Tourism outlook and labour issue meeting

NEWS RELEASE

TOURISM NORTHEN ONTARIO

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Tourism Northern Ontario (TNO) staff joined industry operators, the Conference Board of Canada and Tourism HR Canada in Ottawa last week to discuss current issues facing the tourism labour market and other focus areas surrounding the industry.

Executive Director of TNO, David MacLachlan comments on the meeting, “I am pleased that TNO was able to be a part of this very important conversation about the labour market issues facing Northern Ontario in the tourism industry. We have worked with our partners to produce reports that support workforce trends in tourism, and have those readily available on our website. We will continue to communicate the needs of the northern tourism industry through reporting and research, as well as implement joint solutions going forward.”

While the low Canadian dollar was a positive topic of conversation, attendees of the meeting also spoke about the retention and hiring of staff, training opportunities and putting proactive policies and procedures in place to address labour issues.

TNO worked with the six northern workforce planning boards to document trends and issues around the industry workforce and make recommendations.

TNO reflected on the development of their workforce and industry training initiatives that rolled out this year, including an online industry training calendar available on their website and a three hour workforce training session that took place at the 2015 Northern Ontario Tourism Summit in Sault Ste. Marie.

Tourism Northern Ontario is one of 13 not-for-profit regional tourism organizations funded by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. 

We are the largest tourism region in geography, the second largest in expenditure and the only region that includes sub-regions.



Tourism Northern Ontario coordinates, aligns and invests in sub-regional programs and leads in identified pan-northern management functions; co-ordination of marketing, product development, workforce and industry training, and investment attraction with the ultimate goal to significantly increase tourism revenues in Northern Ontario. 

Increased visitation and yield are achieved by delivering programs designed to enhance existing tourism products and developing new tourism opportunities for the North.

For more information on Tourism Northern Ontario, please visit www.tourismnorthernontario.com.

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