Ontario's Position in the Global Ecotourism Market

The most current Segmentation Profiles have shown that 16% of Ontario households are seeking responsible/sustainable tourism options, 10% of US visitors have an interest in ecotourism opportunities in Ontario and 20% of domestic travellers in Ontario are looking for green tourism options. But is Ontario responding to this increased demand???

This sector is one of the fastest growing sectors not only domestically but internationally as well. The 2008 World Travel Awards has a complete category for green travel and the prestigious top international award and the top European Award went to the country of Slovakia. Their tourism industry has been growing at an incredible rate. Their Minister of Tourism stated that the days are gone when green washing or adding green features to tourism is acceptable. The entire industry must be built from the ground up with solid green and sustainable principles to prosper.

It is interesting to note that of the dozen or so countries that won the awards in the world green category there were no contenders from North America at all. You would think that with the world awareness and demand for this type of product that it would form an important part of tourism in Ontario. It does increasingly at a local operator level, but corporately at the government level it is completely non-existent.

From a tourist's perspective, let us look at the four main government tourism web sites and search for links to ecotourism and green tourism. What are the results?

On Ontario's official tourism web site you are provided a link to Fleming College's Ecotourism Program...there is no other references to products or features in ecotourism or green tourism.

On the Ministry of Tourism website, a search for ecotourism provides a link to a Northern Ontario Francophone Tourism Plan...no other matches are found for ecotourism or green tourism.

In the document for the Ontario Tourism Strategy, a search for either terms provides no matches at all.

And lastly, The Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation provides no matches for ecotourism and only one match for green tourism (a Greenbelt Tool Kit).

What can we conclude from this? That if as a tourist you are seeking green or ecotourism opportunities in Ontario, the key tourism sites appear to indicate that it is non-existent or not important.

Ontario has the potential to become synonomous with green and sustainable tourism setting it apart from all other destinations in North America (that also apparently have not been paying attention). The opportunity exists and the time is now!