The primary objective to guide Workforce Development & Industry Training in Northern Ontario over the next year is to facilitate and support the attraction, development, and retention of a tourism workforce to enhance the customer experience

Destination Northern Ontario continues to take a leadership role in proactively guiding Workforce Development and Industry Training for tourism operators, employers, communities and destinations, and educators in Northern Ontario through a wide variety of programs ultimately focused on enhancing visitation and the “Visitor First” experience.

Through its award-winning Tourism Excellence North (TEN) program, Destination Northern Ontario continues to implement its five-year workforce development and industry training strategy and DNO’s 2023-28 Post-Pandemic Strategic Focus, by developing and delivering enhanced and new training solutions to address skills gaps and new visitor patterns and interest, update and deliver curriculum, collaborate with partners, deliver posttraining mentorship, and incorporate technology where appropriate, under the Recovery Project.  

• Over 400 individuals have participated in the Tourism Excellence North program to date; when surveyed, 100% of participants said that they would take additional training through the program.
   
• Destination Northern Ontario has also led approximately 90 Service Excellence courses in partnership with the Ontario Tourism Education Corporation over the past two years to operators across the North.
   
• In addition to the Tourism Excellence North program, Destination Northern Ontario hosts the largest industry-focused tourism event in Ontario, the Northern Ontario Tourism Summit. This event has engaged over 1400 tourism representatives and business owners since its inception in 2014. 
   
• Tourism Skills Net North successfully recruited and trained more than 540 employees and matched them with available job opportunities within the tourism sector.