RVC 2022: A Big Time At Little Canada

Some 400 delegates at this year’s Rendez-vous Canada were welcome to The Office at Little Canada to celebrate the fact that the Canadian tourism industry is back and ready for business.

Little Canada is a unique, new Toronto attraction that’s the brainchild of its founder and president, Jean-Louis Brenninkmeijer and which features miniature displays of Little Niagara, Little Golden Horseshoe, Petit Quebec, Little Toronto and Little Ottawa and there’s more to come in the next little while.

For The Office, it was the perfect venue to showcase and celebrate the return to business of the Canadian tourism industry.

Beth Potter, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), observed that The Office has become a Rendez-vous Canada tradition and Little Canada showcases what Canada has to offer.

TIAC’s boss also thanked those attending for helping to bring this country’s tourism industry back to life.

Certainly, this country’s Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance, Randy Boissonnault brought the evening to life with a passionate speech to those attending.

Minister Boissonnault pointed out that tourism accounts for 8% of France’s GDP, while for Canada it accounts for only 2%.

He told his audience: “I want us to close the gap. That is our collective mission. So whether it’s rural and remote tourism, whether it’s culinary tourism, whether it’s indigenous tourism, whether you’re promoting LGBT organizations, whether you’re miniaturizing the world that we live in, and bringing people around the world to see it, or whether you are bringing people to world class arts and culture and festivals and events, our collective mission is to have everybody in this country know that the visitor economy is big business, that the visitor economy needs to be part of Canada’s industrial strategy, and that tourism touches every single community in this country.”

And Minister Boissonnault noted: “56% of jobs in tourism are in rural Canada, and we are the best employer of youth, the best employer of newcomers, a great employer of women, people of color, and we have a lot of work to do.”

To achieve this goal, the Minister said that this country’s tourism industry is going to lead; it’s going to engage (like it’s doing at RVC 2022) and it’s going to inspire people to come and visi

Lead, engage, inspire – that sounds like a plan.

Sponsors of The Office included:

• Baxter Media
• Air Canada
• Little Canada
• Destination Northern Ontario
• Innvest Hotels
• FlyGTA Airlines
• Rocky Mountaineer
• Food Dudes
• Spectacular Northwest Territories
• Niagara Helicopters
• Attridge Coach Lines
• Destination Toronto
• Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC)
• Discover the World
• Motor Home Travel Canada Inc.