Province launches strategy to revitalize Francophone tourism in Manitoba

Taking a look at all the festivities of the 2020 Festival du Voyageur. (Source: Scott Andersson/CTV News)

Winnipeg — The province has announced a new strategy aimed at broadening Manitoba’s Francophone tourism experiences to draw more travellers to our province.

The strategy looks to highlight French culture in Saint Boniface and 17 other Francophone communities across the province.

“Manitoba has the largest Francophone community in Western Canada showcasing unique and historic architecture, thriving businesses and a lively culture scene,” said Francophone Affairs Minister Rochelle Squires. “These assets form an important advantage that needs to be promoted and built upon in order to achieve success.”

Prior to the pandemic, a number of stakeholders including Travel Manitoba and Enterprise Riel, partnered to develop a Francophone tourism strategy for the province. An advisory committee was formed with representation from groups like the St. Boniface Museum and Festival du Voyageur.

The strategy was then updated in 2021 to incorporate the impact of COVID-19, and is part of an overarching plan to help boost Manitoba's post-pandemic tourism industry.

According to Tourism Manitoba, the updated strategy has three goals—to build the business case to increase public and private sector funding, to lead marketing and communications of Francophone experiences and to attract more investment in tourism experiences and destination development.

Travel Manitoba CEO Colin Ferguson said COVID-19 was difficult for many sectors, but it hit the tourism industry particularly hard.

“The Francophone Tourism Strategy provides a framework to support the recovery of this important sector and advance its marketing and development. The strategy will be updated annually by Travel Manitoba and the advisory committee will track its progress,” he said.