Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Vancouver, BC – Destination Indigenous’ Escape from Home campaign is making it easy for Canadians to plan a wilderness escape or urban adventure as a way to connect with ancient and modern Indigenous culture, right in their own backyards or via a short road trip.

Presented by the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), each week’s escape theme will be promoted with regional itineraries as examples, to showcase the diversity of Indigenous tourism experiences available and open for business. As well, media influencers will be blogging and photographing their own recent Escape from Home adventures, providing invaluable insight into the experiences as they are today.

“With over 700 unique Indigenous communities across the country, we are excited to showcase to Canadian travellers how they can create their own escape from home that celebrates the historic and modern Indigenous culture of our land,” says Keith Henry, ITAC’s President and CEO. “With support from partners like Destination Canada, we have invested in a campaign that will highlight our members and resonate with Canadians as they explore urban and rural experiences through an Indigenous lens.”

Wildlife viewing and wilderness Indigenous experiences across Quebec kicked off the campaign, and these additional wilderness experiences are also available across the country, with more information on the Destination Indigenous website:

Newfoundland and Labrador:

New Brunswick:

Quebec: 

Manitoba:

Alberta:

British Columbia: 

Northwest Territories:

Urban Adventures across Vancouver are featured this week and similar cultural centres, food experiences and guided interpretive walks are also available in major cities across Canada:

Halifax:

Quebec City: 

Montreal:

Ottawa:

Toronto:

Winnipeg:

Calgary:

Edmonton:

Vancouver:

Victoria:

While planning an escape with Indigenous experiences across Canada, ITAC recommends travellers understand the health and safety guidelines for travel within each province and territory, and travellers also check to ensure that the community they hope to visit is ready to welcome back local visitors.

For additional information on the Escape from Home campaign or Destination Indigenous; to request photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Nicole Amiel at nicole.amiel@beattiegroup.com.

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About the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
ITAC announced the launch of Destination Indigenous in June to encourage, highlight and educate travellers about the many Indigenous experiences that will welcome Canadians this summer. Through Destination Indigenous’ informative website and vacation planning tool (which includes maps and directions), intrepid travellers can explore and book:

  • wildlife and fishing excursions across Quebec;
  • urban Indigenous tours within Canada’s major cities such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa & Halifax;
  • guided adventures across BC & Alberta;
  • northern Lights in NWT;
  • unique Indigenous accommodations from art-filled hotels to glamping in the wilderness;
  • deep dives into Indigenous culture and heritage sites;
  • foraging for local ingredients and dining on Indigenous cuisine from top-trained Indigenous chefs.

ITAC is the lead organization tasked with growing the Indigenous tourism industry across the country.  Inspired by a vision for a thriving Indigenous tourism economy sharing authentic, memorable and enriching experiences, ITAC develops relationships with other groups and regions with similar mandates. By uniting the Indigenous tourism industry in Canada, ITAC works to enable collective support, product development, promotion and marketing of authentic Indigenous cultural tourism businesses in a respectful protocol.  Prior to 2020, Indigenous tourism was outpacing Canadian tourism activity overall, and international demand for Indigenous experiences was at an all-time high. ITAC works in partnership with Destination Canada to showcase Indigenous tourism across Canada to Canadian and international travellers.

Media Contacts
Nicole Amiel, Beattie Tartan
416.436.5185, 514.983.3959 (cell)
nicole.amiel@beattiegroup.com

Keith Henry, CEO
Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
778-388-5013
Keith@IndigenousTourism.ca

French media requests
Sebastien Desnoyers-Picard, Chief Marketing Officer
Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada
418-655-0210
Sebastien@indigenoustourism.ca

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