Destination Canada has successfully secured 21 major international conferences for the country, thanks to its newly launched International Convention Attraction Fund (ICAF).
This fund, introduced in March 2024, is a multi-million-dollar initiative aimed at making Canada a top choice for international business events.
Created and administered by Destination Canada, and funded by the Government of Canada, the ICAF is a vital component of Destination Canada’s strategy to establish Canada as a leading destination for hosting business events. This is especially important as many Canadian destinations have yet to meet the business-events activity level seen before the pandemic. Because booking decisions for business events are made between two and ten years before a conference takes place, this program is essential to secure future editions of these conferences and to recover booking pace.
The three-year program offers financial commitments of up to $1 million per event bid by eligible Canadian destinations, and is part of an overall investment of $50 million from budget 2023 for the attraction of major international conferences to Canada.
Since its launch earlier this year, the ICAF has received a lot of applications for events across the country, and now stands at 21 confirmed conference wins.
These won events are expected to:
- attract over 51,000 overnight delegates to Canada;
- lead to an anticipated direct economic impact of over $122 million;
- there are currently 30 additional event bids awaiting decisions by event owners.
Canadian cities including Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Quebec City, Victoria, Calgary, Ottawa, and St. John’s have successfully secured several prestigious events of different sizes, reinforcing their status as premier destinations for hosting international business events. ICAF-supported bid wins include:
- the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2025 (AAIC25), taking place in Toronto, Ontario, with an anticipated direct economic impact of $18.8 million;
- the 2027 World Road Congress, taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia, with an anticipated direct economic impact of $10.2 million;
- the 2028 World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, taking place in Montreal, Quebec, with an anticipated direct economic impact of $6.6 million;
- the 2025 International Symposium on Avian Influenza, taking place in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, with an anticipated direct economic impact of $524,468;
- >the 2028 International Geological Congress (IGC), taking place in Calgary, Alberta, with an anticipated direct economic impact of $15.4 million.
The ICAF supports bids for events that fall within Canada’s key economic sectors, including advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, life sciences, natural resources, digital industries, and finance and insurance. In addition to the ICAF, Destination Canada’s comprehensive business events strategy encompasses robust marketing campaigns and a significant Canadian presence at major industry sales events where the Canadian Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) ecosystem can generate valuable leads.
Business events are an important part of the tourism industry for Canada with approximately $47 billion in direct economic impact for Canada and supporting over 240,000 jobs.