From all of us at TIAO, we wish you a happy holiday season! This was yet another busy year for our team. Before we close our offices for the holidays, we asked some end-of-year questions to some of the TIAO team members to reflect on our accomplishments and highlights of 2022! Read through to get to know our team more.
Special Projects Coordinator
Q: What have been some of the highlights of your year?
Simply put, every single in-person event I attended, from Rendes-vous Canada to OTS22, to job fairs and other conferences have been some of the best parts of my year; because the best part of our industry is the connections you make with people.
Simone Gonsalves
Special Projects Coordinator
Q: What have been some of the highlights of your year?
Presenting at the Ontario Tourism Summit 2022 on The Labour Crisis: A Youth Perspective!
Q: What do you want to see more of in the tourism industry?
Inclusion of young people's voices. In order to solve persistent issues such as the labour crisis, we need to listen to and highlight the recommendations presented by the younger generation. This will be most helpful to the industry - teaching us how to reshape work environments to meet their needs.
Q: What are you looking forward to in the new year?
Continuing to execute the Elevating Ontario Experiences culinary and winter/shoulder season workshops!
Landon Logie
Event Manager
Q: What have been some of the highlights of your year?
The biggest highlight of my year with TIAO is of course the Ontario Tourism Summit. OTS is one of my favourite events that I get to work on, and it will never cease to amaze me how we continue to raise the bar for this event, year after year.
Leni Brem
Staekholder Relations Manager
Q: What have been some of the highlights of your year?
Starting work with TIAO, being part of OTS, getting to know more stakeholders.
Q: What do you want to see more of in the tourism industry?
More collaboration, diversity, inclusivity and innovation!
Q: What are you looking forward to in the new year?
Meeting more stakeholders and getting out to visit more operators in Ontario.
Q: How has tourism experiences in Ontario been beneficial for you and your community this year?
I think that the way the tourism industry rallied together in the last couple of years has had far-reaching impacts for so many communities, beyond what we might think of as "tourism". Thinking of my own corner of the city, the Gerrard India Bazaar, we have so many small businesses owned by locals who were in a really bad spot, but who benefited and survived because of the way people came together to support local; businesses shared innovative ideas and "pivots" that others could adopt or complement; and collaborations took place that had businesses supporting each other and sharing both the costs and benefits of projects and marketing, etc.
Caitlyn Drexler
Policy & Research Officer
Q: What have been some of the highlights of your year?
A few of the highlights of 2022 at TIAO for me include the Ontario Tourism Summit held in Muskoka, speaking at the Northern Ontario Tourism Summit in Thunder Bay, and the release of the Ontario State of the Tourism Industry Report - which I worked on with my colleague, Dr. Jessica Ng. The report was the culmination of several projects and research initiatives TIAO has worked on throughout the last year and every member of the TIAO team had a hand in creating this report! I am proud of the work our team has done!
Sapphire Supersad
Special Projects Coordinator
Q: What have been some of the highlights of your year?
The Rendez-vous Canada Reception at the Steam Whistle Brewery was definitely a highlight for me. There was so much delicious food, great energy and wonderful little gifts to remember the experience.
Q: What do you want to see more of in the tourism industry?
Sharing experiences and storytelling. One of the Building Inclusive Tourism webinars that stayed with me the most was "Advancing Our Knowledge - Always Learning" - if more sessions, webinars and opportunities could continue to occur throughout the industry of storytelling and experience sharing like that one, I would love it.
Q: What are you looking forward to in the new year?
I'm looking forward to more opportunities for in-person events to engage and meet new people within the industry, which is something I've grown to appreciate the more I get to do it.
Q: How has tourism experiences in Ontario been beneficial for you and your community this year?
One tourism experience that was beneficial for me was speaking at OTS2022. It was an opportunity that let me voice my honest opinions of the tourism industry as a member of the younger generation and post-secondary students. Not only was it a major confidence boost, but it made me feel like my opinions and observations of the tourism industry were valid and should be heard as the younger generation continues to enter the industry. I like to think it benefitted my community of post-grads and youth who hope for change in the industry.
Thank you for reading and getting to know the TIAO Team better! As we look back upon the past year, we would like to acknowledge the impact of the tourism industry stakeholders, partners and members who have helped us shape the future of tourism in Ontario. Thanks for a great year!