{"id":813036,"date":"2026-07-19T23:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T23:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/813036\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T23:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T23:09:09","slug":"destination-canada-economic-development-association-partner-to-boost-tourism-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/813036\/","title":{"rendered":"Destination Canada, economic development association partner to boost tourism investment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Destination Canada and the Economic Developers Association of Canada have signed a three-year agreement aimed at helping communities attract tourism investment and strengthen local economic development.<\/p>\n<p>The organizations announced Tuesday they have entered into a memorandum of understanding that will bring<a href=\"https:\/\/dd.destinationcanada.com\/en-ca\/investment-hub?utm_source=investintourism.ca&amp;utm_medium=vanity_url\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> tourism and economic development<\/a> professionals together through research, training and investment initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>Officials say the partnership is intended to help communities better position tourism as a driver of long-term economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>Tourism continues to grow<\/p>\n<p>Destination Canada says tourism generated $140.5 billion in direct visitor spending in 2025, while tourism-related gross domestic product grew 2.5 per cent, compared with 1.7 per cent growth for the overall Canadian economy.<\/p>\n<p>The national tourism organization projects tourism revenue will increase by six per cent in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The sector supports more than 280,000 businesses in approximately 5,000 communities, with one in 10 Canadian jobs linked to tourism. It also generated $34.9 billion in export revenue last year.<\/p>\n<p>Related Stories:<\/p>\n<p>Focus on investment readiness<\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.destinationcanada.com\/en-ca\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Destination Canada<\/a> and the Economic Developers Association of Canada will work together to promote tourism&#8217;s economic benefits, share research and best practices, and provide workshops and webinars focused on tourism investment.<\/p>\n<p>The partnership will also incorporate tourism-focused content into the association&#8217;s Certified Economic Developer program and encourage collaboration through conferences and joint communications.<\/p>\n<p>Meaghan Ferrigno, Destination Canada&#8217;s interim president and chief executive officer, said tourism creates jobs, attracts investment and supports community development.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By partnering with the Economic Developers Association of Canada, we are strengthening connections between professionals in tourism and economic development to help communities position tourism as a catalyst for investment and long-term growth,&#8221; Ferrigno said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Three-year collaboration<\/p>\n<p>John Perrott, executive director of the Economic Developers Association of Canada, said the agreement will provide members with additional tools and resources to incorporate tourism into local economic development strategies.<\/p>\n<p>The organizations say the memorandum establishes a framework for collaboration over the next three years as they work to support tourism growth, attract investment and create new economic opportunities in communities across Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Destination Canada is the federal Crown corporation responsible for promoting Canada as a tourism destination, while the Economic Developers Association of Canada represents economic development professionals nationwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0Destination Canada and the Economic Developers Association of Canada have signed a three-year agreement aimed at helping communities&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-813036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}