Destination Canada Launches New Toolkits to Support the Development of Tourism in Rural, Remote and Northern Communities
OTTAWA, ON, May 30, 2025 /CNW/ - Today Destination Canada, in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), launches two new Tourism Destination Development Toolkits to more than 1,500 elected officials at the FCM Annual Conference and Tradeshow.
The two toolkits, focused on tourism development for rural as well as remote and northern Canadian communities are designed to support municipalities in building vibrant, sustainable, and competitive tourism destinations. As part of Destination Canada and FCM's ongoing partnership, these resources were developed collaboratively with FCM, incorporating feedback from their remote, rural, and northern community caucuses.
Connected to Destination Canada's 2030 Strategy, the toolkits are designed for communities starting from the ground up and who may not have dedicated tourism organizations or personnel. These comprehensive resources offer practical guidance on tourism innovation, community involvement, Indigenous partnerships, and regenerative tourism practices. They help define tourism's ecosystem and showcase how destinations can leverage Destination Canada's latest tourism intelligence and analytics, which also focus on the growing value of the visitor economy.
The toolkits will be available on Destination Canada's website and shared through FCM's communication channels, which reach 2,100 municipalities of all sizes and represent more than 92 percent of all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
The Toolkits Include:
Checklist: A practical guide to help communities get started with tourism planning.
Investment Readiness: Tools to assess if a community is ready for investment, including zoning, bylaws, and collaboration frameworks.
Resources: Links to videos, case studies, best practices, and existing provincial and organizational resources.
Key Features
Case Studies: Examples like the Rugged Apprentice Program in Yukon, which showcases community engagement and transformative visitor experiences.
Support for Indigenous Communities: Highlighting the significant impact cultural tourism has on Indigenous communities and the increasing demand for Indigenous experiences.
Youth Opportunities: Emphasizing the creation of quality career jobs to attract and retain youth in these communities.
The toolkits make their debut during the "Ask the Expert" session at the FCM Annual Conference May 29-June 2 in Ottawa. During this session, municipal panelists will share their own perspectives on economic diversification and highlight the value of leveraging the visitor economy in today's uncertain landscape. The discussion centres around how the toolkits can facilitate tourism development and community engagement, improve both visitor and resident experiences, and drive sustainable economic growth by expanding the visitor economy into new regions.
Tourism's Opportunity:
In 2024, tourism contributed $130B to the Canadian economy—that's over $350M a day in revenue, powered by 265,000 businesses in 5,000 communities coast to coast to coast.
Nearly 18,000 tourism businesses operate in remote communities.
There are over 1,900 indigenous tourism businesses operating across Canada.
704,400 jobs are supported by direct visitor spending throughout Canada. This exceeds the total jobs in agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas combined.
Tourism is an important catalyst for economic growth. It breathes life into economic opportunities across diverse sectors such as hospitality, transportation, retail, arts and culture, and entertainment—while also enhancing the quality of life in communities.
The Tourism Destination Development Toolkits reflect Destination Canada's commitment to supporting municipalities with actionable strategies and innovative solutions, connecting communities to the tourism ecosystem and catalyzing their visitor economy.
Quotes:
"Tourism is a powerful economic engine that drives growth and prosperity across Canada. By supporting travel and tourism at the community level, we're creating meaningful opportunities—including for Indigenous peoples—while strengthening the economic fabric of the places we call home. These toolkits will empower northern, remote and rural communities to build on their unique strengths, improve their quality of life and develop tourism in a way that reflects their identity and values." – The Honourable Rechie Valdez, Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism)
"Canada's rural, remote, and northern communities are packed with one-of-a-kind cultural experiences and natural beauty — they're at the heart of what makes our tourism industry special. This practical toolkit is all about helping local businesses and communities play to their strengths and grow tourism in a smart, sustainable way that really benefits folks on the ground in our communities."-The Honourable Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State (Rural Development)
"Destination Canada's new toolkits represent a pivotal step forward in empowering our municipal leaders to create authentic, sustainable, and competitive destinations," says Gracen Chungath, SVP, Investment and Destination Development. "With an intentional destination strategy that is integrated into the community plan; municipal leadership, residents and businesses work towards a common goal which only increases the value of tourism for all."
About Destination Canada
At Destination Canada, we believe that tourism enhances the wealth and wellbeing of Canadians and enriches the lives of visitors. Our mission is to influence supply and build demand for the benefit of locals, communities and visitors through leading research, alignment with public and private sectors, and marketing Canada nationally and abroad.
Tourism contributes $130B to the Canadian economy. That's more than $350M a day in revenue powered by 265,000 businesses in 5,000 communities coast to coast to coast. Destination Canada's activities convert public dollars into international visitor spending within the same year—creating jobs, GDP, and tax revenues almost immediately. Every dollar invested in DC turns into a demonstrable financial return for Canadian businesses, workers, communities, and governments.
Knowing that diversity is our greatest asset, we promote Canada as a premier four-season leisure and business tourism destination around the country and world in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, United Kingdom and the United States. Additionally, our Business Events team uses global insights to target and attract international events aligned with Canada's top economic sectors.
Destination Canada is a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada.
www.destinationcanada.com
SOURCE Destination Canada
View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2025/30/c6694.html
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Business Wire
23 minutes ago
- Business Wire
SPARK Microsystems and TokenMe Partner to Transform Safety and Efficiency on Construction Sites
MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- SPARK Microsystems, a Canadian fabless semiconductor company specializing in next-generation short-range wireless communications, today announced a strategic partnership with TokenMe, a Netherlands-based firm focused on applying sophisticated sensor/tracking solutions in Construction Technology to enable improved operational results in complex construction projects. Solution is successfully deployed at Denmark's New Odense University Hospital, managing real-time tracking of tasks, assets, and personnel across 250,000 square meter, multi-level construction site. Share The partnership combines SPARK's advanced ultra-wideband (SPARK LE-UWB™) wireless technology with TokenMe's intelligent monitoring platform to revolutionize how IoT is deployed on construction sites. The integrated solution enables precise real-time localization and secure data transmission, critical for optimizing operations and improving worker safety across large and complex construction environments. A successful deployment of this joint technology is underway at Denmark's New Odense University Hospital. There, TokenMe's system, powered by SPARK LE-UWB™, manages real-time tracking of tasks, assets, and personnel across the sprawling 250,000 m 2 multi-level construction site. This implementation has significantly improved operational oversight and safety compliance, showcasing the transformative impact of the partnership. 'Our partnership with TokenMe leverages SPARK Microsystems' advanced UWB wireless connectivity to deliver unmatched precision and reliability in real-time monitoring – essential for the dynamic nature of large-scale construction projects,' said Fares Mubarak, CEO of SPARK Microsystems. 'SPARK LE-UWB™ technology provides the secure, low-latency, and power-efficient communication needed for industrial IoT applications, setting a new standard in the industry.' 'The integration of SPARK Microsystems' UWB technology into our tokens, anchors and sensor hubs enables us to deliver real-time, actionable insights, driving both productivity and safety,' said Hans van Leeuwen, CEO of TokenMe. 'SPARK's UWB technology allows accurate counting of workers at any strategic location, providing geo-fencing, motion and fall detection – crucial for providing quick insight and improving worker's safety while maintaining uninterrupted performance on demanding construction sites.' SPARK Microsystems is renowned for its energy-efficient, high-speed, high-frequency UWB wireless technology with accurate ranging capabilities, making it ideally suited for the rigorous demands of IoT-enabled construction environments. This partnership reflects a shared commitment by both companies to advancing innovation, reliability, and performance in industrial IoT. About TokenMe Founded in 2020, TokenMe offers a full-service, wireless, battery-powered solution, including innovative tags, sensors and anchors, digitization and automation of decision-making, using clever software analytics and a path to continuous operational improvement, using AI-enabled RCE floorplan-based actionable information and decision-making tools. The company's mission is to transform the construction industry by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and advanced wireless technology to increase safety, efficiency, productivity and sustainability. TokenMe is a privately held company based in the Netherlands, with manufacturing in Singapore and a sales team across the US, Europe and Japan. Learn more at About SPARK Microsystems SPARK Microsystems is building next generation short-range wireless communication devices. SPARK UWB provides high data rate and very low latency wireless communication links at an ultra-low power profile, making it ideal for personal area networks (PANs) used in mobile, consumer and IoT-connected products. Leveraging patented technologies, SPARK Microsystems strives to minimize and ultimately eliminate wires and batteries from a wide range of applications. For more information, please visit

Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dye & Durham to consider sale, merger in truce with investor Plantro
(Reuters) -Dye & Durham will review strategic alternatives to stabilize its finances and may even consider selling itself, it said on Tuesday, reaching a settlement that avoids a proxy fight with its second-largest investor, Plantro. The agreement comes less than a month after Plantro, which owns 11% of the Toronto-based Canadian legal software maker, said it was nominating three directors to the board who would push for a sale of the company, and calling for a special shareholders' meeting to vote on the nominees. Plantro had argued a sale was the only way to realize a control premium for shareholders and restore stability in the business. Dye & Durham has now agreed to add Plantro-nominee David Danziger to its board of directors. Danziger, who has expertise in audits, accounting, M&A and management consulting, will also chair a newly formed special committee to lead the review. In return, Plantro has withdrawn its special meeting request. Dye & Durham said it will not make any further public comments about the review, which could also include potential mergers, recapitalizations and asset sales, until the process has been completed. In May, Plantro, a company controlled by former Dye & Durham CEO Matthew Proud, asked Dye & Durham to stabilize its executive team, divest its financial services division, and later this year pursue the sale of its remaining core business.


Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Economists predict Bank of Canada to stand pat in Wednesday's interest rate announcement
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem will announce Wednesday morning whether the bank is cutting its key overnight lending rate, but most economists expect it will stand pat. A consensus of economists surveyed by Bloomberg say the bank will keep its key rate at 2.75 per cent, where it's been since March 12. The bank will also release its monetary policy report, a quarterly look at the Canadian and global economy. Economists are widely expecting the Bank of Canada to keep its benchmark interest rate on hold this week — though not all agree with that call. (July 28, 2025) The bank has left its key rate alone for three straight meetings, after cutting it seven times in a row from its five per cent peak. The bank began cutting last June amid concern over a sputtering Canadian economy. That concern grew amidst a trade war sparked by tariffs levied by U.S. President Donald Trump. More to come ...