TOTA CEO Appointed to Provincial Tourism Recovery Task Force
Last week I was very honoured to have been asked last week by Tourism Minister Lisa Beare to serve on the BC Tourism Recovery Task Force together with nine other business and industry leaders from around the Province.
Our focus will be on reigniting BC's Tourism Sector and enhancing its long-term competitiveness. The Province has allocated $50 million for the economic recovery measures to be directed by this Task Force. One of the goals for this group will be to identify gaps in other funding programs to ensure that the tourism industry will be supported at the broadest level.
As a group, I know we fully appreciate the magnitude of the work ahead. The additional industry leaders appointed to this Tourism Task Force include:
Tamara Vrooman, President & CEO, Vancouver International Airport (Chair);
Walt Judas, CEO, Tourism Industry Association of BC;
Brenda Baptiste, Chair, Indigenous Tourism BC;
Nancy Small, Chair, BC Destination Management Organization Association, Tourism Richmond;
Ingrid Jarrett, President & CEO, BC Hotel Association;
Rod Harris, adjunct professor, Royal Roads University;
Richard Porges, Interim President and CEO, Destination BC
Amy Thacker, Chair, BC Regional Tourism Secretariat, and CEO, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association; and
a representative from the Labour sector, to be named.
As everyone is aware, recovery will be a long process; however, it will help to steward us through future crises if done effectively. In addition to working with this new task force, I am proud to actively engage with many other groups representing tourism in this region over the past several months, including acting as vice-chair of the Minister's Tourism Engagement Council, a representative on the Destination BC Tourism Marketing Committee, Chair of the BC Regional Tourism Secretariat, and Director on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, to name just a few. All of these organizations and many more are striving to create thoughtful and meaningful initiatives to assist in bringing tourism back with a forward focus on sustainability and resiliency.
We will keep all of our stakeholders updated through regular communications as we work to utilize all available resources in the most effective manner and keep tourism viable and solvent for today and well into the future.
Glenn Mandziuk, TOTA President & CEO
