For two days Aboriginal tourism operators and owners will attend a capacity building workshop designed to help Aboriginal tourism entrepreneurs establish and grow their businesses. The training is funded by ITAC and will be held at the Aboriginal-owned Grey Eagle Resort in Calgary, Alberta which is owned by TsuuT’ina Nation.
The pilot program, designed in partnership between ITAC and Tourism HR Canada, will help these organizations better understand the training needs of Aboriginal tourism entrepreneurs as they work towards a cross-Canada program of training and capacity development.
The class of 15 pilot-project participants represent a wide range of existing and proposed Aboriginal tourism businesses in Alberta and will receive training around the important topics of:
- Business planning
- Market readiness
- Customer service
The 2015 National Aboriginal Tourism Research Project funded by ITAC identified a series of barriers to Aboriginal tourism growth in Canada and this pilot project looks to address two of the key barriers identified:
- Deficiency of a qualified workforce
- Aboriginal tourism operators struggling to achieve/maintain market/export readiness standards
Please be sure to watch for updates in the coming months for capacity development workshops in regions throughout Canada.