Minister Rechie Valdez Discusses 2026 Tourism Opportunities for Canada

Canadians showed up in 2025. When the nation faced caustic, vitriolic rhetoric from a petulant United States president, citizens from Bonavista to Tofino rallied. Collectively rattled by threats that waffled between demeaning and demonic, Canadians gave the back of the hand to U.S. destinations and products. While anger propels a boycott, kindness is what underpins supportive action. That positivity manifested an unprecedented tourism boom.

In numbers the nation has never seen, a record amount of Canadians chose to keep their tourism spending at home. Tourism revenue between May and August reached $60 billion, a 6% increase from 2024, and Canadians accounted for $44.4 billion of that spending, according to a report by Destination Canada.

“The record revenue was driven by a strong base of Canadian travellers who chose to explore our country like never before, with the highest domestic growth coming from Canadians travelling outside of their home province,” wrote the federal government organization that is mandated to market Canada to the world.

During that time, the Canadian government, led by newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney, introduced the Canada Strong Pass, which provided free admission to Parks Canada properties, as well as free or reduced fares to many museums and cultural attractions, and even Via Rail train service. The results were dramatic:

• 6.5% increase in VIA Rail ridership
• 13% increase in visits to Parks Canada sites
• Average growth of 15% in national museum visits
• Tourism-related jobs increased by 0.6% in the second quarter alone.

With such a successful program, it was a certainty it would return in 2026. On December 12, Minister Rechie Valdez, the Member of Parliament for the Mississauga-Streetsville riding in Ontario, announced it would expand to include the holiday travel season through January 15, 2026. The program will also return in the late spring and run through summer as it did in 2025. It will coincide with the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will have six games played in Toronto and seven in Vancouver.

Valdez is the Minister of Women and Gender Equality and the Secretary of State for Small Business and Tourism. Following the announcement of the Canada Strong extension, she spoke with Vacay.ca Managing Editors Adrian Brijbassi and Petti Fong to discuss the opportunities that motivated domestic travellers’ present to tourism operators and destination marketers across Canada, as well as her own personal travel preferences.

Brijbassi: What one or two places in the country do you really like to visit?

Valdez: When I got back from White Rock [in British Columbia] this summer, I told my family, ‘Maybe that’s my place where I’m going to be going to next, because it was very peaceful.’ So I thought that is absolutely one of the most breathtaking, beautiful places, most relaxing in the country. A second one? It’s a toss up between Banff and Canmore. It’s just, it’s absolutely breathtaking as well, very beautiful. I mean, I love all of Canada. I love this country and the area I represent, obviously, but in terms of tourism and the beauty you can find in this country, I would say I really do love the West.

Fong: I’m curious what you thought when you were first told that you were going to get this portfolio. What was your interest in tourism before? And how has that interest in travel changed since you took over the portfolio?

Valdez: That’s such a good question. I don’t often get this question, and I appreciate you asking it, because as a former Minister of Small Business, I had the opportunity of travelling across Canada, meeting our small, medium-sized enterprises. But while travelling, I also saw the impact of what a strong tourism industry has on small businesses. I’ll give you maybe just one example, because it just happened this summer. I visited the Calgary Stampede. And while visiting the Calgary Stampede, I met with the CEO of the BMO Centre, and he showed me his long-term vision. But I also had this breathtaking view of the Stampede. And I saw how many people come to the Stampede annually to celebrate, and I also walked with the community in the parade, which is fantastic. I really got to see the direct impact of that one amazing Stampede on the rest of the economy. So the direct impact there, whether it’s the hotels or restaurants or small businesses, it’s huge. And I mean, I’m just citing one example. And so naturally, when I took on this role and the Prime Minister gave me the three portfolios, not just one — first of all, I was very honoured to be given additional responsibility — but I also recognized that what this really signalled was that those three portfolios are very much integrated.

We can’t build the strongest economy in the G7 without the full and equal participation of women and girls, but also we can’t do it without strengthening our robust tourism industry and ultimately supporting 98% of all businesses in Canada, which are our small businesses.

So these portfolios are not separate. They’re actually very interrelated. And wherever I go, I get to have very robust conversations about all three. And it actually makes my job very efficient, because when I meet at round tables, guess who’s also showing up to talk to me? Tourism operators. So I’m finding this being very seamless and very integrated and very much interrelated.

Brijbassi: From our experience, that’s what we have found. It’s the small businesses that actually create the culture of a destination, and it’s the culture that visitors want to see and experience. So how do you build on this interest that we’ve seen, particularly this year? People travelled domestically during the COVID-19 pandemic when crossing borders were complicated, but this year they’re really choosing to dive into our country and to get to know each other from coast to coast to coast. How do we take full advantage of that patriotic sentiment? And do what you’re saying — make this a more robust industry and economy through the initiatives of our small businesses?

Valdez: As much as the trade war and the unjustified U.S. tariffs have been jarring and creating so much uncertainty for small businesses, what it has been able to do for our Canadian economy and for Canadians is help us become very patriotic. And very much getting us to say, ‘I’m going to support local. If I want to go visit a different province, I’ll do it if it helps.’ Everyone wants to stay here, support local and be here.

So we saw that opportunity early on, and that is why we introduced the Canada Strong Pass. We saw a trend where a lot of people did not want to go to the U.S. So we wanted to keep Canadians here.

The Canada Strong Pass was very, very popular. It helped give families free or discounted access to national museums, parks, and on Via Rail. And that allowed Canadians to have some fun, while also getting cheaper, discounted access. And we saw for the first time, our first $60 billion summer. That’s just summer alone, from May to August. That’s a significant jump in tourism revenue. This helps to create jobs, which is incredible, and, of course, ultimately helps to support our small businesses, and that includes our incredible Indigenous tourism industry as well.

If I can pivot, the reason why I brought up the Canada Strong Pass is because we renewed the Canada Strong Pass, both for the winter holida and also for 2026 summer as well. So we renewed it because it has been popular.

And, my final point is, we’re all super excited for the FIFA World Cup.

This is going to be tremendous. A million people are expected to come into the country. It will result in a significant boost in GDP, a significant boost in our tourism industry. So we want to make sure to capitalize on that. And so the Canada Strong Pass is also overlapping with the World Cup. That’s going to be a great way for our international tourists who don’t know Canada to use their trip to Toronto and Vancouver for the games as an opportunity to also visit different parts of the country.

Brijbassi: Canada ranks outside the top 10 in international tourism arrivals, and we kind of always have. But on top of that we also generate less tourism revenue than countries like the UAE, Australia, and Japan. How can Destination Canada and other stakeholders work with your office to improve this performance?

Valdez: I’m working in lockstep with them. I know Destination Canada has, as you know, a very targeted list of countries. They use data to help guide who they target specifically. But I’ll share with you the opportunity I’m excited about, given our focus with the recent budget on transformational investments, investing in housing, infrastructure, hospitals, all the things that are going to help our tourism industry. What we’re also doing is creating very strong trade relationships with many other countries. These are opportunities where, as we’re developing stronger trade relations, we’re also going to use those opportunities to promote Canada. So maybe in the past, we [in the tourism sector] may not have been as visible, but I can tell you right now the number of countries that are super excited and wanting to do business with Canada is as a direct result of these meetings. A direct result of the leadership of our Prime Minister, and also the work that he’s doing to connect provinces and territories to ensure that we’re working together as one single country, as opposed to 13 separate places.

Fong: Travel plans for 2026 — where do you want to go?

Valdez: For me, where I do want to take my kids is back to my hometown where I was born, which is in Kitwe in Zambia, Africa. It’s just a dream that I’ve always had. They’ve never gone there, and I just love to be able to take them to my very first home where I grew up. That’s a personal goal of mine. Of course, I will be supporting our domestic travel, too, and making trips across Canada.