Rendez-vous Canada revs ‘economic engine'

Winnipeg Free Press

29-05-2025

If Masayo Hando is reincarnated, she hopes to have the same career she has now.
As Destination Canada's managing director in Japan, the Tokyo resident promotes the Great White North to tour operators and media in her home country. She visits Canada at least twice a year, sometimes three or four times.
'My life is not (long) enough to learn about Canada,' Hando said, adding the country is 27 times larger than Japan. 'In my next life, I want to do the same job to continue to learn.'
Hando is one of more than 1,400 people attending Rendez-vous Canada 2025 at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg this week. The annual tourism trade show brings together more than 800 Canadian tourism businesses and more than 400 buyers from 22 international markets to showcase Canada. (It began Tuesday and ends Friday.)
Tourism contributed a record $130 billion to the Canadian economy last year, according to Marsha Walden, president and CEO of Destination Canada, the Crown corporation that produces the event alongside the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.
'The work that's going on on the (trade fair) floor is a big economic engine for Canada in the coming years,' Walden told the Free Press earlier this week. 'If we do good business here on the floor, we can look to 2026 with a degree of optimism. It's a bit of an early indicator, if you will.'
Last year, more than $65 million in business was conducted at the trade show at Rendez-vous Canada in Edmonton. This year's event comes at a time when, according to Destination Canada, tourism has become Canada's No. 2 service export, pulling in $31 billion in foreign spending last year. The industry is forecast to outpace national GDP growth through 2030.
Nations are in a 'tourism arms race,' Walden noted, and Canada has to put its best foot forward to compete.
'We have to capture the attention of the global traveller and when they get on the ground, it has to be a really superb experience — one they want to recommend to their friends and family back home.'
Approximately 55,000 meetings are expected to take place between buyers and sellers this week.
Grouped by province and territory, representatives from roughly 500 Canadian tourism organizations and businesses were set up at the convention centre Wednesday. They met with buyers in a speed dating-like scenario that gave participants 15 minutes to connect before moving on to their next appointments.
Whether it was the northern lights in the Northwest Territories, the 1920s tunnels in Moose Jaw, Sask., the ghost tours in Kingston, Ont., or the fishing opportunities in Nova Scotia, attendees had a lot to learn about.
The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada has its biggest-ever Rendez-vous Canada presence this week with a space on the trade show floor that includes 69 booths representing more than 200 businesses, according to Keith Henry.
'We're seeing more and more demand to add Indigenous experiences to itineraries (and) to future packages,' said the president and CEO of the Vancouver-based association. 'That's really what this trade show is about: we're trying to build business for the next two, three, four years.'
Denise Hunn, a buyer from England who puts together packages for travel agents to sell to clients, said Canada's West Coast remains a popular destination for English tourists. Still, she does her best to promote every region.
'I just think Canada has it all,' said Hunn, who has attended Rendez-vous Canada 27 times in the last 30 years. 'It (Canada) offers everything for everybody, and it offers different price points for everybody as well. It's not just high-end exclusive holidays.'
Winnipeg last played host to the trade show in 2010, and the keystone province and its capital are on full display this week, noted Natalie Thiesen, vice-president of tourism at Economic Development Winnipeg.
Thirty Manitoba tourism operators are at the tradeshow, 10 of which are participating for the first time.
'There's no better way to showcase our city (and) our province than when we have (buyers) right here,' Thiesen said. 'We're really privileged to host this event.'
Prior to the trade show, nearly 200 international buyers participated in nine 'familiarization tours' hosted by Travel Manitoba. The tours offered participants a chance to experience what the province has to offer, meet proprietors and give travel companies the confidence to sell those experiences to their clients, Walden said.
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Churchill, Riding Mountain National Park and the Interlake region were a few of the destinations. Another two tours — one to a wilderness lodge in northern Manitoba and another that will take participants from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay, Ont. — will take place after the trade show.
'I think Manitoba is Canada's best-kept secret,' said Cody Chomiak, vice-president of marketing at Travel Manitoba. 'After this event, the secret is out.'
This is the 48th year Destination Canada has organized Rendez-vous Canada.
Organizers project the trade show will generate approximately $4.6 million in direct and indirect revenue for Winnipeg and Manitoba, support 24 jobs and contribute $290,000 in provincial tax revenue.
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Aaron EppReporter
Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. He was previously the associate editor at Canadian Mennonite. Read more about Aaron.
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