The federal government is scheduled to release its latest budget 28MAR.
In FEB, as the budget was being decided, ACTA called on the trade to support its advocacy for the industry in Ottawa with a letter writing campaign to their MP's. ACTA says its advocacy work in Ottawa has been to get decision makers to understand the critical importance of investing in travel and tourism.
As Open Jaw reported, ACTA published its Tourism Growth Strategy submission to the federal government, calling on decision-makers in Ottawa to continue to invest in Canada’s travel and tourism businesses.
The strategy would be part of the federal budget and, for travel agents and independent travel agents, this investment - which ACTA said is "crucial in supporting travel agencies and independent travel agents" - would include:
- Reducing the strain of labour shortages
- Improving the traveller experience through airports and other federal travel infrastructure
- Reducing barriers to business development
However, despite more airport and air travel chaos over the winter holidays, and the transport minister's recent announcement of $76 million in new funding for the CTA to hire more staff to process pax complaints against airlines, the undeniable spike in demand for travel and publicized rebound in travel business may have dampened politicians' interest in supporting travel - or travel agents, anyway.
Open Jaw reached out to ACTA as the date of the budget release looms, and asked the organization what provisions it expects to see for the industry in the budget on 28MAR.
ACTA president Wendy Paradis confirmed to Open Jaw that "ACTA is expecting an austerity budget this time."
Labour shortages, bottlenecks and logjams at airports and regulatory barriers may continue to plague the entire travel industry, but Canadians' booming appetite for travel may hamstring advocates trying to make a case for public support of the industry in these 'post-pandemic' times.
