Destination Canada’s Australia Office has embarked on an industry first by signing a pledge with Australian travel partners, including Karryon, to collaborate on efforts, knowledge, and resources to align the travel industry with Canada’s sustainability and regeneration principles.
Aligning with Destination Canada’s recently launched “Tourism 2030: A World of Opportunity” strategy, the pledge aims to enhance Canadian tourism offerings to positively impact the environment, culture, society, and economy of Canada.
This win-win partnership prioritises community-led destination development and supports the advancement of reconciliation with Indigenous people and the land in Canada.
Key areas of focus for partners centre around transformation in creating and raising awareness of new legendary tourism programs and experiences, providing support, creating partnerships towards impact projects, sharing best practices, and fostering education within the Australian Travel Industry.
Gloria Loree, Senior Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer at Destination Canada, emphasised, “Destination Canada’s growth trajectory presents both exciting opportunities and intricate challenges that require a new path forward.
“Our vision for 2030 is centred on achieving sustainable prosperity within our sector, calling for innovative strategies and decisive actions. This impactful initiative, spearheaded by our Australia office in partnership with key stakeholders, is a tangible step towards realising this vision.”
Destination Canada Australia Managing Director Julie King noted, “We have been working extensively with our founding strategic advisory group, consisting of key industry partners over the last nine months, to realise our vision, align, and develop this pledge. This is part of our collective commitment to make a significant impact in the work we are doing to create responsible growth in the Canadian tourism sector.“
Julie King highlighted that the initiative encourages all travel industry members interested in aligning with the Destination Canada Australia vision, to sign the pledge.
The inaugural advisory group that recently signed the pledge, following a series of strategic discussions in Australia and Canada, includes;
- Neil Rodgers, Adventure World Managing Director
- Vic Naughton, General Manager Australia, Air Canada
- Greg McCallum, Entire Travel Group, Part Owner & Sales and Marketing Director
- Tim Holden, Flight Centre Travel Group, General Manager of Tourism Bodies and Global Partnerships
- Melissa Warren, Helloworld, Group General Manager – Marketing
- Rodney Muller, Managing Director, Ski Max Holidays
- Casandra Foister, Vice President, Ski Max Holidays
- Daniel Walker, Managing Director, Sno’n’Ski Holidays
- Matt Leedham, Founder and Managing Director, Karryon
- Julie King, Managing Director, Destination Canada, Australia
- Nathan McLoughlin, Director-Travel Trade, Destination Canada Australia
How will it work?
The Australian travel trade advisory group stakeholders will play a pivotal role in aligning with Destination Canada’s 2030 ambition and transforming travel and tourism products and experiences to help shape the future of tourism in Canada.
Quarterly meetings in Australia will serve as a platform for collaboratively acting on the pledge, while annual gatherings in Canada will provide opportunities to view strategic progress on the ground and meet with partners to create a continual shared evolution for good.
Karryon is honoured to be the first Australian Travel Trade media partner to help kick-start the collaboration. Karryon founder Matt Leedham recently travelled to Canada in March as part of the advisory group on a mission to meet with Destination Canada and tourism operators in Alberta.
Commenting on Karryon’s involvement, Matt Leedham said, “Having recently experienced some of Canada’s incredible Indigenous experiences firsthand and learnt more about the extraordinary work Destination Canada is doing to promote regenerative and community-led tourism, Karryon is honoured to be a founding member of the strategic advisory group.”
“As a trusted media channel with ethics and purpose at our core, we are responsible for telling and sharing the news and stories that truly matter. Our goal is to help elevate the travel industry, and the communities travellers visit to enable a sustainable future for all.
“We will always be stronger together in travel, and my hope is that we can inspire the travel industry community to join us, including our fellow travel trade media friends here in Australia and New Zealand,” said Mr Leedham.
Sharing her pride and excitement for the new initiative, “There is a collective commitment between our partners in having a far-reaching impact across the industry through multi-channel engagement, panel discussions and media interviews, and setting short-term and long-term goals to measure progress.
“We are incredibly proud that Australia will serve as the pilot market for this impactful partnership collaboration that has been developed locally and which will be rolled out globally in the future,” said Ms King.
For more on Destination Canada, head to:
www.destinationcanada.com/en
www.karryon.com.au/destination-canada
www.destinationcanada.com/canada-specialist-program-domestic
Read: Embracing Openness: Australian Travel industry leaders explore Alberta, Canada
For more information on the initiative or to join the pledge, please email julie.king@jkingassociates.com
