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

Two young individuals in a boat holding up a plankton net.
Project

Securing sustainable northern fisheries

This partnership supports small-scale Arctic fisheries by introducing and promoting locally harvested products to Canada’s sustainable seafood market.
women in engineering
Research

Skilled Trades and Entrepreneurship: The Need for Business Competencies

This report set out to explore two questions: 1) To what extent should entrepreneurship be recognized as a critical dimension of the skilled trades, and 2) which competencies are most essential for entrepreneurs in the skilled trades to succeed?
Businessman in office with team discussing AI
Research

AI Adoption in SMEs – Framework, Tools and Curated Resourcesexternal link icon

Guided by the AI competency framework, DI has built a tool that is focused on supporting upskilling for basic and mid-level AI competency development. The tool features curated lists of courses for basic AI literacy and mid-level AI skills. The library of curated resources is updated weekly to ensure it keeps apace with the expansion of the AI sector.
View more