Tourism Opportunities Forum

Welcome, Housekeeping & Opening Remarks
Andrew Siegwart, Tourism Industry Association of Ontario

The Current Pulse
William Schatten, Context Research Group

CRG will share fresh insights on the state of tourism in Ontario, offering a comprehensive “State of the Union” on the sector and what it signals for the months ahead. The session will also highlight key insights related to the upcoming FIFA event, including anticipated visitation and provincial impact, and conclude with a live demonstration of new interactive dashboards available through the Destination Ontario Insights Portal.

The Future of Tourism is in Your Hands: The Aurora AI Advantage
Maureen Riley, Destination Canada

As global competition intensifies, Destination Canada has launched Aurora AI to provide Canadian tourism businesses a sharper competitive edge and a clearer line-of-sight on ever shifting market opportunities, and risks.

The Canadian Restaurant Industry: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities
Tracy MacGregor, Restaurants Canada
Sara Hamdy, Restaurants Canada

Canada’s restaurant industry is a $125 billion sector employing 1.2 million people and serving 23.7 million guests every day. Yet operators are navigating one of the most complex operating environments in decades. From persistent cost pressures and profitability challenges to evolving consumer spending habits, the landscape is shifting rapidly.

Websites After Search: Measuring Destination Value in the Age of AI Michael Jacobs, CEO, The New Business

An innovative solution to understanding how often each of the major AI engines are scraping our tourism websites for information. Identifying what platform, pages viewed, search indexing, answer generation and/or training data collection.

Game Changers – The Heated Rivalry Conversation
Michael Crockatt, President & CEO, Ottawa Tourism
Val Hamilton, Executive Director, Muskoka Tourism
Hildegard Snelgrove, Business Development, Tourism Hamilton
Jeremy Maunder, Director, Content & Comms, Destination Toronto

Join a conversation, how these destinations, through small tweaks, big swings, and collaboration within destinations embraced an opportunity that wasn’t in the original plan.

Current Landscape Shifts & Opportunities
Lauchlan Rogers, CMO, Destination Ontario

Articulate the changing patterns, declining web traffic, increasing AI search and the implication for marketing overall, DMOs, conversion, content development, etc.

The AI Advantage: How AI Is Changing Tourism
Cody Chomiak, Travel Manitoba

How can your marketing team use AI both ethically and ethically achieve their desired outcomes. Participants can explore how to “market to bots” just as they do to their travellers. Learn practical strategies to optimize content, enhance visibility, and align AI-driven marketing with responsible values.