Indigenous tourism businesses boost provincial GDP – Winnipeg Free Press

A new report from The Conference Board of Canada confirms what many professionals already suspected: Manitoba’s Indigenous tourism sector is growing significantly.

The report, titled “Going Places: Economic Impact of the Indigenous Tourism Sector in Manitoba,” found that the number of Indigenous-owned tourism businesses has doubled since 2019 to about 170.

The growing number of such businesses – at least 51 percent of which are owned by Indigenous peoples – has created more than 1,200 full-time jobs and contributes about $91 million to provincial GDP.

Holly Courchene, CEO of Indigenous Tourism Manitoba (itself a new organization, only founded in 2021) said she wasn’t surprised by the significant growth.

“I’ve been working with them for a while, but we’ve never done an economic impact survey that was just on Manitoba’s Indigenous tourism scene,” she said. “The Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada has done national surveys in the past. I knew that the outcome of this survey would be more targeted and that we would be able to reach more of our operators.”

The Conference Board’s research found that 56 percent of jobs are in the accommodations sector, 17 percent are in arts, culture and heritage, and 7.9 percent are in food and beverage.

According to Courchene, having an organization like ITM supporting and promoting the sector has likely made a difference.

“There are many new businesses being started, but there are also those that didn’t even realise they were in the tourism sector until ITM was established,” she said.

Travel Manitoba has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ITM and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada to promote Indigenous tourism in Manitoba.

“Travel Manitoba has been a huge supporter of ours,” said Courchene, who is from Peguis First Nation. She owned a food truck for many years, selling bannock burgers and First Nation tacos at community pow wows.

In addition to large-scale enterprises such as the Manito Ahbee Pow Wow festival and the recently opened Wyndham Garden Winnipeg Airport Hotel on the Long Plain First Nation urban reserve in Winnipeg, there are also Indigenous-owned casinos including South Beach Casino and Resort in Brokenhead, Sand Hills Casino, owned by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs south of Carberry, and Aseneskak Casino in the Opaskwayak Cree Nation next to The Pas.

There are also a growing number of small, independent operators, including Feast Café Bistro in Winnipeg and Whiteshell Petroforms, where Indigenous knowledge keeper and heritage interpreter Diane Maytwayashingan leads land-based tours in Whiteshell Provincial Park.

“These experiences have great potential to be recognized as iconic tourism products in Canada that capture the attention of visitors from around the world,” said Colin Ferguson, president and CEO of Travel Manitoba. “With the leadership of ITM and Indigenous Tourism Operations, Manitoba has the potential to compete with global leaders in Indigenous Tourism, such as Australia and New Zealand.”

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