The Canadian Tourism Commission hopes the publicity will revive a year of bleak tourism revenues
For the average Canadian small business, 2009 was a difficult year. But small businesses in the tourism industry may have seen a bigger hit than many, as the number of foreigners visiting Canada has dropped significantly.
Yet with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on the horizon, Canadian small business owners in the tourism and hospitality industry are hoping for a quick reversal of that trend, reported the Globe and Mail.
In particular, the Canadian Tourism Commission is optimistic that the publicity gained from celebrity torch-carrying visits - such as those from Eddie Edwards, Philippe Candeloro and Ye Qiaobo - will help jump-start small business growth in anticipation of the winter games in February.
"We can't predict the economy, but the 2010 Olympics will be good for tourism. 2009 was challenging," Andrew Clark, vice president of market development for the CTC, told the newspaper.
Canadian small businesses are encouraged to up their marketing efforts and get ready for an increase in business, which will likely be a welcome change from the 2009 slump - in its latest report, the Canadian Tourism Commission found that tourism receipts fell by 4.7 percent to $17.4 billion in the second quarter of 2009.
