The Voice of the PEI Tourism Industry

For Immediate Release
November 28th, 2016
Vision 2021 Strategy Presented to Tourism Industry

Charlottetown, PE – The Tourism Industry Association of Prince Edward Island (TIAPEI) hosted the 35th Annual Tourism Conference at Red Shores on November 25th.  There were several presentations throughout the day including the TIAPEI business meeting, Vision 2021 presentation, a Restaurants Canada Discussion, a presentation from the Confederation Centre of the Arts on upcoming 2017 activities and much more.

The Vision 2021 report was presented to a full house of tourism operators and industry stakeholders. During the last several months, 750 PEI tourism operators and trade partners have been actively involved in the planning process for our industry’s future. During the presentation Tourism Development International (TDI), the firm that was hired to conduct the research and collect feedback, presented the Stage 3 version of the strategy. This is the document that will guide the future of PEI’s tourism industry.

TIAPEI President, Robert Jourdain noted, “We want to thank everyone who has contributed to the Vision 2021 strategy over the past several months. With their feedback we will be able to make certain that the industry makes strategic and tactical decisions to allow Prince Edward Island a solid base for future growth. Now the work begins.”

The five main pillars of the Vision 2021 strategy are: leadership and vision, product development, market positioning and communications, access and infrastructure facilitation and human resource priorities. Targets and goals for Vision 2021 include 3.5% revenue growth with a target of $510 million and a 5% growth annually in visitation by 2021.

Vision 2021 explores new opportunities and product offerings like expanding the tourism season, an enhanced coastal drive offering, improved aboriginal tourism, and further development of the Confederation Trail.

Over the winter, the working committee made up of the industry representatives that managed the process to this point and additional industry representation will be taking the recommendations contained in the report and developing an implementation plan by spring 2017.

The tourism industry plays a significant economic role on Prince Edward Island. The industry provides over 7,700 full time equivalent jobs for Islanders, supports nearly 1,300 businesses, and accounts for approximately $400 million in economic activity each year. As the country’s smallest province, those dollars mean this industry accounts for 6.4 percent of our GDP - the highest percentage of all Canadian provinces.

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