Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC)

The Northern Tourism Recovery Incubator developed by ITAC was created to support SMEs in Northern communities to strengthen their business, rebuild Indigenous tourism operators and re-train staff members to support visitors and public health expectations as the tourism industry recovers.

The needs of these businesses were assessed through a national accreditation program (Project Rise) which provided individual business assessments and aggregated data for ongoing support. By working with the Indigenous provincial and territorial partners, ITAC supported the effective delivery of regionally specific support to revitalize operators ahead of the 2023 operating season. Regional needs were considered as businesses reported through the accreditation program, recognizing that the gaps in one part of the country may not be the same as another. This coordinated effort aimed to increase tourism revenues and jobs by increasing Indigenous tourism products to meet visitor demands.

Aerial view of the airport. Airplane taxiing to runway.

Featured Projects

Seedling sprouting in dark soil
Project

Addressing Regional Labour Shortages

Despite the labour shortage in forestry management in Canada’s North, there is a lack of innovative and engaging training methods and capacity to deliver reforestation skills to remote Indigenous communities. To help meet the need for this training, and to make it accessible and more engaging in digital form, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) created two courses that featured immersive, 360° photos and videos, and a tool kit for instructors who do not have in-depth technical knowledge on how to develop immersive curriculum content.
People Holding a meeting.
Project

Luminary: Advancing Indigenous innovation for economic transformation, employment and well-being

Indigenous Works, a national Indigenous not-for-profit organization, developed the Luminary Research and Innovation Project to enhance innovation in Indigenous business environments, with the knowledge that more Indigenous-led research is needed to catalyze innovation and community well-being. 
young person talking in front of a group in an office
Research

Planning When You Can’t Predict: Strategic Foresight and the Future of Work

This report introduces strategic foresight, a discipline that helps organizations and individuals think about and plan for the future in a context of radical uncertainty involving disruptive political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental changes.
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