extending to the entire Australian travel industry, because we believe that when the industry moves together, the impact is transformational.
For travellers, that means staying longer, exploring beyond the gateway cities and embracing slower journeys, whether road-tripping through Atlantic Canada or crossing the country by rail. The experience is richer for it.
If a traveller wanted to experience Canada more sustainably, what would you tell them to do differently from the moment they land?
Slow down. Canada is one of the world’s great destinations for intentional, unhurried travel.
Rail is a good place to start. VIA Rail’s cross-country routes and regional services through Québec and Ontario offer a lower-impact way to move through the country while experiencing the landscape as it deserves to be seen. For those seeking a more luxurious pace, Rocky Mountaineer’s spectacular rail journeys through the Canadian Rockies and Pacific Northwest deliver some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth, all from the comfort of a glass-domed coach.
Spending time in smaller regions makes a real difference too. The Québec countryside, Nova Scotia’s Cabot Trail and the communities of the Yukon and Northwest Territories all reward travellers who choose to go slower and deeper.
In Manitoba, Churchill offers two of Canada’s most extraordinary wildlife encounters, polar bears on the tundra in autumn and beluga whales in summer, while Winnipeg has quietly become one of the country’s most exciting food destinations, with a farm-to-table dining scene rooted in the incredible produce of the surrounding prairies.
On the Atlantic coast, Prince Edward Island rewards those who linger, whether cycling the Confederation Trail, meeting local food producers or kayaking coastal inlets in one of Canada’s most quietly beautiful corners.
Those choices reduce impact and almost always make for a far more memorable trip. Canada has 13 provinces and territories, each with its own distinct character, landscape and culture, and the travellers who explore beyond the obvious rarely want to leave.
If you had to pick experiences in Canada that capture the country’s connection to nature at its most powerful, where would they be?
Canada’s landscapes are extraordinarily diverse, but a few experiences really stand out.
Seeing the northern lights in the Yukon, Northwest Territories or Churchill is one of those moments where travellers feel the true scale of the natural world. The Canadian Rockies, including Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper, offer iconic national park landscapes for hiking, paddling or simply pausing.
On the Atlantic coast, spotting icebergs off Newfoundland and Labrador is unlike anything else, with ancient ice drifting past dramatic coastline in one of the most remote and rewarding corners of the country.
In British Columbia, the wildlife and scenery are extraordinary. Watching humpback whales breach off the coast, grizzlies fishing for salmon in the Great Bear Rainforest, or simply moving through old-growth forest on Vancouver Island is nature on a scale that stops you.
In autumn, Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario transforms into one of the world’s great fall colour displays, a fiery landscape of maple, birch and oak best experienced by canoe or on foot.
Across Canada, nature isn’t just scenery. It’s central to how people live, travel and connect with the country.
Looking ahead, how do you see traveller expectations around sustainability evolving, and how is Canada preparing to meet them?
Travellers are moving beyond traditional ideas of sustainability. They want to know their visit contributes positively, not just that it caused less harm. They want to engage with local communities, experience local produce through farm-to-table dining, learn from Indigenous guides, stay in places that are genuinely shaped by their landscape, and take home stories and local arts and crafts that contribute to the community rather than souvenirs.
That’s where regenerative tourism becomes important. It is about travel that actively supports ecosystems, cultures and communities. Canada is well positioned here because so much of the experience is already rooted in nature, culture and community stewardship.
Through the Tourism Pledge, we’re working with industry partners across Australia to ensure that as tourism grows, it enhances the wealth and wellbeing of the communities that make Canada worth visiting. To mark this next chapter, we’ve created a new emblem, ‘Together with Impact’, combining the Canadian maple leaf with Australia’s golden wattle, a symbol of two nations whose values and ambitions are genuinely intertwined.
The pledge and its community are now open to the entire Australian travel industry, including agents, wholesalers, tour operators, media and beyond. Because the future of travel is not just about where you go. It is about what your visit leaves behind.
Travel industry partners interested in joining the Tourism Pledge can register here.
