Why Does Tourism Matter?

If you follow Tourism Brantford on social media, you likely came across our Tourism Week campaign the last week of May. This campaign, which featured a different Brantford Tourism Ambassador each day, was in celebration of Tourism Week—a national initiative that shows the impact of travel and tourism on the economy. 

This year’s Tourism Ambassadors were: Cory Vitiello (Professional Chef and Restaurateur), David Hearn (Professional Golfer, Olympian), Graham Chittenden (Comedian, Writer), Krista DuChene (Professional Runner, Olympian) and Paul Szczechura (Professional Hockey Player). These five Tourism Ambassadors were selected because of the high level of success they have each achieved in their selected fields, but also because each of them has a strong Brantford connection. Their colourful stories were shared on the Discover Brantford Blog and provided insight as to how these hometown heroes were able to develop and/or maintain their skills in Brantford, while becoming household names in their field.

Our Tourism Ambassador articles reached over 60,000 people over Tourism Week, and generated over 4,500 engagements (likes, shares, comments, link clicks). As fun as the articles were to write, it was even more fun for us to see the community’s proud response and support of these Hometown Heroes. All of the Ambassadors featured had wonderful things to say about their upbringing in Brantford and what makes it such a great place to live.

So, why does Tourism Matter? Although there are a wide variety of different answers, here are a few key messages of why tourism matters:

• Tourism drives the economy
• Tourism creates jobs

Tourism is a driving force in the Canadian economy. With $102 billion in total economic activity and 1.8 million jobs related to the sector, tourism is one of the few truly national industries that generates business in every region, province, territory, town, and community.[1] In 2018, the City assisted with 112 sport events, resulting in an economic impact of just under $6 million.[2]

• Tourism creates unique experiences
• Tourism brings communities together

Tourism Week encourages individuals to expand their perspectives and see the world through a different lens. It unites individuals by celebrating differences through shared experiences, and creates community pride when cities are featured.

In each of the articles featured throughout Tourism Week the Tourism Ambassadors mentioned different businesses, not-for-profit organizations, schools, community centers, and sports leagues. These services are all part of the driving force of our tourism economy that keep our community healthy, happy, and actively engaged. It was also the hope of Tourism Brantford that, as well known as the ambassadors are, our local community would discover someone – or something - new as result of the articles.

Tourism Brantford wants to thank everyone for helping us to spread the good word about Brantford over Tourism Week and helping us push our posts past city limits. Tourism Ambassador David Hearn said, “Brantford is a hardworking town full of good people,” and we want everyone to know that.

If you have a business, artist or successful individual you think deserves special recognition, please send their name, contact information and a brief description to tourism@brantford.ca 

If you happened to miss Tourism Week, you can catch up by reading all of the articles on the Discover Brantford Blog: David Hearn, Graham Chittenden, Krista DuChene, Paul Szczechura, and Cory Vitiello.

[1] Tourism Industry Association of Canada

[2] Economic Development & Tourism 2018 Year in Review