BUSI 497 Capstone Project Report: Canadian Travel Industry Assessment

This capstone project report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Canadian travel industry. It begins with an introduction to the industry, explaining the author's interest in the sector, and an overview of its significance within the Canadian economy. The report delves into the various sectors of the Canadian travel industry, including transportation, accommodation, food and beverage, and recreational services, highlighting their contributions to GDP. It then examines key issues affecting the industry, such as funding limitations, accessibility challenges for international visitors, labor problems, and the impact of high costs. The report discusses the sources of information used, including travel journals, websites, and government data, and acknowledges challenges faced when gathering and analyzing information. The conclusion summarizes the findings, emphasizing the industry's economic impact and the need to address existing challenges. The report is well-researched and includes relevant references.

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Business Capstone Project
Student Name
Institution

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
1. Why I chose the travel industry...........................................................................................................2
2. Canadian travel industry sector...........................................................................................................3
2.1 Background........................................................................................................................................3
2.2 Issues affecting the travel industry....................................................................................................4
3. Sources of information used................................................................................................................5
4. Challenges when finding information..................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
Reference....................................................................................................................................................7
Introduction
The travel industry has remained one of the largest service industry in Canada and
globally. The travel industry refers to the industry sector that is concerned with the provision of

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various transport and services when moving from one location to another. This may include
transportation and other services that cater to movement from various locations. This implies that
the travel industry composed of transportation as the key part and other related services that
enable smooth movement from one location to another. The travel industry is therefore linked
and associated with the tourism industry in many different ways. This has enabled the travel
industry to grow in terms of jobs and revenue generated. This paper explores the Canadian travel
industry through an analysis of various aspects of the travel industry.
1. Why I chose the travel industry
I chose the travel industry for some reasons that contribute highly to career development.
Firstly, I chose the travel industry since the industry remains one of the largest industries within
the Canadian economy thereby contributing more than 127.3 billion Canadian dollars to GDP.
This implies that the Canadian travel industry is significant to both the government and people
involved in management. In addition, the travel industry larger size contributes much to
employment and this is important after graduating in the field of management. In this sense, I can
readily get a job within the travel industry leading to career development. When translated into a
percentage, the travel industry contributes to 2% of the Canadian GDP. Secondly, the travel
industry is a larger sector that contributes to 5.2% of total business establishments across
Canada. This is essential for establishing a business in the future as most of the businesses within
the country are related to the travel industry (Petronyte, 2018).
2. Canadian travel industry sector
The Canadian travel industry remains one of the largest industries within the country
contributing huge revenue to the government and economy of the country (TrekkBlog, 2019).
The industry has witnessed growth for the past few months as shown in the figure below.

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Figure 1: Tourism and travel statistics
2.1 Background
The Canadian travel industry is divided into five related sectors and these include
transport and travel services, accommodation, food and beverage, and recreational service.
Firstly, travel alone as part of the whole industry is about $90.3 billion in sectors (Statistic
Canada 2020). Travel is aided by various means of transportation that facilitate travel within the
country and internationally. Secondly, the accommodation aspect of the travel industry mostly
deals with the provision of accommodation services to travelers and those people working within
the travel industry. These improve travelers' experience within the country especially
international visitors. Thirdly, the food and beverage element of the travel industry accounts for
a significant amount to the GDP. The food industry is also larger and forms part of the travel
economy since it also gives rise to travel expenses. The travel industry has increased food
consumption as visitors traveling to various parts of the country normally consume a significant
amount of food and beverages. Lastly, recreational services are another aspect of travel services

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that enable visitors to enjoy visiting the country hence contributing to economic growth and GDP
(Camilleri, 2018).
Figure 2: Canadian Foods
2.2 Issues affecting the travel industry
Many different issues affect the Canadian travel industry in the last twenty years. Firstly,
funding is an issue that has mostly affected the marketing of the travel industry within the

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international market. The government through Destination Canada which is a marketer of the
travel and tourism industry of Canada has suffered enough from limited funding. This also has
reduced the impact of tourism marketing for an increasing number of international visitors
(Statista Research Department, 2019).
Secondly, accessibility and openness of the country for international visitors has reduced
the number of international visitors willing to come into the country. The government has placed
many different barriers reducing the accessibility of the country. This has led to a low ranking of
120 out of 141 countries with low international openness to visitors according to the World
Economic Forum (WEF). This indicates that waiting time for obtaining visas for traveling to
Canada within-country such as China and India has been long (Okona, 2019).
Thirdly, the travel industry has experienced labor issues that include poor employment
conditions despite having a huge number of jobs. The career path within the travel industry is
limited leading to an unrespected job. Moreover, Tourism HR Canada has predicted that in the
near future 60,000 sector jobs will remain unstaffed due to poor employment conditions. Many
Canadians find it difficult to advance their career within the travel and tourism sector due to
close career development that has been experienced within the industry (Sofronov, 2019).
Lastly, the cost competitiveness of the travel industry that is influenced by taxes also
affects the travel and related industries. High taxes on travel and related products have increased
the cost of travel leading to the unattractiveness of the industry to international visitors.
Furthermore, the high cost of travel-related services such as accommodation has reduced the
competitiveness for international destinations and travel or tour package. The government has

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shown limited effort in addressing the repeal of the tax rebate on accommodations in tour
packages (FCTIP) (TourismReview, 2019).
3. Sources of information used
There are many different sources of information that I have used to write the report.
Firstly, various travel books and journals that are available online for reading and downloading
forms a key source of information. There are many travel and travel service printout that has
been made available online for reading and downloading. This enables me to gather information
that essential for understanding the Canadian travel industry. Secondly, there are many different
types of website materials that give information regarding the Canadian travel industry and
related industries. This enables gathering information on various interrelationships within the
industry and other related industries. Thirdly, government sources are another area that provides
important information enabling me to write the report. The government agencies that regulate
and control the travel industry provide various data such as statistics and data for people
analyzing the industry (Tourism Industry Association of Canada, 2020).
4. Challenges when finding information
As a student and a future entrepreneur, finding or gathering information about the
Canadian travel industry is a couple with some challenges. Firstly, finding trustworthy
information is a challenge that contributes to insignificant information. Many business websites
provide information regarding the Canadian travel industry to attract visitors and this information
is not a true reflection of what is on the ground (Olsen, Koster & Youroukos, 2013). This leaves
the government source as a trustworthy source of information. Secondly, analyzing various
statistical data to obtain the right information is another challenge as this requires the input of
statistical experts to give an insight into the data. there is vast information that is available on the

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travel industry and this requires an expert that could analyze the information to give the
conclusion. Lastly, repetitive but different information from different sources has also proved to
be a challenge. Various sources of information give different data on travel statistics that are not
similar and this reduces the authenticity of the information provided (Bizfluent, 2019).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Canadian travel industry has contributed to economic growth and
revenue generation to the government and citizens. The travel industry encompasses various
services that enable movement from one location to another both within the country and
internationally. Issues such as cost-competitive, poor labor conditions, limited accessibility, and
marketing challenges have affected the Canadian travel industry for the last twenty. The research
requires analysis of various sources of information to enable the writing of the report. Despite
available information regarding the Canadian travel industry, vast information remains
untrustworthy due to limited authenticity.
Reference
Bizfluent (2019). The Importance of Marketing in Tourism, retrieved from
https://bizfluent.com/about-6584954-importance-marketing-tourism.html
Camilleri, M. A. (2018). The Tourism Industry: An Overview. In Travel Marketing, Tourism
Economics and the Airline Product (Chapter 1, pp. 3-27). Cham, Switzerland: Springer
Nature. 10.1007/978-3-319-49849-2_1.

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Okona, N. M. (18 September 2019). Heritage travel" is surging in the era of DNA testing. It has
a special significance for black Americans. Vox. Retrieved from
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/9/18/20862468/heritage-african-american-
ancestry-23-and-me-dna-testing
Olsen, D.H., Koster, R.L., & Youroukos, N. (2013). 8 Last chance tourism?. Last Chance
Tourism: Adapting Tourism Opportunities in a Changing World, 105.
Petronyte, S. (Nov 30, 2018) Travel and Tourism Industry in Canada — Statistics & Quick
Facts. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@simonapetronyte/travel-and-tourism-
industry-in-canada-statistics-quick-facts-e31fc4fb1de9
Sofronov, B. (2019). The Development of Marketing in the Tourism Industry. Annals of Spiru
Haret University. Economic Series, 19(1), 115-125, DOI: https://doi.org/10.26458/1917
Statistic Canada (2020). Tourism gross domestic product, current prices (x 1,000,000). Retrieved
from https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610023402
Statista Research Department (23 July 2019). Digital travel sales worldwide from 2014 to 2020.
Statista. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/499694/forecast-of-online-
travel-sales-worldwide/
Tourism Industry Association of Canada (2020). The State of Canada’s Tourism Industry.
Tourism Industry Association of Canada. Retrieved from
https://tiac-aitc.ca/advocacy_overview.htm
TrekkBlog (2019). Travel Statistics to Know about in 2018 And 2019, retrieved from
https://www.trekksoft.com/en/blog/65-travel-tourism-statistics-for-2019

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TourismReview (2019). The Importance of Content Marketing for the Tourism Industry,
retrieved from https://www.tourism-review.com/content-marketing-isgrowing-in-
importance-news10268