Tourism industry
This ministry works closely with the tourism sector to help stimulate economic growth and investment and create an environment that allows Ontario to compete successfully in the rapidly changing world of travel and leisure.
Anyone with an interest in the tourism industry can find the research essential to growing tourism businesses in our tourism research section — the official source for tourism statistics and research reports for the province of Ontario. Our publications also provide useful information.
If you are a municipality that wants to attract tourism investment, a tourism operator who wants to start, run and grow your business, an owner or operator of tourism establishments, or an investor interested in Ontario tourism opportunities, please visit investing in tourism or contact us.
Tourism-oriented businesses that provide tourism activities or essential services to motorists can find information about the delivery and maintenance of well-placed and well-designed signs on Ontario's roadways in Tourism-Oriented Directional Signing program.
If you belong to forest and resource-based tourism industries, or are involved in Forestry Management Planning, please visit resource-based tourism or contact us.
If you are one of Ontario's tourism partners developing Regional Tourism Organizations in the province's 13 new tourism regions, please visit tourism regions.
If you are or represent a tourism association, economic development corporation, municipality, festival and events, tourism business or organization interested in undertaking tourism-related initiatives which support industry development and increased visitation, you may be eligible for one of our three funding programs — Celebrate Ontario, the Convention Development Fund and the Tourism Development Fund. Or you may be eligible for support from agencies that deliver funding on behalf of our ministry, such as Ontario Library Services (North and South), Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Media Development Corporation and Ontario Trillium Foundation.
If you are visiting Ontario and want to know where to go and what to do, visit ontariotravel.net — or consider one of Ontario's great attractions or agencies, go to a library link to library locations and visit a community museum.
If you want to know about coming to Ontario from outside Canada, visit the Canada Border Services Agency website.
New online focus to market Ontario tourism
The Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation is realigning its tourism services by focussing on online travel marketing activities to meet consumers’ travel research preferences through major redevelopment of its tourism information website, call centre and brochure distribution service.
Visits to some Ontario Travel Information Centres (OTICs) have dropped by half in the last decade, as travellers adopt a self-service approach and increasingly use the internet for their travel research and planning.
Effective April 30, 2012, OTMPC will close seven of its network of 18 OTICs throughout the province that collectively experience low and declining visitation numbers. The year-round OTICs located in Cornwall, Fort Erie and Fort Frances will close. The seasonal OTICs located in Hill Island, Kenora, Prescott and Rainy River will remain closed and will not reopen. Eleven OTICs province-wide will continue to operate in Bainsville, Barrie, Hawkesbury, Niagara Falls, Pigeon River, Sault Ste Marie, St. Catharines, Sarnia, Tilbury, Toronto Atrium on Bay and Windsor Park. As well, the travel information call centre will also continue to operate.
The closure of the OTICs was announced in Ontario’s 2012 Budget on March 27, 2012.
