#Federalbudget2025

The Canada Strong Budget 2025 introduced several measures that align with Ontario’s new Strategic Tourism Playbook, including investments in transportation and trade infrastructure, efforts to expand business relationships with diverse global markets, and initiatives to stimulate domestic investment. These actions, while longer-term in impact, complement the Ontario tourism sector’s priorities around connectivity, investment attraction, and sustainable growth across communities.

Evidence that federal diplomacy and trade engagement are beginning to deliver results emerged this week with China’s reinstatement of Canada to its approved travel list for group tourism – something TIAO has actively advocating for, and a welcome development as our industry works to rebuild international visitation and spending.

The fundamental shift from programs to projects in Budget 2025 raises both opportunities and concerns, along with areas requiring greater clarity and action.

With Ontario’s tourism industry focused on attracting investment in facilities and technology, as outlined in the Strategic Tourism Playbook, it will be important that the sector is fully included in related tax incentives such as the Accelerated Investment Initiative and the Productivity Super-Deduction.

At the same time, reductions in regional development funding and the Tourism Development Fund may slow product development and experience investment, precisely the kind of immediate, local stimulus that drives business activity, community revitalization, and jobs. Continued regional development investment is critical to sustaining tourism’s role as a fast, local economic catalyst.

Ontario’s new strategic plan also emphasizes market diversification and coordinated international marketing investment. Industry partners have expressed concern about reductions to Destination Canada’s funding and the potential impact on its core functions. Destination Canada plays a vital role in stimulating international business and leisure visitation, driving visitor spending, and strengthening tourism as a tariff-free, service-sector export engine. Predictable, sustained federal investment in its marketing and partnership programs is essential to maintaining Canada’s global competitiveness and leveraging new trade and diplomatic ties.

Changes to temporary foreign worker and international student levels risk worsening workforce shortages across Ontario’s visitor economy. National immigration programs must account for the seasonality, regional labour mobility, and rural workforce gaps that define much of Ontario’s tourism landscape.

While the Canada Strong Budget 2025 provides a solid foundation for infrastructure, trade, and investment, targeted and timely reinvestment in tourism marketing, workforce programs, and regional product development and investment will be crucial to achieving the full potential of both Ontario’s Tourism Strategy and the federal government’s economic growth goals.

Now is the moment for partnership. Tourism is not only one of Canada’s largest service-sector exports, it is a platform for job creation, innovation, and community development in every region of the country. By working together, the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario can transform the strategic alignment we see in this budget into tangible outcomes, turning investment into visitation, diplomacy into trade, and infrastructure into shared prosperity.

The TIAO team will work closely with our regional and national partners in the weeks ahead to assess opportunities, advance recommendations, and advocate for a full and enthusiastic inclusion of tourism as a cornerstone of Canada’s economic growth strategy.