Dear Partner in Tourism,

We’re seeing more tourists get out and explore London each week. Can you believe it’s already June? To better assist you, we’ve compiled a few industry updates and important announcements to bring you up to speed on the tourism industry in London, across Ontario and throughout Canada. Please take a moment to read about the following topics:

TOURISM LONDON MEMBERS: YOU’RE INVITED TO THE TOURISM LONDON AGM

Tourism London would like to invite partners to attend our 2024 Annual General Meeting. This cornerstone event brings our partners together to celebrate our collective achievements, discuss future initiatives and strengthen our community bonds. This year’s meeting will be held on June 19, 2024 at Boler Mountain, offering an excellent opportunity to network with fellow members, share insights and contribute to the vibrant future of tourism in London.

Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Boler Mountain, 689 Griffith Street, London, ON, N6K 2S5
2:00 – 2:30 PM: Cocktail Reception
2:30 – 4:00 PM: Meeting & Presentations

Please register in advance at the link below. Each Tourism London partner business may register a maximum of two individuals to attend, however only one person per business may vote as Tourism London members.

NOW OPEN: ONTARIO’S SOUTHWEST SIGNATURE EXPERIENCE PROGRAM

Ontario’s Southwest is searching for high-quality and unique tourism experiences within the region to join their OSW Signature Experiences program, an accreditation program! If you have an experience meeting the criteria listed here, we urge you to apply by Friday, June 21.

Benefits of being an OSW Signature Experience host:

• All accredited experiences will be able to use the OSW Signature Experience logo. This logo is a stamp of approval that communicates to your customers the high-quality value of your experience.
• Successful OSW Signature Experience applicants will have opportunities for additional exposure in OSW’s marketing efforts e.g., social media, paid advertising, website, email blasts, etc.
• You will join a group of elite experience hosts whose knowledge you can tap into.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DARRIN POLLARD AT RBC PLACE LONDON

RBC Place London announced the appointment of Darrin Pollard as the General Manager and CEO, effective July 1, 2024.

This appointment follows an extensive selection process led by the RBC Place London Board of Directors, recognizing Darrin's outstanding leadership qualities, strategic vision and unwavering dedication to the organization's success. Tourism London would like to congratulate Darrin on this appointment!

LONDON’S PRETTY COOL PODCAST FEATURES 2024 ONTARIO SUMMER GAMES

Learn all about the upcoming Ontario Summer Games happening August 1-4, 2024 in London. Last month’s episode of London’s Pretty Cool Podcast features special guest Zanth Jarvis, Director of Sport Tourism at Tourism London. He covers topics such as the history of the games, the sports and venues for the 2024 event, the economic impact in our community, how Londoners can get involved and more!

LATEST DESTINATION ONTARIO HEALTH CHECK

Destination Ontario’s Data & Insights team has released the most recent Ontario Tourism Health Check report highlighting recovery indicators such as accommodation occupancy rates and border crossings.

As a reminder, this report tells the tourism recovery story by curating relevant tourism data into a format that visualizes the information for industry stakeholders.

Key Takeaway:

• Tourism in Ontario continues to show positive trends across all regions. Some KPIs have fully surpassed 2023 levels in all regions but are still below pre-pandemic levels (2019).

Highlights:

• In February 2024, border crossings from all key international markets (except the US) surpassed February 2023 levels but have not reached pre-pandemic levels (February 2019) by a 12.6% gap; US entries grew 19.1% versus February 2022 but declined 11.5% compared to February 2019
• Ontario experienced a higher net loss of entries from the US through border crossings compared to before the pandemic in 2019. However, in the Summer 2023, there was more net entry gain from other international countries (except the US) compared to the pre-pandemic levels (2019)
• Travel Price Index (TPI) in March 2024 increased by 2.9% compared with March 2023 levels, following a 0.9% increase in February
• Short-term rental occupancy rates in March 2024 have underperformed by a 0.8 percentage point gap compared with March 2023 levels and a 10.5 percentage point gap compared with March 2019 levels on average for all regions
• Hotel occupancy rates in February 2024 have underperformed February 2023 levels by 1.2 percentage points and have underperformed February 2019 levels by a 2.7 percentage point gap on average for all regions

TIAC LAUNCHES NEW CANADIAN TRAVEL INSIGHTS DASHBOARD

Destination Ontario’s Data & Insights team has released the most recent Ontario Tourism Health Check report highlighting recovery indicators such as accommodation occupancy rates and border crossings. This report tells the tourism recovery story by curating relevant tourism data into a format that visualizes the information for industry stakeholders.

This innovative platform, part of Destination Canada’s new Canadian Tourism Data Collective, is now live! This research report reveals promising insights for Ontario tourism operators. Ontario leads Canadian destinations in recent visits, familiarity and likelihood of visits in the next 2 years.

Please share any updates from your business with us by emailing tourinfo@londontourism.ca or by tagging us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

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