Rendez Vous Canada Recap

June 20, 2022 | Sharing Circle

During the last week of May, 1,000+ international buyers, travel trade media, and Destination Marketing Companies (DMCs) met at Rendez Vous Canada (RVC) in Toronto. RVC is Canada’s premier tourism marketplace that engages all buyers and suppliers in the industry. Attendees had the opportunity to network with cornerstones of the tourism industry in Canada. ITO attended with mentee tour operators to showcase the opportunities of Indigenous tourism in Ontario to the travel trade industry, as well as connect buyers directly with our membership to fill itineraries. ITO also funded export-ready members to attend the event as well.

ITO Team at RVC 2022 Social

The roster of attendees included 300 international buyers from Destination Canada’s key markets. These buyers were able to meet with 750 tourism industry delegates from 450 Canadian organizations. In total, 48,000 appointments took place fostering conversations about tourism in Canada and how buyers and operators can work together to showcase Canada. ITO participated in 70+ meetings from buyers across the world. The large interest for Indigenous experiences in Ontario led our team to promote our consumer-facing website www.indigenousexperienceontario.ca and the members listed on the site.

Want to learn how to get listed on Indigenous Experiences Ontario? Email us at membership@indigenoustourismontario.ca.

ITO RVC’s mentee program allowed for Indigenous tourism operators to attend with ITO and meet with all attendees including international buyers. The mentee program builds capacity, makes RVC more accessible and is an excellent training opportunity for Indigenous tourism operators. Mentees attend RVC for free, the goal is that after building capacity, they will be able to attend RVC independently the following year.

ITO Team, ITBC Representative, and mentees Thrive Tours at RVC 2022

Looking forward to 2023, ITO is excited for next year’s RVC and additional in-person networking events. We are hoping more of our members are interested in attending to showcase their offerings, make connections, and help grow the Indigenous tourism industry.

Interested in attending events with ITO? Email ITO Marketing Specialist at bstill@indigenoustourismontario.ca.

Thank you for reading this story in The Sharing Circle! If you have any feedback on this blog post, please let us know by emailing us at IBA@indigenoustourismontario.ca.