David Goldstein – new President of Canadian Tourism Commission
OTTAWA — The Canadian government has tapped an industry insider to head its travel marketing agency, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC).
David Goldstein, currently president of the Travel Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), will assume the presidency of the CTC on Dec. 1. In a statement he said he looks forward to advancing “both the commercial interests of the sector and the federal government’s desire to provide broader economic opportunity to the Canadian economy.”
The commission, an arms-length Crown corporation of the Canadian government, leads tourism marketing efforts, focusing on 11 countries. It conducts market research and provides industry with resources to do their own marketing.
Announcement of his latest appointment comes just two days after current employer TIAC released a damning report on the Canadian industry’s track record with its most important travel market, the United States.
Despite global travel industry growth of about 5 per cent, the report said, American travel to Canada grew by only 1.5 per cent. The U.S. market is key for Canada – in 2012, three out of four visitors to Canada were American – but U.S. visits have declined by 54 per cent between 2000 and 2012.
“As a trading nation, Canada must do a better a job of expediting the movement of people across our borders,” Goldstein said upon the report’s release. He said that applied not only to tourism but to trade development and business investment.
Goldstein took the helm of TIAC in 2010. Prior to that, he served at one of Canada’s major media companies, CTVglobemedia, as vice-president for regulatory affairs, and before that in a similar capacity for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
He replaces Greg Klassen, who has served as CTC’s interim head since January following a 10-year reign by Michele McKenzie. Source: etn.travel
October 17 ,2014
