The growth of Manitoba’s Indigenous tourism industry is a welcome and exciting development, business owners and stakeholders say.
The number of Indigenous-owned businesses in the sector has grown significantly and created more than 1,000 jobs, according to a new report from the Conference Board of Canada, Going Somewhere: The Economic Impact of Manitoba’s Aboriginal Tourism Sector. This growth also helped generate more than $100 million in revenue last year.
“We’re really excited about the report,” said Holly Courchene, executive director of Indigenous Tourism Manitoba. “And to be able to show the public the growth we’ve seen in Indigenous tourism here in Manitoba over the last few years.”
According to the Conference Board of Canada report, the number of Indigenous-owned tourism businesses increased from 81 to 170 between 2019 and 2023. These businesses also created more than 1,000 full-time jobs in the province.
The accommodation sector accounts for more than half of these jobs, followed by arts, culture and heritage (17%) and food and beverage (7.9%).
Courchene also said Indigenous businesses in the sector generated $115 million in revenue in 2023.
Indigenous Tourism Manitoba was incorporated in 2021, but Courchene said the work dates back to 2019 with the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada and Travel Manitoba.
The two organizations have released a Manitoba Indigenous Tourism Strategy on how to grow the industry in the province, she said.
“From that strategy, we discovered that a provincial-territorial organization like (Manitoba Aboriginal Tourism) was needed to continue that growth,” Courchene said.
Courchene said the organization also acts as a liaison between Indigenous and non-Indigenous businesses and to help owners navigate the tourism industry.
“We understand the barriers that exist for Indigenous businesses to grow,” she said. “We really go out on the ground with our operators to understand those barriers and how we can help them determine what kind of training they need to become more involved in the tourism sector.”
Business owners are pleased to see growth in the sector
The growth of the Indigenous tourism sector is an exciting development for Christa Guenther, executive chef and owner of Feast Cafe Bistro on Ellice Avenue.
Guenther, who is from Peguis First Nation, said many communities are coming together to “share what they have to share.”
“It really strengthens our community, it creates more jobs for our Indigenous people and it promotes sharing,” she said. “It creates more positive change and really highlights our people and our culture in a very positive light. So I think that’s also really important.”
Last Friday, Guenther said a couple from Texas visited the restaurant after seeing it on a list of Indigenous restaurants to visit in Winnipeg. She said it was an honour to be able to serve people from all over the world.
“That’s where I see huge changes,” she said. “There are a lot more new customers, a lot of tourists coming from the United States, France… China, even our own country.”
Guenther also said that when she opened her restaurant nearly a decade ago, there weren’t many places in the country that promoted Indigenous cuisine and culture. But today, especially in Manitoba, there are a handful of places that offer Indigenous cuisine to the public.
“I’m just shocked at how quickly the Indigenous tourism sector has grown, particularly in the hospitality sector,” she said.
Indigenous knowledge keeper Diane Maytwayashing also sees the effects of the sector’s growth firsthand.
She said she has seen her business, Whiteshell Petroforms Authentic Indigenous Tours, grow by about 70 per cent in the past four years. Maytwayashing said she has gone from doing two tours a month to sometimes two or three a week.
She said land-based learning tours in Whiteshell Provincial Park are in high demand.
Maytwayashing said she feels it is her responsibility to tell the stories of the land and the history of the Anishinaabe people who once lived and gathered in the Whiteshell region.
“I think people are looking to better understand, to better know and to better learn about the stories of the Indigenous people of these lands,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of interest and I think tourism is a way to learn about those stories or to understand the people of these lands.”
In the meantime, Courchene hopes the sector will continue to grow and that all levels of government will invest in Indigenous-owned businesses.
“We think Manitoba will be seen as a place to come and learn about Indigenous people here and about reconciliation,” she said. “We see a very bright future for Indigenous tourism in Manitoba.”
