National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – how travel can show its support

Canada marked its fourth annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – also known as Orange Shirt Day – on Monday (Sept. 30), dedicating time to remember Indigenous children who died at residential schools, the survivors, their families and communities.

Events are being held across the country today to mark the day, including a 90-minute ceremony in Ottawa.

In the travel and tourism space, it’s a day to acknowledge the growing interest in Indigenous tourism across the country.

According to Deloitte Canada’s 2024 travel outlook, more than half of Canadians (57 per cent) are likely to take part in Indigenous travel experiences.

In 2023, Destination Canada reported that international travellers to Canada included Indigenous food & drink (36.8 per cent) and nature adventures (35.6 per cent) in their trips.

What can members of the travel industry, and their clients, do to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and become better allies? By visiting (or booking) a local Indigenous experience.

A range of packaged experiences in Canada, assembled by ITAC, can be found on indigenoustourism.ca, which is a great resource for travel advisors looking to expand their knowledge of Indigenous tourism, identify key contacts and support the sector.

(Click here to view some of the eye-opening experiences that are out there).

And it needs the industry’s support. Prior to March 2020, Indigenous tourism was outpacing all other tourism sectors in Canada for growth, bringing an estimated $1.9 billion in revenue to Canada’s gross domestic product, ITAC reports.

READ MORE: 22 Indigenous tourism experiences to discover in 2022

At that time, there were an estimated 40,000 Indigenous tourism employees and 1,800 Indigenous-led businesses.

Indigenous tourism, however, was disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, due to budget cuts and lack of support, the investment in the Indigenous Tourism Destination Fund (IDTF) has fallen short and is not meeting funding goals, raising only $232,000 to date, says ITAC.

Without that support, ITAC says it will no longer be able to provide the much-needed financial support to its Provincial and Territorial partners.

The priority is maintaining the solvency of ITAC for the benefit of its 1,332 members from coast to coast to coast, the association says.

There are more than 1,900 indigenous tourism businesses in Canada, says ITAC. Travel advisors can learn more by visiting this page.

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