ETC Picks Prinz As New Chair In Canada
Pascal Prinz has been picked to be the new Chair of the European Travel Commission’s (ETC) Canada Chapter. Prinz has been the Vice-Chair of the ETC’s Canada Chapter for the past 18 months.
Along with his role as Director Canada and Trade Manager Central USA for Switzerland Tourism for two-and-a-half years, Prinz also serves as a board member of the Swiss-Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
He takes over the role of ETC Canada Chair from Dana Welch, Manager for Canada at Tourism Ireland, who coordinated the association’s operations in the market for the past three years.
Taking over his mandate during these challenging times, Prinz will lead ETC’s activities to restore Canadian travel to Europe. He will leverage European destinations’ promotional activities by setting up effective platforms for cooperative marketing, access to market intelligence, exchange of best practices, cooperation and relationships between the Canadian and the European travel and tourism industry.
Commenting on his appointment, Prinz said: “This is obviously a very difficult year and it might take some time, but we will work hard to bring Canadians back to Europe. This pandemic will not stop the love of Canadians for Europe. I thank the European Travel Commission and its members for their trust. This appointment is a big honour for me. Travel & tourism is one of the largest industries worldwide, accounting for one in ten jobs globally. I look forward to navigating this crisis together with my European colleagues and to rebuilding jobs both in Canada and Europe.”
Canada ranks third among all out-of-region outbound travel markets to European destinations. 6.5 million travellers from Canada arrived in Europe last year awed by Europe’s diversity of landscapes, history, culture and culinary experiences. Tourist arrivals from Canada to Europe are currently forecasted to decline by an average of 35% in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic.
Canada is among the short-list of non-European countries for which numerous European destinations have lifted travel restrictions.
Travellers seeking information about current travel conditions in Europe are advised to consult the portal reopen.europa.eu .
