Province’s Indigenous tourism industry growing

Melanie Gamache has been taking her beading and jigging sessions on the road lately.

Schools, immigrant services agencies and private companies had asked whether she would take Borealis Beading to them.

“With the exception of last year (with wildfires), there has been a growing demand,” Gamache said. “There’s just an increase in people wanting to know more — like people want to know the history.”

Gamache registered her company, Borealis Beading, in 2018 and started by hosting Métis beading workshops.

Roughly a year ago, following demand, Gamache added mobile experiences — deeper dives into cultural subjects such as bison, the Red River cart and dancing — to her roster.

Borealis Beading’s expansion parallels Manitoba’s Indigenous tourism sector: the number of businesses in the industry more than doubled from 2019 to 2023.

Signal49 Research, formerly called the Conference Board of Canada, flagged the sector in a new report last week. It said Indigenous tourism is moving to become “a central pillar of Manitoba’s economic strategy.”

“I think it will add a lot to the economy,” said Walter Bolduc, a Signal49 economist.

He pointed to a memorandum of understanding Indigenous Tourism Manitoba signed in September 2025 with Travel Manitoba and the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada. The agreement means $127 million will be funnelled into the sector through a fund, with money from the public and private sector, over five years. The goal involves sparking 40 new tourism businesses and 713 jobs.

Indigenous Tourism Manitoba has since hired a finance director, a marketing manager and a bookkeeper.

It plans to tap Signal49 later this year for a new study on the Indigenous tourism sector’s growth.

Current statistics say the industry is worth $91 million annually and employs at least 1,600 people. As of 2023, Manitoba counted around 170 Indigenous tourism businesses.

“We’re going to see Indigenous business overall, in all industries, continue to grow.”

“We’re going to see Indigenous business overall, in all industries, continue to grow,” predicted Holly Spence, chief executive of Indigenous Tourism Manitoba.

Indigenous entrepreneurship is on the rise, she noted. They’re starting businesses at five times the pace of non-Indigenous Canadians, a 2025 article by the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce reads.

Many Indigenous businesses are “one-person shows” and limited because they don’t have their own space, Spence said, adding it’s why Indigenous Tourism Manitoba co-launched a spot at The Forks called Explore Indigenous. A number of companies have set up on site since last summer.

Connecting Indigenous businesses with the rest of the travel industry is a focus, Spence said.

“(Indigenous Tourism Manitoba has) really got their pulse on it, creating Indigenous experiences here in Manitoba,” said Jenny Dupas, general manager of Moon Gate Guest House.

She expects local Indigenous tourism operations to hit the international stage.

Indigenous Tourism Manitoba took one business to Rendez-vous Canada, a conference that links Canadian tourism agencies with international travel buyers, a couple years ago. This year, it’s taking nine firms, Spence said.

Moon Gate Guest House unrolled its first “Métis kitchen parties” at its Whitemouth lodge last year. The events — Métis food and music in a gazebo, and later in a guest house — nearly sold out all three times, Dupas said.

She has booked customers from the Métis community at Moon Gate. Non-Indigenous tourists seem eager to learn the culture, Dupas said. Clients partake in smudging ceremonies and voyageur-style treks.

The industry lends a way to preserve culture, Dupas said.

“It is remarkable how fast things have changed with Indigenous tourism in this province,” said Colin Ferguson, president of Travel Manitoba. “Those numbers are startling.

“It’s authentic, it’s real, and it is attracting people not only from within the province, but it’s attracting a larger audience coming out of… international markets because it’s a unique story.”

“It’s authentic, it’s real, and it is attracting people not only from within the province, but it’s attracting a larger audience coming out of… international markets because it’s a unique story.”

Overall visits to Manitoba could jump to 11.9 million in 2030 from 11.3 million in 2025, predicts Signal49’s report on Manitoba’s tourism sector.

An increase in adventure-driven tourism — such as hosting the NHL Heritage Classic and the Manitoba Winter Games — should boost the numbers, Bolduc said.

There are more Manitoba-bound air travel routes than during and immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic, and there have been beneficial policy shifts, Bolduc said.

Travel Manitoba now has a 95-5 funding model: the province takes 95 per cent of tax-based revenue created by the tourism industry, while Travel Manitoba keeps the latter five per cent.

The commission-based funding allows Travel Manitoba, a provincial marketing agency, to bid on more events and potentially drive new foot traffic to the province, Ferguson said. Conferences, for example, draw out-of-towners who need accommodations.

Manitoba’s tourism economy is moving toward a focus on profitability per person over volume of visitors, Signal49’s report outlines. It estimates 91 per cent of overnight visits will come from domestic travel by 2030.

Signal49 anticipates visits from Americans will increase by 2030 as global trade tensions ease. Meanwhile, tourism operators are still recovering from lost income during the wildfire-laden 2025 summer.

“Anything was better than last year,” said Dupas, who had fewer U.S. travellers and other customers deterred by wildfire smoke.

Travel Manitoba recently launched a subsidy program for lodge owners and outfitters to purchase wildfire-related equipment and training. Around 50 operators have reached out, Ferguson said.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com