Every visitor journey depends on transportation.
Ontario's ability to grow tourism is influenced both by how easily visitors can reach the province and how effectively they can travel between communities, accommodations, attractions and experiences once they arrive.
Major transportation investments—including highways, airports, public transit, passenger rail and high-speed rail—can create significant tourism and economic-development opportunities. Those benefits are not automatic.
Tourism planning needs to occur alongside transportation planning so destinations can anticipate visitor flows, improve local connections, develop new products and maximize the economic return generated by infrastructure investment.
Regional and northern communities face additional challenges. Reductions in regional air service can limit the movement of visitors, workers, residents and capital and weaken destination competitiveness.
TIAO's Position
Ontario's transportation system should be planned as both resident-serving infrastructure and an economic enabler that connects visitors with destinations and expands economic opportunity across the province.
Tourism organizations and businesses should be engaged early in major transportation initiatives so Ontario can maximize their visitor-economy and regional-development benefits.
What TIAO Recommends
Create regular mechanisms for collaboration between government and the tourism industry on transportation initiatives affecting visitor access, mobility and destination development.
Continue improving interregional, intercommunity and first- and last-mile transportation connections that allow visitors to move efficiently between gateways, communities and tourism experiences.
Examine a time-limited shared-risk model through which government, airports, communities and air carriers can help restore strategically important regional routes and demonstrate their long-term commercial viability.
The model should build on approaches used successfully in other Canadian jurisdictions and leverage existing resources responsibly.
Recognize regional airports as economic infrastructure supporting visitors, workers, investment and community connectivity.
Provincial airport investments should be complemented by strategies that strengthen viable air service.
Engage destination organizations, tourism businesses and communities throughout the development of Canada's proposed high-speed rail network.
Planning should consider:
- visitor flows;
- local transportation connections;
- station-area visitor experiences;
- multi-destination travel;
- tourism product development;
- wayfinding; and
- opportunities to distribute tourism benefits to communities along and beyond the corridor.
Use TIAO's province-wide network to identify visitor-economy opportunities and operational considerations associated with major transportation investments.
Work with federal partners to address legislative and regulatory barriers limiting Ontario's ability to compete for Great Lakes and St. Lawrence cruise itineraries.
What Success Looks Like
- Visitors can reach Ontario easily and move efficiently between destinations once they arrive.
- Regional communities have stronger connections with domestic and international markets.
- Major transportation investments produce greater tourism and economic-development returns.
- Communities plan proactively around new transportation infrastructure rather than waiting for visitor demand to emerge after projects are completed.
Related Research & Resources
- Forward Motion — Transportation Infrastructure
- Transportation Environmental Scan
- Regional Aviation Policy Recommendations
- Alto High-Speed Rail Tourism Research
- Forward Motion Podcast: Alto and Tourism Growth
- Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Submission
- Great Lakes Cruise Tourism Advocacy
