Manitoba encompasses Treaty 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Territories and communities who are signatories to Treaties 6 and 10. Manitoba is located on the ancestral land of the Anishinaabeg, Anishininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Denesuline and Nehethowuk Nations and is the Homeland of the Red River Métis. Northern Manitoba includes lands that were and are the ancestral lands of the Inuit. Travel Manitoba respects the spirit and intent of Treaties and Treaty Making and remains committed to working in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in the spirit of truth, reconciliation and collaboration.
Message from the Chair
I’m proud to present the 2024-25 Annual Report on behalf of the Travel Manitoba Board of Directors.
This past year was successful for Travel Manitoba, as its work brought healthy returns on investment and earned even greater accolades for its strong brand and marketing presence promoting the province.
At the board level, it was also a challenging year with the loss of our chair, Carole Vivier.
Carole stepped down for health reasons in January 2025 and passed away March 4. I want to recognize Carole for her many contributions to our province. While she was a powerful force on our board, she is best remembered for her incredible contributions to growing the Manitoba film and music industry. Carole’s work has had a tremendous impact bringing Manitoba onto the global stage and she will be remembered for her tenacity and dedication. Rest well, Carole.
It has been an honour to step into the role of interim chair, working with the Travel Manitoba executive team to strategically support the organization for future success. I believe Travel Manitoba is uniquely positioned to meet the moment we are in with the Canada’s Heart is Calling brand – an invitation from Manitoba across the continent and around the world to discover our incredible province. The government of Manitoba has recognized this unique opportunity, investing an additional $4.5 million in Travel Manitoba through Budget 2025, with a focus on expanding marketing to Manitobans, Canadians and visitors from around the world.
This past February, we welcomed five new members to our board. I would like to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to each of our newest members on their three-year term:
• Manisha Pandya • Connie Lawrence • Bernie Wood
• Megan Brisco • Martijn van Luijn
These new members bring fresh perspectives and depth to our board. Travel Manitoba is committed and ready to do the work to reach $2.5 billion in annual visitor spending and to grow visitation to 12.8 million visitors by 2030.
Tim Johnston
Interim Chair of the Board of Directors
Travel
Manitoba
Message from the President and CEO
Some say the only constant is change. As we wrapped up the 2024-25 fiscal year we continued to adapt to the evolving travel, trade, economic and political circumstances our world is facing. Our Canada’s Heart is Calling brand is uniquely positioned to meet this moment and offers an opportunity to welcome visitors from across the province, country and around the world to experience our diverse landscapes, stunning northern lights, plentiful waterways, rich cultures and the communities found in Manitoba.
Budget 2025 from the Manitoba government included $4.5 million in additional funding for Travel Manitoba with $450,000 earmarked for Indigenous Tourism Manitoba. This investment reinforces tourism’s role as a key economic driver for the province and how tourism can be reconciliation in action. Amid trade tensions and increased economic uncertainties, supporting tourism in Manitoba is a wise investment.
Overall, strategic marketing investments made by Travel Manitoba are helping drive bookings and business. Between our Spring Summer and Fall Winter campaigns, a total investment of $2.3 million saw a return of $8.56 million in hotel and airline bookings to Manitoba with a total of 182,575 leads to our business partners. That is a 272 per cent return on investment. Put another way, every dollar we invested in marketing resulted in at least $3.72 in travel spending to Manitoba.
No matter how the market changes, we are leveraging our award-winning brand and remaining nimble to attract highly engaged visitors from key markets with exceptional tourism experiences. We are using tools to uncover deeper visitation data and research to help our industry make strategic decisions. Leveraging Destination Canada’s robust data collection capabilities as well as working together with other provincial and territorial tourism organizations to collectively reach key audiences, we are well positioned to adapt to the ongoing technological and economic change.
We’ve continued our innovative efforts to keep ahead of ever-evolving demand from visitors. This past year we launched GuideGeek, our AI travel assistant tool from the Matador Network, to provide advice and support in multiple languages available to visitors at any time.
Our work with Destination Canada and Tourism Saskatchewan through the three-year Prairie Angling Program came to a close in 2024-25 with exceptionally strong results. We saw an increase of more than 34 per cent of non-resident angling licence sales since the program launched, attracting visitors from key U.S. audiences targeted through the campaign.
Recognizing the feedback from employee engagement surveys and the value of investing in our future, we’ve added capacity to our team with new roles to deliver on our goals of fostering support and collaboration as well as growing francophone tourism.
I want to thank the Travel Manitoba team and our many industry partners for working to grow visitation and deliver strong results for all Manitobans. However much things change, one thing remains the same: we are steadfast in our dedication to marketing Manitoba to the world and supporting our tourism industry.
I am confident our team will continue to meet the moment we are in with creativity, innovation and a focus on strong results.
Colin Ferguson President and CEO Travel Manitoba
About Travel Manitoba
CORPORATE VALUES
› We proudly celebrate the people and lands of Manitoba.
› We foster the development of our people and our industry.
› We lead with creativity and are backed by data.
› We value inclusivity and sustainability.
› We live our brand. Manitoba is at the heart of what we do.
VISION
Manitoba is a must-visit, four season destination generating significant and sustainable economic growth by delivering inspiring and authentic experiences in its unique urban, rural and wild settings.
MISSION
Travel Manitoba will support the recovery of tourism’s contribution to the provincial economy and will stimulate long-term growth by leading the marketing of Manitoba as a tourism destination and by fostering a competitive and sustainable tourism industry.
TARGETS
› Grow visitor spending 50 per cent to $2.5 billion by 2030
› Grow visitation to 12.8 million visitors annually by 2030
GOALS
› Lead Brand and Market Positioning
› Advance Destination Management
› Foster Collaboration and Build Support for Tourism
› Drive Organizational Excellence and Efficiency
Industry Performance
VISITATION AND VISITOR SPENDING
Tourism expenditures increased by 4.0 per cent year over year, rising from $1.82 billion in 2023 to $1.89 billion. This growth was driven primarily by a 10.2 per cent increase in spending by Manitoba residents and a 5.1 per cent increase from other Canadian visitors. In contrast, international spending declined sharply. U.S. visitor expenditures fell by 18.1 per cent and spending from overseas visitors dropped by 24.9 per cent.
Total visitation grew by 2.6 per cent, from 10.38 million in 2023 to 10.65 million in 2024. Manitoba resident visits increased by 3.5 per cent, while interprovincial visits declined slightly (-0.8 per cent). International visitation was down, with U.S. visits falling by 4.6 per cent and overseas visits down 26.3 per cent. These trends highlight the continued resilience of domestic travel, while international markets – especially overseas – remain in recovery mode.
2024 VISITOR SPENDING AND OVERALL VISITATION
$478.9
SICKLE LAKE LODGE
Year at a Glance
This is Tourism Campaign
We launched a highly impactful, multichannel public service campaign to drive awareness of the importance of tourism’s impact on our communities, our provincial economy and our overall well-being.
Read more on pg. 20
New industry website
Built with the needs of tourism business owners, operators and workforce in mind, our upgraded industry website is user-friendly and accessible. Users will find information for funding resources, marketing tools, training opportunities and the latest industry news at their fingertips.
Read more on pg. 17
Increased investment
A $4.5 million boost in provincial funding for tourism was announced in 2025, including a $450,000 increase for Indigenous Tourism Manitoba, and will support initiatives to attract even more visitors to the province in 2025-26.
Cost-effective marketing for partners
We combined our marketing and buying power with over 175 partners to deliver millions of impressions. Thousands of these impressions became clicks and bookings.
Read more on pg. 21
ROI on marketing activities
For every dollar invested in our Spring Summer and Fall Winter marketing campaigns combined, we returned at least $3.72 in visitor spending to Manitoba according to collective results from our partners Adara, Expedia, Sojern, Fresh Tracks and Air Canada.
Read more on pgs. 11 and 13
Canada’s Heart Is Calling
Our brand is ready to welcome visitors to Manitoba and invite residents to explore their home. No matter what is happening on the global stage, whatever your heart needs, Canada’s Heart is Calling.
Read more on pg. 10
Record non-resident angling licence sales
The number of non-resident angling licences sold in 2024-25 was 29 times higher than in 2020-21, reflecting a significant recovery in travel and renewed interest in Manitoba’s worldclass angling in all seasons.
Read more on pg. 14
Year in Review
We saw growth on our social media channels, a strong click-through rate on our e-newsletters and high levels of engagement on our blog views. New activities like going live on Instagram to interact with followers and incorporating tools like GuideGeek AI Travel Assistant are helping us connect with our audiences where they are and our content is resonating.
Website Results and Highlights
1.4 million users
1.8 million sessions
1.1 million blog views
1:41 minutes average time spent on blog
GuideGeek AI Travel Assistant Results
3,810 users
13,900 questions asked in up to 42 different languages
Social Media Results
175,700 Instagram followers
162,027 Facebook followers
47,200 TikTok followers
7,000 LinkedIn followers
e-Newsletter Results
217,757 total recipients
14.88% open rate
3.33% click-through rate
Video Results
2.7 million YouTube video views
Results from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025.
Lead Brand and Market Positioning
Building on our Spring Summer and Fall Winter campaigns, we worked with Expedia, Sojern, Air Canada and our latest partners Adara and Fresh Tracks to get deep insights into our marketing performance. Analyzing digital impressions that go beyond clicks to measure bookings, our marketing is
bringing visitors to Manitoba attractions and generating tens of thousands of leads to tourism businesses.
Over 36,000 hotel bookings and 9,200 airline tickets were sold as a direct result of our marketing efforts which generated a total of $8.56 million in gross
SPRING SUMMER CAMPAIGN
Our Spring Summer campaign generated 85,515 leads to partners along with 56.7 million impressions and 8.8 million video views.
Campaign in Market
› April to September
Goals
› Drive overnight bookings
› Increase awareness of attractions and experiences
› Direct leads to partners
Markets
Primary
› Manitoba
› Saskatchewan
› Northwest Ontario
› North Dakota
Secondary
› Alberta
› Ottawa
› Toronto
› Atlanta
› Los Angeles
In 2024-25, we:
› Partnered with Expedia to attract visitors to Manitoba from across Canada and the U.S.
RESULTS:
• 2.38 million impressions
• 4,100 clicks
• 21,900 room nights
› Partnered with Lonely Planet on a Guide to Manitoba featuring six partners.
RESULTS:
• 2.4 million impressions
• 4,695 clicks
• 0.19% click-through rate
› Promoted flights to Winnipeg with Air Canada.
RESULTS:
• 62 bookings
• 694,300 clicks
• 3,481 flight searches for Winnipeg
• 6.12% click-through rate
› Partnered with CTV Morning Live for 10 live on-air segments featuring museums and attractions in Winnipeg and around the province.
› Distributed 50,500 copies of a summer Northern Lure piece to Manitobans.
› Generated over 70,000 clicks to partner packages from our passes and deals webpage.
› Teamed up with Matador Network to roll out GuideGeek, an AI Travel Assistant, to help visitors with their travel-related questions online.
bookings to Manitoba between our two main annual campaigns.
These results speak for themselves: our marketing is growing tourism in Manitoba.
GuideGeek can recognize and respond in 42 different languages through platforms like WhatsApp and a chat feature on our leisure travel websites to assist visitors in planning their Manitoba adventures 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
RESULTS:
• 3,810 users
• 13,900 messages
• 73% Canadian users
• 12% U.S. users
› Welcomed visitors as they walked off their plane and onto branded jet bridges featuring stunning photography of Winnipeg and Manitoba. The 2024 partnership with Tourism Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Airports Authority included three domestic and international terminal jet bridges.
› Completed a full vinyl wrap of the Winnipeg Goldeyes team bus, featuring iconic fishing images with the tagline ‘Big Lakes, Bigger Fish’ and the Manitoba destination brand logo. The bus transports the team to key U.S. and Canadian markets.
› Supported operators impacted by restrictions at Riding Mountain National Park due to zebra mussel mitigation efforts by promoting the various non-watercraft activities targeted to Manitoba and Saskatchewan residents.
RESULTS:
• 2.03 million impressions
• 13,100 landing page visits
• 331,375 clicks
• 1.3 million video views
• 727,513 Meta impressions
• 1.01 million YouTube impressions
› Promoted Assiniboine Park Zoo with a campaign aimed at boosting summer visitation and ticket sales outside of Winnipeg and in Northwest Ontario.
RESULTS:
• 2.2 million impressions
• 21,772 clicks
• 1.93 million Meta impressions
• 269,269 TikTok impressions
› Promoted Churchill through an innovative sponsor package with the Winnipeg Sea Bears during the 2024 season, including in-game promotional spots, video ads in Manitoba and Saskatchewan arenas, and online broadcast. We also provided a package trip for four to Churchill through Heartland International Travel and Tours for the ‘See the Bears’ contest.
RESULTS:
• 86,275 impressions
• 2,081 contest entries/comments
• 1,514 engagements
• 1.75% engagement rate
› Promoted the province and its many attractions through Bandwango passes or trails that visitors can access.
• We launched the Flin Flon Trail that featured 21 locations visitors can explore.
• The Kid’s Choice Museum Pass features discounted tickets to a selection of Manitoba museums.
› Joined the Culinary Tourism Alliance (CTA), an association of stakeholders from across the national culinary tourism industry focused on food and drink to celebrate history, heritage and culture of a destination. Our page features some iconic culinary experiences in Winnipeg and Manitoba.
CAMPAIGN BY THE NUMBERS
$1.2M investment with our marketing partners 20,900 hotel bookings 5,800 airline tickets 4.7M gross bookings
85,515 business leads to partners
879,000 website visits
50,500 Northern Lures distributed
52 hosted media and influencers
10,131 sign-ups and contest entries
56.7M impressions 121,000 clicks/engagements
8.8M campaign video views
FALL WINTER CAMPAIGN
The Fall Winter campaign generated 97,000 leads to our partners as well as 86.6 million impressions and 8.6 million campaign video views. Collective results show that for every marketing dollar spent, we brought at least $3.51 in tourism spending to the province.
Campaign in Market
› October to March
Goals
› Drive overnight bookings
› Generate leads to partners
› Increase awareness of attractions and experiences
Markets
Primary
› Manitoba
› Ontario
› North Dakota
› Calgary
Secondary
› Québec
› Los Angeles
› Atlanta
› Denver
› Chicago
In 2024-25, we:
› Partnered with Fresh Tracks to promote northern lights experiences and generate bookings for partners.
RESULTS:
• 196 room nights
• 34 bookings
• $609,600 revenue
› Enlisted Adara, Expedia and Sojern to track bookings for deeper visitor analytics.
RESULTS:
Expedia
• 1.2 million impressions
• 3,155 flight tickets
• 14,438 room nights
• $3 million revenue
Adara
• 5.09 million impressions
• 86 flight bookings
• 823 room nights
• $155,785 revenue
Sojern (WestJet and United Airlines)
• 31 flight bookings
• 88 room nights
• $88,452 est. revenue
› Ran the 2025 Manitoba Adventure Dog contest on Instagram, crowning Louis and Waffles as our next four-legged ambassadors.
RESULTS:
• 323,770 video views
• 1.99% engagement rate
• 120 entries
› Encouraged Manitobans to explore their own province and reach Canadians looking to travel in Canada during spring break through Cineplex theatres ads across Canada and in Manitoba as well as digital billboards in Winnipeg.
› Reached the Winnipeg Filipino and Greater Toronto Area Mandarinspeaking communities through local community-targeted advertising.
› Participated in a Destination Canada initiative with Qantas Airlines to promote Churchill in the Australian market.
RESULTS:
• 7.29 million impressions
• 9,826 leads
› Branded a 26-foot truck with the tagline ‘Big Lakes, Bigger Fish’ that captured 60,000 daily impressions while travelling through North Dakota, Minnesota and Illinois. The near-device IDs were tracked for retargeted ads.
› Delivered nearly 200,000 Inspiration Guides to households across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Ontario and North Dakota. Another 57,500 guides were distributed through our Visitor Services Network and in partnership with our regional tourism organizations, Red River Co-op and the Winnipeg Public Library network.
› Partnered with Air Canada to promote flights to Winnipeg.
RESULTS:
• 63 bookings
• 20.1 million impressions
• 267,000 clicks
• 2.73% click-through rate
› Partnered with Destination Canada, Northwest Territories Tourism and Travel Yukon to target high-value guests in key U.S. locations promoting Canada as the best place in the world to view the life-changing northern lights.
RESULTS:
• 165 million total impressions
• 9.4 million views
• 18,000 clicks
• 470,000 views
• 34,000+ views on Travel Manitoba webpages
› Developed a Large Language Model (e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) study that measured sentiment, specificity and alignment with our brand as well as recognition of Manitoba assets like wildlife, the northern lights and Indigenous tourism.
› Promoted Elkhorn Resort and Klar So Nordic Spa as a prime attraction during the spring and fall shoulder seasons with newly captured video and photography assets. The campaign targeted audiences in Winnipeg and Regina from mid-February to mid-May and included boosted social media content, YouTube ads and an influencer visit from Virgin Radio Winnipeg.
RESULTS:
• 1.7 million impressions
• 136,439 clicks
• 194,574 video views
• 2.94% Meta click-through rate
• 4.4% YouTube click-through rate
› Promoted Clear Lake Country as the place to go in winter including showcasing the new ice pavilion, Klar So Nordic Spa and the new ice fishing village.
RESULTS:
• 2.69 million impressions
• 3,158 website visits
• 1.4 million video views
• 41,611 clicks
CAMPAIGN BY THE NUMBERS
$1.1M investment with our marketing partners
15,527 hotel bookings
3,471 airline tickets
3.86M gross bookings
1.6M campaign video views $
97,261 business leads to partners
402,000 website visits
50,000 Northern Lures distributed
15 hosted media and influencers
120 sign-ups and contest entries
86.8M impressions
996,000 clicks/engagements
KLAR SO NORDIC SPA
VERMONT SPECTACULAR, LOS ANGELES
HUNT FISH MARKETING
The Hunt Fish sector is growing as international travellers from key U.S. markets explore Manitoba’s waterways. The successful three-year Prairie Angling Program led to record non-resident angling licence sales. Our Hunt Fish website continues to offer engaging content, drawing 1.15 million visitors annually.
WEBSITE RESULTS AND HIGHLIGHTS
• 1.15 million visitors
• 746,000 sessions
E-NEWSLETTER RESULTS
• 17,347 subscribers
• 23.7% open rate
• 4.52% click-through rate
SOCIAL MEDIA RESULTS
• 25,000 Instagram followers
• 36,600 Facebook followers
• 24,500 TikTok followers
In 2024-25, we:
› Worked with content creators Jay Siemens and Clayton Schick to make a total of 11 angling videos with over 700,000 combined views.
› Created Hunt Fish content videos with influencers featuring Manitoba locations and tourism operators, including Wekusko Falls Lodge, Laurie River Lodge, Sleeve Lake Outfitters, All Terrain Bear Hunts, Kaska Goose Lodge, Sandy River Outfitters, Gangler’s North Seal River Lodge, Lake Winnipeg’s Gull Harbour, Lake of the Prairies, Bakers Narrows Lodge, Viking Lodge and Kannuk Outfitters.
› Hosted a familiarization (FAM) tour with U.S. tour operators specializing in fishing and outdoor products at Gangler’s North Seal River Lodge in July.
› Sponsored The Outpost, a new angling competition series from Jay Siemens, at Gangler’s Fly-In Lodges and Outposts Bain Lake location. A third season is now in the works.
RESULTS:
• 1.25 million views
• 146,000 views of the first episode
• 361,400 hours of watch time – equivalent to more than 15,000 days of engagement
› Completed the final year of the Destination Canada-led Prairie Angling Campaign in March 2025 with three flights each focusing on different fishing experiences, including fly-in, drive-to and hard-water.
RESULTS:
• 43.5 million impressions
• 290,000 clicks
• 2.3 million video views
The campaign effectively engaged U.S. anglers and drove non-resident licence sales with steady growth year over year, surpassing 2019. The Prairie Angling Campaign resulted in increased non-resident licence sales 29 times higher than during 2020-21 and 34 per cent greater since the program began in 2022-23. We will continue the work of the Prairie Angling Program in 2025 including expanded marketing efforts, amplifying the Master Angler program and increasing representation of diverse anglers.
› Sold over $24,000 of merchandise from the highly successful Hunt Fish and Ice Fish lifestyle brands at the Winnipeg Ice Fishing show held November 9-10 at the Red River Exhibition Park.
› Created a page on huntfishmanitoba.ca to appeal to novice anglers and those who have never tried ice fishing before with tips, locations, equipment and operators who can help visitors get started.
Travel Manitoba Hunt Fish Consultants, left to right: Marcel Laferriere, Keevin Erickson and Josh McFaddin
TRAIL END CAMP
TRAVEL MEDIA & INFLUENCER RELATIONS
Hosting media and influencers brings credible attention to the province and our tourism attractions, and validates our marketing efforts to promote Manitoba. The value of national and international third-party stories, social reels and media coverage expands our reach and enhances our messaging in target markets.
$30.9M
Earned media value
67
Sponsored media and influencer visits
774M
Earned media impressions
4.9M Influencer marketing reach
TOP EARNED RESULTS FROM 2024-25:
› 4.5 million impressions – Here’s how I actually enjoy winter in Manitoba by J.R. Patterson, Globe and Mail (Canada)
› 59.5 million impressions – How An Arctic Town With More Polar Bears Than People Became A Culinary Destination by Kaila Yu, Forbes (U.S.)
› 26.9 million impressions – Forget seeing the Northern Lights from your garden – this is the best place on Earth to witness them by Mark Stratton, Telegraph Travel (U.K.)
In 2024-25 we hosted key social media influencers who created content about Manitoba travel experiences to inspire their tens of thousands of followers:
• @boboandchichi, New York-based bloggers and content creators (U.S.)
• @fallonfarinacci, Red River Métis advocate for MMIWGS2+, speaker and content creator (Ontario)
• @drew.simms, wildlife photographer, filmmaker and YouTuber (U.S.)
TRAVEL TRADE
Working with global tour operators, travel advisors and hosted buyers on joint marketing initiatives, trade shows and familiarization (FAM) tours brings potential and repeat clients to our tourism operators while showcasing all Manitoba has to offer – up close and personal.
24
FAM tours hosted in Manitoba (# of guests by market) Initiatives
26
Joint marketing initiatives by market
North America – 12
United Kingdom – 5 Germany – 4 Australia – 5
11
Trade shows and events attended
Educational Travel Consortium
Signature Regional
Virtuoso Travel Week
Signature Travel Network
Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchange
In 2024-25, we:
› Published three issues of the Trade Connections e-newsletter to share trip inspiration and resources for travel trade contacts.
RESULTS:
• 1,302 contacts
• 31.52% open rate
• 8.08% click-through rate
› Introduced Winnipeg and Manitoba as the 2025 hosts of Rendez-vous Canada during the 2024 event held in Edmonton. During our hosted luncheon on the final day, we held a Manitoba-themed bingo game with emcee and Virgin Radio personality, Ace Burpee.
› Hosted a luxury FAM tour with a group from Germany who have now expanded their product offerings to include Manitoba experiences.
› Onboarded Global Tourism Solutions as the new GSA (general sales agent) in the Australia and New Zealand markets. Indicators from key industry partners show that bookings and travellers from Australia are up year over year.
› Attended Focus Canada Mexico for the first time in September, met with 25 of Destination Canada’s key accounts in a business to business (B2B) setting and presented Manitoban destination training to 150 high-value travel advisors.
› Attended Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas in August, conducted 64 one-to-one appointments with advisors and provided Braindate (informal 30-minute meetings) training to a small niche group.
› Attended Canada Showcase Europe in Paris (arranged by Destination Canada), including B2B appointments and networking events with tour operators and travel advisors from Germany, the U.K. and France in November. RVC
Rendez-vous Canada
MEETINGS, INCENTIVES, CONVENTIONS AND EVENTS
In 2024-25, we:
› Collaborated with Tourism Winnipeg and Brandon First to secure meetings, incentive travel, conventions and events business.
› Attended the first Northern Lights Summit with Fresh Tracks Canada, alongside Destination Canada, Travel Yukon and Northwest Territories Tourism. Fresh Tracks shared key insights to successfully positioning Canada as the global leader for northern lights.
› Attended the Global Meeting and Incentive Travel Exchange (GMITE) show in Florida and met with 25 prospective planners showcasing unique Manitoba experiences for corporate events and incentive trips.
AWARDS
HERMES
› Platinum, Fastest 2 Minutes in Tourism – Electronic/ Social/Interactive media – Video Tourism
› Gold, Canada’s Heart is Calling Strategic Campaigns –Marketing/Promotion
› Gold, This is Tourism – PR-Communications Campaign
INDIGENOUS TOURISM ASSOCIATION OF CANADA –INDIGENOUS TOURISM AWARDS
› Finalist, La Brasserie Nonsuch Brewing Co. – Culinary Tourism
Advance Destination Management
A robust supply of distinctive experiences is required to drive long-term prosperity and for Manitoba to be a destination of choice for high-value, highly engaged guests. Destination Management addresses barriers to industry growth and supports the development of strategic opportunities. The division leads economic development research, assesses impacts on regions of the province and provides critical resources for tourism businesses to thrive.
In 2024-25, we:
› Released an updated tourism forecast from Tourism Economics in an industry webinar in October along with the 2023 Visitor Spending and Visitation data from Statistics Canada.
› Enlisted Probe Research to conduct two engagement sessions with the Filipino community in April 2024, which revealed significant insights into the community’s travel motivations, barriers and preferences.
› Conducted a Newcomer Travel Survey among members of the Chinese community who have been in Manitoba less than five years. Key findings included that 84 per cent of respondents have travelled within Manitoba since their arrival for leisure purposes.
› Engaged MMGY NextFactor to deploy the industry-wide DestinationNEXT assessment. This benchmark report measures the health, diversity and strength of the tourism industry in Manitoba compared with previous studies from 2015 and 2019 as well as other jurisdictions’ results. The report found Manitoba is positioned as a Trailblazer with above average scores for community alignment and destination strength.
› Retained Tourism Economics to conduct an Economic Impact Study of Manitoba’s tourism sector to measure the significance of Manitoba’s visitor economy in 2023.
RESULTS:
• 25,100 tourism-related jobs in Manitoba
• $373 million provincial tax revenue
› Launched a new industry website with business and community development tools including a blog, informing industry of research and events.
RESULTS (December 13, 2024 to March 31, 2025):
• 21,300 page views
• 9,400 sessions
› Co-hosted the Arts and Culture Summit in March with the Manitoba Arts Council at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq with approximately 80 partners attending, including performing and visual arts groups, Indigenous arts and experiences, galleries, museums, as well as festivals and events.
› Commissioned the Arts and Culture Tourism Economic Impact Study with the Manitoba Arts Council which found that travellers who participate in arts and culture activities spend more and stay longer than other travellers in Manitoba.
› Supported trail development by attending meetings and presenting at conferences including 2024 Trail Talks at Falcon Ridge Ski Slopes hosted by Trails Manitoba.
› Submitted three potential proposals for Destination Canada’s Corridor Strategy Program. Travel Manitoba and Tourism Saskatchewan’s joint ‘Field to Fork Agritourism Corridor’ proposal was successful with $250,000 in funding for the development of an agritourism strategy, an implementation plan and an investment plan.
› Toured the Field to Fork Agritourism Corridor with members of Destination Canada, Culinary Tourism Alliance, Tourism Saskatchewan and Travel Manitoba’s Destination Management team November 12-16.
› Held a webinar with Tourism Saskatchewan and Destination Canada to update industry stakeholders on the Field to Fork Agritourism Corridor project in January. Several virtual workshops and one-on-one interviews were also held to gain knowledge and feedback on the challenges and opportunities surrounding the corridor.
› Completed a year-end assessment of Manitoba’s tourism readiness which found that the industry comprised 1,621 tourism businesses who have listings with us across 18 niche sectors in all regions.
The Francophone Tourism Advisory Committee received an updated presentation on francophone tourism readiness on in June. Northern Manitoba’s tourism readiness has also been assessed and was presented at the Northern Tourism Advisory Committee meeting in May.
READINESS BY CATEGORY
NORTHERN TOURISM
Northern Manitoba greatly contributes to the overall tourism industry and international visitation to the province. The Northern Tourism Advisory Committee includes representatives from Indigenous Tourism Manitoba, northern tourism operators, economic and community development organizations, and Travel Manitoba who work together on driving visitation growth and advancing tourism in the North.
In 2024-25, we:
› Contracted Probe Research to conduct an economic impact study assessing the value of tourism in Churchill as well as surveying operators, residents and 2023 visitors to Churchill. Probe Research delivered a first-hand look to Churchill operators that participated in the study and then a second presentation to 46 general industry and community members on December 12.
RESULTS (2023):
• $99.8 million estimated contribution to the provincial GDP
• 1,395 estimated direct and indirect jobs
• Approximately 25,000 visitors to Churchill spent an estimated $88 million in the province, including $10 million on accommodations, $13.5 million in restaurants and $24 million for guides and experiences.
› Supported the Cranberry Portage–Snow Lake Snowmobile Trail official grand opening on February 28, 2025 which was possible with previous financial and new in-kind support from Travel Manitoba, as well as government partners and the Churchill Regional Economic Development Fund.
› Held three Northern Tourism Committee meetings with two in-person sessions in Thompson and The Pas to provide updates. A reception was held in The Pas for industry to network and learn more about northern tourism activities.
› Met with Tourism Saskatchewan and 20 operators in the Flin Flon, Denare Beach and Creighton (FDC) region during two rounds of consultations and site visits to assess operator needs. These one-on-one meetings identified training needs, opportunities and barriers to development, as well as assessed overall tourism readiness.
› Supported the FDC to launch their Experiential Tourism Accelerator Program (ETAP) on September 5 with course participants taking part in site visits and an online session November 2. The program is jointly funded by Manitoba and Saskatchewan and training was completed by March 2025.
› Conducted an analysis of mobile phone visitor data to FDC to determine who is visiting the region and how to better target similar individuals going forward.
› Presented Churchill tourism activities to a small delegation hosted by Polar Bears International including Northern Ontario Indigenous tourism operators and Norwegian tourism industry representatives gathered to discuss polar bear safety, conservation and tourism.
INDIGENOUS TOURISM
Supporting Indigenous tourism demonstrates a meaningful commitment to reconciliation and strengthens cultural preservation while empowering Indigenous businesses and the community. Along with Indigenous Tourism Manitoba and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, Travel Manitoba is a proud partner of the Indigenous Tourism Strategy aiming to advance this tourism sector.
In 2024-25, we:
› Provided tourism demand-related data to Opaskwayak Cree Nation to discuss projects with the Honourable Nellie Kennedy, Minister of Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism, the Honourable Mike Moyes, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Honourable Jamie Moses, Minister of Business, Mining, Trade and Job Creation. We also provided an economic impact analysis produced with the Manitoba Bureau of Statistics.
› Presented alongside Indigenous Tourism Manitoba at the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce Economic Development Tour in The Pas/OCN and at the University College of the North’s Linkages Conference in October.
› Supported Indigenous Tourism Manitoba’s planning session in January and follow-up discussions in February to update the Manitoba Indigenous Tourism Strategy. The strategy is expected to be launched in 2025-26.
› Created a new Adventure to Understanding video showcasing Indigenous-owned Turtle Village during the winter season including ice fishing and glamping opportunities.
TURTLE VILLAGE
CRANBERRY PORTAGE
FRANCOPHONE TOURISM
Growing support for the francophone tourism industry in Manitoba has been a key area of development. From expanding marketing efforts to reach more French-speaking audiences to adding capacity to our team, Travel Manitoba is proving its commitment to developing francophone tourism.
In 2024-25, we:
› Hired a Francophone Tourism Development Specialist to engage with francophone stakeholders, operators and communities to understand their unique features, challenges and needs.
KEY INITIATIVES:
• Enhancing business capacity to attract and serve broader audiences
• Collecting data and insights
• Developing shelf-ready itineraries
• Addressing RV traveller needs
• Engaging francophone newcomers in tourism activities
› Made efforts to increase our francophone/bilingual marketing.
KEY INITIATIVES:
• Updated the Manitoba Experience Pass promotional materials with bilingual information.
• Introduced French merchandise including a polar bear water bottle and canvas tote.
• Featured bilingual custom landing pages in our Spring Summer and Fall Winter campaigns.
• Completed a fully bilingual huntfishmanitoba.ca website featuring a new translation tool offering additional languages and custom overrides to allow for local translation preferences.
› Provided the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities (CDEM) access to the tourism readiness assessment tool to help move francophone businesses from visitor ready to market ready.
› Organized and hosted the Francophone Tourism Strategy Advisory Committee which met on June 4 and November 28 to advance strategic planning efforts for the francophone tourism sector and discussed next steps for the structure, size and focus of the committee.
Foster Collaboration and Build Support for Tourism
Tourism is a key economic driver for the province and an approach that incorporates communities, government, industry and business is needed to achieve long-term sustainable growth. To remain competitive, we need to build support for tourism with the help of ambassadors from all backgrounds and all corners of the province.
In 2024-25, we:
› Launched the This Is Tourism public awareness campaign to coincide with National Tourism Week. The campaign ran in Manitoba newspapers, social media and through digital video ads from April 15 to 19.
RESULTS:
• 958,011 Meta impressions
• 159,030 video impressions
• 46,677 total impressions on LinkedIn
• 11,659 total webpage views
› Ran a second flight of the This Is Tourism campaign in October to reinforce messaging and potentially reach more of our target audience. Findings from a July 2024 study with Probe Research showed that two in five respondents said their view of tourism’s community impact improved after watching the first flight of This Is Tourism ads and one third said the ads influenced their support for tourism growth and investments.
RESULTS:
• 7.5 million impressions
• 6,700 clicks
› Created a third flight of the This Is Tourism awareness campaign that drove traffic to a landing page on huntfishmanitoba.ca with resources and tips to help people land their dream job working in the angling sector.
RESULTS:
• 3.29 million views on YouTube
• 18.2 million impressions
• 602,000 clicks
› Hosted our Annual General Meeting on December 3 at the Delta Hotel Winnipeg with over 100 industry partners attending. Highlights included a panel discussion of industry experts reflecting on the way forward for industry. Media coverage of the event included Radio-Canada, the Winnipeg Free Press and CTV, resulting in $118,000 in earned media value.
› Co-hosted the second annual Tourism Awards with Tourism Winnipeg on April 17 at Club Regent Event Centre. The Honourable Glen Simard, Minister of Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism and His Worship Mayor Scott Gillingham were in attendance.
RESULTS:
• 389 attendees
• Over 70+ nominations in nine different categories
• $453,951 earned media value
› Welcomed 81,333 visitors to our Visitor Information Centres (VIC), an increase of 2.75 per cent over last year.
› Engaged industry through the Manitoba and Winnipeg Chambers of Commerce. We participated in economic tours and marketing to the broader professional community.
We partnered with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s panel on the power of big events this past January. We also presented a video overview of the economic impact of tourism at the State of the Province luncheon with the Honourable Wab Kinew, Premier of Manitoba.
› Recognized the inaugural Winter Trails Day by organizing a friendly snowshoe race with media and trails partners. Ministers Kennedy and Moyes were present to deliver remarks and a proclamation.
› Informed the tourism industry and subscribers through Travel Currents, providing the latest tourism insights, research news and grant opportunities with exceptional engagement rates well above industry standards.
RESULTS:
• 2,861 subscribers
• 22.49% average open rate
• 4.31% click-through rate
› Provided Travel Manitoba’s LinkedIn community with engaging industry news and insights with a 29 per cent increase of followers since last year.
RESULTS:
• 7,000 followers
• 244,600 impressions
• 128,800 reach
WINTER TRAILS DAY
SECOND ANNUAL TOURISM AWARDS
Drive Organizational Excellence and Efficiency
To realize the first three goals of the Manitoba Tourism Strategy – lead market and brand positioning, advance destination management, and foster collaboration and build support for tourism – we need to ensure we are working at our optimal best. As we continue to enhance our organizational efficiency, we remain deeply committed to embedding principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging along with advancing reconciliation in all aspects of our work. These commitments are foundational to achieving meaningful and sustainable results across our sector.
In 2024-25, we:
› Provided a Sponsored Campaign Associate for the 2024 United Way Winnipeg Annual Campaign as a professional development opportunity for staff as well as to support our community.
› Worked on a variety of different policies to keep ahead of trends and improve our existing frameworks.
KEY INITIATIVES:
• Artificial Intelligence Policy
• Procurement Policy
• Brochure Distribution Policy and accompanying form
• Mascot Policy
• Cell Phone Purchase and Upgrade Policy
• External Auditor Selection Policy
› Developed new guidelines for working with tourism industry partners to ensure Travel Manitoba maintains strong, respectful relationships with the tourism industry.
› Provided additional and completed government-mandated training.
KEY INITIATIVES:
• The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act Awareness Presentation for Employees of Public Bodies
• Reconciliation training (Legacy Bowes Truth and Reconciliation for Business) concluding with a staff visit to the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada at Keeshkeemaquah Village, Portage la Prairie
• Accessibility Standards Training
• Anti-Racism: Understanding Ourselves and our Systems
› Completed the year-one status report of Travel Manitoba’s Multi-Year Accessibility Plan and drafted Terms of Reference for the new working group.
Partnership and Industry Relations
Thank you to our tourism partners for working with us to grow the tourism industry. We offer opportunities for any budget to help build tourism businesses and create exceptional experiences for visitors.
In 2024-25, our partners invested $1 million in our marketing opportunities, delivering results of over 72,000 clicks to co-op partner businesses while our Spring Summer and Fall Winter campaigns delivered over 182,000 leads to partners. From boosted social media posts to campaigns, we delivered strong results.
› Presented the new three-year French Language Service Plan to the Francophone Affairs Secretariat.
› Developed an evergreen lexicon with our translation partner to improve consistency in French language terms throughout our materials.
› Completed a redesign of our office workspace and kitchen area to accommodate new staff as well as the meeting space needs for the group.
› Completed MGEU contract negotiations with members voting to ratify the 3-year agreement (March 2024-2027).
› Moved online partnership payments to Stripe to increase efficiency and ensure compliance with payment card industry standards.
› Worked with key partners, the Board and executive teams to begin developing a new strategic plan.
› Became a buying group member of the Manitoba Collaborative Procurement Initiative to leverage the collective buying power of the Manitoba government and broader public sector entities.
Scan the QR code for a complete list of our 2024-25 partners.
Board of Directors
Tim Johnston (Interim Chair) Manager Community Futures North Central Development Corporation Inc.
Sara Stasiuk Chief Executive Officer The Forks North Portage Partnership
Drew Fisher President & CEO RBC Winnipeg Convention Centre
Gab-Riel “Pit” Turenne Owner/Operator Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge
John Gunter President & CEO Frontiers North Adventures
Trevor Clearwater
Julia Tetrault (ex officio) Director, Strategic Priorities Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism
Our People
OUR TEAM
None of the work Travel Manitoba does is possible without a team of dedicated, innovative and creative Manitobans. We love our province and are passionate about sharing everything it has to offer with the world.
Ida Albo Managing Partner & Co-owner The Fort Garry Hotel, Spa and Conference Centre
Patrick McKay Director of Operations Fisher River Economic Development Corp.
Connie Lawrence CEO and General Manager Keystone Centre
Manisha Pandya Principal, Chartered Professional Accountant Baker Tilly HMA LLP
Megan Brisco Community Support Worker Dufferin School
Bernie Wood Special Representative International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Martijn van Luijn Manager, Economic Development City of Dauphin Scan the QR code for our staff list NATIONAL INDIGENOUS RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL MUSEUM OF CANADA
Statements FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2025
Tel: 204 956 7200 Fax: 833 888 1678 www.bdo.ca
Independent Auditor’s Report on the Summary Financial Statements
To the Members of TRAVEL MANITOBA
Opinion
The summary financial statements, which comprise the summary statement of financial position as at March 31, 2025, and the summary statement of operations and accumulated surplus and summary statement of remeasurement gains for the year then ended, and related note, are derived from the audited financial statements of Travel Manitoba (the “Organization”) for the year ended March 31, 2025.
In our opinion, the accompanying summary financial statements are a fair summary of the audited financial statements, in accordance with the criteria disclosed in the Note to the summary financial statements.
Summary Financial Statements
The summary financial statements do not contain all the disclosures required by Canadian public sector accounting standards. Reading the summary financial statements and the auditor’s report thereon, therefore, is not a substitute for reading the Organization’s audited financial statements and the auditor’s report thereon.
The Audited Financial Statements and
Our Report Thereon
We expressed an unmodified audit opinion on the audited financial statements in our report dated June 18, 2025.
Management’s Responsibility for the Summary Financial Statements
Management is responsible for the preparation of the summary financial statements in accordance with the criteria disclosed in the Note to the summary financial statements.
Auditor’s Responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on whether the summary financial statements are a fair summary of the audited financial statements based on our procedures, which were conducted in accordance with Canadian Auditing Standard (CAS) 810, Engagements to Report on Summary Financial Statements.
Chartered Professional Accountants
Winnipeg, Manitoba June 18, 2025
BDO Canada LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms.
at March 31
Approved on behalf of the Board of Directors:
Director
the year ended March 31
Summary
Statement of Operations and Accumulated Surplus
Note to Summary of Financial Statements
Basis of Presentation
Management is responsible for the preparation of the summary financial statements. The summary financial statements presented include only the summarized statement of financial position, the summarized statement of operations and accumulated surplus and the summary statement of remeasurement gains. They do not include the statement of changes in net financial assets, the statement of cash flows, and notes to the financial statements.
Copies of the audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2025 and the Schedule of Compensation for the year ended December 31, 2024 may be obtained from Travel Manitoba by calling 1-204-927-7800 or 1-800-665-0040.
