Indigenous Tourism Forms a Long Overdue Americas Collaborative to Boost Opportunities
Photo Credit: The new Indigenous Tourism Collaborative of the Americas brings together indigenous and industry leaders across all sectors. Unsplash / Pamela Huber
Skift Take
The pandemic has spurred an over-abundance of initiatives across the travel industry, but this one certainly ranks among the most promising to date.
Indigenous tourism had been growing exponentially pre-pandemic, increasing by 180 percent between 2007-2017 in the U.S., while in Canada it was outpacing overall tourism growth by nearly 24 percent. The pandemic predictably stunted that growth, but it also disproportionately impacted the sector and Native communities and small businesses in North and South America.
But the ongoing consumer interest in indigenous tourism won't disappear as more travelers continue to seek the outdoors and rural experiences, and the challenges, while compounded, have encouraged a rapprochement over the past 18 months among Indigenous tourism leaders and travel’s public and private sector.
It’s led to the creation announced on Monday of a first-of-its-kind group called the Indigenous Tourism Collaborative of the Americas — a network of nearly 100 indigenous leaders and industry players located across the Western hemisphere, from the U.S. to Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America. They are committing to supporting the recovery and the future sustainable growth of indigenous tourism across the western hemisphere.
What makes this collaboration particularly significant is that it is endorsed by and partly funded by the U.S. Department of Interior through its Office of Indian Economic Development.
“This unique collaboration of government, industry, academia and community provides avenues for each member to do what they do best to create opportunity, capacity, economic viability an
