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Gloria kicks off her talk by setting the scene with the story of Dahlia May Flowers, a poignant reminder of the need to be resilient. In this most humbled of introductions, Gloria shares a key message based on the story which all of us can relate to.

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The story of the girl with the beautiful bouquets and the principals of the business of farming is one about entrepreneurship and the determination to strive to adapt even in the face of adversity. This simple story of struggle points to the many ways in which we can reinvent. Yet, it isn't without struggle and perseverance: what she represents is the reality faced by so many businesses and entrepreneurs who right now are being forced to reimagine and rethink where opportunities come from.

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Jumping back one year, looking at 2019 data, we can see just what a strong destination Canada is, globally, breaking yet more records from global source markets, yet it also reminds us of the dependence of Canadian's tourism industry on international markets. Jump forward to today and our focus is on the risk that many businesses face, more than 9 in 10 to be precise, who are facing the devastation of COVID-19. Two in three restaurants are at risk of closing and there's a risk of 50% unemployment. One thing that nobody could have anticipated in this moment of crisis, is that it would last so long, with the international border remaining closed past 1st July. The second thing that nobody could have predicted was the closure of internal borders and at the time of this interview, they remain closed an incredible seven months later.

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This incredible story of triumph and challenge leads us to refocus and revisit our guiding principles. It meant standing up and saying "we don't have a plan" if that, honestly, is the truth. There were many questions for which there were no answers. We had to enact a triage approach and ask the key question "Are we being helpful?" and ask difficult questions as to our relevance and the critical question of "Are we actually being helpful?".

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When facing these questions head-on, the decision was taken to reallocate some of the funds to provinces where they could see an opportunity to drive visitation from nearby and tap into demand wherever it existed. With this complete shift in our psychology and sense of purpose, Destination Canada then turned to what they can do, from resources, training and responding to the needs presenting themselves in the current moment.

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Turning to outreach, to influencers, big-time media personalities and those in the public eye, the challenge of the moment was met with widespread support for bringing people together. Working with media outlets and seriously large-scale influencers, the cost of investing in such activities was lower and performance higher because more than ever, this is a moment where people came together and wanted to support Canada.

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This tipping moment brought about an awareness that there is a case for 'being nice'. This challenging moment saw Canadians coming together and being truly nice.

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Turning to lessons learned, it has become evident that there is a huge gap between supply and demand. Tourism as an industry had forgotten about Canadians, we stopped asking 'why' and focused on measures which didn't really matter. Before the pandemic, we didn't ask Canadians if they valued tourism: the duality of tourism is something that had been completely overlooked in how we valued and measured it.

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One key takeaway for our professional understanding is that we are one community and during this pandemic, the coming together of colleagues from around the world has been something truly incredible. It reminds us that we close to one another as an industry, globally, wherever we are in the world, we all face similar challenges and yet we all receive and share the same visitors.

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Looking at today, we need to look beyond our digital prowess but also think about what is 'adjacent' to us, how we can move online or identify new opportunities. A key opportunity and need too for us in tourism is to think beyond the economic benefits but also consider the cultural and community benefits too and how we as an industry can give back to our local communities.

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If we think about all of the benefits of tourism and what it is that we give to our visitors, consider how we can also give back to Canadians is one key lesson that we should consider for the future. We can see now that we don't value what we can bring anymore, "people don't buy what you do, but why you do it". Now, Destination Canada's mandate itself is the question of what it can do as well as promoting Canada as a great place to visit. Our own brand here is in question - thinking about brand language and re-visiting what we really want.

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'Self-actualisation' is an idea when considering what Canada can mean for Canadians and for visitors alike, with the idea "you are invited to be yourself".

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In Simon Anholt's Brand Index, Canada came 3rd out of their global ranking of more than 20,000 surveys. Digging deeper, we see where Canada is ranked first, on 'governance', 'people' and 'immigration'. Ultimately, Canada's strength is its people, which brings them back to 'nice'. It's something to be proud of. The Canadian community is all about the human response to the geography and as a nation there's a need to have more courage in our convictions to be nice, the fact that Canadian's always have room for one more around the table.

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