Regional tourism leaders present dashboard and press for investment to grow visitor economy

David Cowan, co‑chair of the Pinmore Regional Tourism Council and CEO of Butchart Gardens, opened the session by framing tourism as a major economic engine and pressing the region’s governments and industry to treat the visitor economy as an investment priority.

"Tourism drives approximately 30% of Canada’s service exports," Cowan said, noting the sector generates about $132.9 billion in economic activity and sustains roughly 2.1 million jobs. He introduced a regional dashboard intended to aggregate published employment, visitation and spending measures across Pinmore jurisdictions.

Paul Nersi, vice chair of the council and CEO of Destination Greater Victoria, unveiled the 2026 Pinmore Regional Tourism dashboard, which aggregates desk research from public reports and shows the visitor economy supporting nearly 1,000,000 jobs and close to $100 billion in spending across the region. Nersi described the tool as a way to demonstrate the sector’s economic interconnectedness and to make the case for targeted investment.

Nersi said the dashboard is not original field research but a roll‑up of public statistics to provide policymakers and investors with context about employment, visitation and direct visitor expenditure. He emphasized the dashboard’s role in translating tourism metrics into investor language — for example, by converting visitor spending statistics into projected annual revenue for prospective projects.

Panelists said investment arguments should be backed by investor‑grade evidence and a clear understanding of permitting and access risks. Kevin Wiedlick of Travel Alberta said Alberta uses tourism development zones and a concerted investor‑facing approach to close deals, and he stressed that removing uncertainty in permitting is often decisive in whether an investor commits.

The session closed with panelists encouraging continued regional collaboration and the use of shared data tools to help lenders, investors and decision makers better understand tourism’s return on investment. David Cowan said the dashboard and related materials would be made available to attendees for follow‑up.