In This Issue

• Season’s Greetings and Holiday Wishes from RTO3
• Learn from Industry Experts
• Fall 2025 Industry Exchange Recap
• Ontario Funding Opportunities
• Help Shape Ontario’s Tourism Workforce
• Skills that Travel
• Canada’s Traveller Segmentation Program
• Funding and Grants
• In The News
• Research and Data
• Free Marketing Opportunities with RTO3
• Upcoming Events

Season’s Greetings and Holiday Wishes from RTO3

With the holiday season upon us, I want to acknowledge both the challenges and remarkable achievements that have shaped our regional tourism landscape this year.

While geopolitical tensions impacted cross-border travel patterns, Canadian tourism experienced a record-breaking summer with nearly $60 billion in revenue nationwide and Canada was named as one of the top ten travel destination of 2025. Our region shared in this success as domestic travelers chose to explore closer to home, reinforcing the value of strong local partnerships and authentic local experiences.

Thank you to the operators, industry partners, municipalities, and the many destination leadership organizations for your continued engagement and collaboration throughout the year. Working together strengthens our collective ability to navigate uncertainty while building resilient tourism experiences that benefit our communities.

I want to also extend our sincerest appreciation to our Board of Directors for their ongoing support and guidance throughout the very interesting year gone by. We thank you for being the voice of the regional tourism industry and contributing your time, experiences and talents to grow the regional visitor economy.

The RTO3 team and I extend our heartfelt wishes to everyone for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to continuing our valued collaboration in 2026 as we collectively work to grow our regional visitor economy.

Cheers,
Maria Fortunato, Executive Director, RTO3

Learn from Industry Experts

Join RTO3 and Ontario’s Southwest at the Southern Ontario Tourism Conference on March 3rd & 4th, 2026. Held at the Lamplighter Inn & Conference Centre in London, Ontario, our conference will bring together business operators, destination managers, municipalities, community leaders, and sector associations from across southern Ontario for two days of learning, networking, and fun.

Whether you're looking to enhance your digital presence, explore funding opportunities through MAT, or learn from operators who've navigated viral success, our breakout sessions deliver practical takeaways you can implement right away.

Advanced Social Media Strategies for Tourism Success: Create, Connect & Grow Build a thriving online community with measurable content strategies that boost engagement and grow your reach. Learn branding basics, hooks that work, and practical tools to connect meaningfully with your ideal audience.

Oops! I Went Viral!

Hear real stories from operators who experienced the whirlwind of unexpected viral success. Discover practical lessons on turning surprise momentum into sustainable long-term growth.

Turning Data into Decisions: Practical Tourism Research for Growth

Learn how to access and apply tourism visitor data to make smarter business decisions. This session equips you with the tools to enhance visitor experiences and inform strategic planning.

Making the Most of the Municipal Accommodations Tax

Explore how communities across Ontario are leveraging MAT revenue to drive tourism growth. Discover strategies for developing new experiences, enhancing infrastructure, and building workforce capacity.

AI Essentials for Tourism Operators in Southern Ontario

See practical AI tools in action with live demonstrations showing how to streamline content creation, improve client service, and save time. This interactive session offers easy-to-implement solutions for tourism businesses ready to embrace innovation.

Creativity Over Capital: How Thinking Differently Built Guess Where Trips

Join founder Jessica Off for an honest look at building a multi-million-dollar travel brand through creative thinking and bold decisions. Gain tangible takeaways on adaptability, experimentation, and trusting your instincts as a tourism entrepreneur.

And last but not least, our Early Bird Promotion is ending December 19th. Register before then to guarantee your spot at the conference for a special rate of $225. Whether you're a business owner, tourism stakeholder, student, consultant, or government representative - if you're passionate about advancing tourism in Southern Ontario, this conference is for you.

Fall 2025 Industry Exchange Recap

Our Fall Industry Exchange brought together tourism operators and event professionals at Sandman Hotel Oakville for an inspiring day focused on sustainable gatherings.

Natalie Lowe, co-founder of The Sustainable Events Forum, delivered a compelling keynote on "Greener Gatherings: Sustainable Events for Tourism and Community Impact", sharing practical strategies for creating events that align environmental responsibility with business success.

Hamid Dwyer, RTO3's Destination Sustainability Officer, then presented our Regional Destination Sustainability Strategy, highlighting our sustainability journey to date, current regional initiatives, and opportunities for continued collaboration as we work together toward a more sustainable future.

Missed the event? Resources and presentations are available at rto3.ca/resource-library along with content and recordings of our past exchanges, and curated sustainability resources to support your journey.

Ontario Funding Opportunities

Experience Ontario

The provincial Experience Ontario 2026 program is now accepting applications for festivals and events taking place between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027. Administered by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming, this program provides financial support to in-person festivals and events that motivate visitation, connect people with local experiences, and increase tourism spending across Ontario.

The program offers two funding streams:

Capacity Building Stream: For new festivals or events that have never been produced in Ontario and have never applied to Experience Ontario. Eligible applicants can receive up to 50% of eligible expenses to a maximum of $10,000.

Established Event Stream: For festivals or events successfully delivered within the last three years. Eligible applicants can receive up to 50% of eligible expenses based on a three-tier model:

Tier 1 – Signature: up to $125,000

Tier 2 – Emerging: up to $55,000

Tier 3 – Community: up to $20,000

The application deadline is December 16, 2025 at 4:00 p.m.

Sport Hosting Program

On November 17th, it was announced that Ontario will be investing $3 million through the Sport Hosting Program to help communities host major amateur sport events that drive tourism and strengthen local economies. The 2026-27 intake is now open, with applications accepted until January 12, 2026.

Since 2018, the program has supported over 230 events, contributing approximately $220 million to Ontario's economy. This funding opportunity is particularly relevant for our region, where sport tourism continues to grow as a significant economic driver. The Toronto Rock are returning to Hamilton for the 2025-26 season at the newly transformed TD Coliseum, the Ti-Cats, Forge Football Club, Brantford Bulldogs and Oakville blades continue to draw enthusiastic crowds to games, and Oakville hosts events like the Nutrience Oakville 21.1 Half Marathon.

These examples demonstrate how sport tourism creates economic activity, fills hotels and restaurants, and builds community pride across Hamilton Halton Brant.

If your organization is creating an event or considering hosting a major amateur sport event, these provincial funding opportunities can help offset operational costs while strengthening your community's reputation as a premier destination for tourism and competition.

Help Shape Ontario’s Tourism Workforce

Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO) is launching a 2026 Hiring Needs Survey to better understand the recruitment and training priorities of tourism businesses across Ontario.

Your input will help to:

Identify critical skills development opportunities

Connect job ready talent with businesses who are hiring

Support effective workforce strategies for the year ahead

By sharing your hiring needs, you’ll play a key role in shaping initiatives that strengthen our industry and ensure a skilled, resilient workforce. Take the survey today and make your voice heard! Deadline to complete the survey is December 18th, 2025.

Skills that Travel

The Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO), in partnership with Emerit by TourismHR, the Ontario Tourism Education Corporation (OTEC) and other industry associations, has launched Skills That Travel—a microsite offering training resources for tourism professionals at every career stage. Whether you're a student exploring the industry, an employee looking to advance your skills, or a business owner seeking to strengthen your team, this platform provides customized training pathways and resources to support your growth.

The site features courses on workplace essentials, career development tools, and industry-specific training designed to help build a skilled and competitive tourism workforce. Visit skillsthattravel.ca to explore available courses and resources.

Canada’s Traveller Segmentation Program

Boost your Canadian tourism business or destination in just 25 minutes! Enjoy this dynamic e-course that provides a concise and engaging overview of the National Traveller Segmentation Program.

Discover the program benefits and uncover valuable insights to enhance your marketing, research, product and destination development activities. It’s quick to complete and offers actionable takeaways, with downloadable resources so you can start applying the research immediately.

Funding and Grants

In The News

Ensure your business listings are up-to-date on our visitor website theheartofontario.com and share what's happening in your business with our Marketing & Communications team so we can amplify your events, experiences, and offerings through our social media channels on Facebook and Instagram and our monthly e-newsletters.

Your Winter Wanderland will be your one-stop guide for all things winter and cover everything from the many culinary events in January, Black History Month events in February, and Maple March and Family Break activities.

Explore Proudly and Visit Responsibly continues to invite visitors to become part of our region’s story through respectful, responsible travel that protects natural spaces while supporting local cultures and businesses.

Our Gateway to an Ontario Getaway page remains active throughout the holidays and winter to promote Hamilton Halton Brant as a holiday destination to audiences in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax and beyond.

Get Listed on Our High-Traffic Consumer Website

Take advantage of our consumer website traffic by creating a self-serve listing account. This free marketing opportunity allows eligible tourism-facing businesses to showcase their business, events, tours and experiences. Last year, over 330,000 unique visitors explored theheartofontario.com, generating 200,000+ partner listing views and 136,000+ direct referrals to tourism operator websites.

Keep Us Updated on What's New

Share your business updates, special events, and new experiences directly with our marketing team. We regularly feature operator content across our email marketing (65,000+ subscribers) and social media platforms (65,000+ followers). This additional free opportunity allows us to promote your business to our engaged audiences at no cost to you! We encourage you to submit content to us reguarly throughout the year!

Upcoming Events

• 2026 Festivals & Events Ontario “SUSTAIN” Conference February 23 to 25, Kitchener

• Southern Ontario Tourism Conference 2026 March 3 & 4, London

• 2026 Taste of Place Summit June 15 & 16, Edmonton