MONTREAL — At the end of the month, Signature Travel Network will be the exclusive home to the Indigenous Tourism Education Modules, created by the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada.
Created in association with Destination Canada, the three-part series will be a resource for Indigenous tourism in Canada.
Chris Alestra, Signature’s vice president of destination and air partnerships, announced the new modules during Signature’s Owners’ Meeting in Montreal. She said advisors can design entire itineraries around Indigenous tourism or add Indigenous-owned products into broader itineraries.
According to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, a nonprofit organization established in 2015, the three modules in the training program cover a broad look at Indigenous communities in Canada and their impact on tourism, an introduction to ITAC’s accreditation program “The Original Original,” and a look at Indigenous experiences near cruise ports in Canada.
“We hope that travel trade professionals take an active role in learning more about Indigenous peoples in Canada as well as the issues that we face,” ITAC said in a release.
The modules will launch at the end of September and be exclusive to Signature members through the end of the year, Alestra said. They will become widely available on ITAC’s website in January.
Highlighting Indigenous tourism has been a focus of Signature in recent years. It approached ITAC and Destination Canada in 2023 about creating resources for travel advisors.