Entering International Travel Trade: A Collaborative Case Study from Ontario’s Highlands

For many tourism operators, selling to international markets is both an opportunity and a challenge.

The opportunity is clear: higher-yield visitors, advance bookings, diversified markets, and increased shoulder-season travel. The challenge lies in the pathway. International travel trade requires export-ready pricing, contractual agreements, participation in global marketplaces, and consistent buyer relationship management — commitments that can feel financially and operationally out of reach for many small and mid-sized rural businesses.

More than a decade ago, a group of export-ready tourism businesses and destination partners across Ontario’s Highlands and Kawartha Northumberland faced this reality. Rather than stepping back from international markets, they chose to step forward — together.

A Shared Investment Model

These businesses developed a pooled-resource partnership designed to share financial investment, reduce individual risk, coordinate international sales strategy, and access global markets collectively.

As the partnership gained momentum, participating businesses approached Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization (OHTO) to explore matching financial contributions. Recognizing the strength and long-term potential of this industry-led collaboration, OHTO became a proud supporter — helping sustain the initiative through strategic alignment and conditional matching funding.

Today, the model demonstrates how regional collaboration can make international travel trade both accessible and sustainable for rural operators.

How It Works

The partnership succeeds through the coordinated involvement of export-ready tourism businesses, destination-level tourism support partners, and dedicated professional sales representation.

Participating businesses develop commissionable, net-rate packages, meet international service standards, respond promptly to buyer inquiries, and collaborate to create cohesive multi-day regional itineraries.

Tourism support partners — including municipalities, destination marketing organizations, and regional tourism development agencies — invest in the shared strategy, strengthen export readiness within their communities, and help position their destinations in international markets.

An experienced Travel Trade Specialist leads international buyer engagement, represents the region at trade shows and sales missions, coordinates familiarization tours, and tracks performance and return on investment. Through shared investment and coordinated strategy, participants gain professional international sales representation at a fraction of the cost of pursuing global markets independently.

What Collaboration Makes Possible

By aligning businesses, destination partners, and professional representation under a shared strategy, the partnership generates outcomes that extend far beyond what any single operator could achieve independently.

For participating businesses, collaboration delivers:

• Access to international markets without building in-house global sales capacity
• Advance bookings that strengthen revenue forecasting
• Increased off-peak and shoulder-season visitation
• Diversified international markets that reduce reliance on domestic demand
• Elevated credibility within established travel trade networks

For the region, the collective impact includes:

• Stronger international positioning through consistent market presence
• Coordinated multi-community itineraries that increase length of stay
• Greater clarity and ease of selling for international buyers
• Increased visitation yield and stronger long-term market stability

When strategy, investment, and representation are shared, global opportunity becomes both practical and sustainable.

Interested in Joining the Partnership?

International travel trade is built on trust, reliability, and long-term relationships. The partnership’s collective reputation depends on every member consistently delivering high-quality experiences while working cooperatively toward shared goals.

Participation is therefore thoughtful and strategic. It is not simply about joining — it is about ensuring the right fit for both the business and the partnership as a whole. 

Businesses interested in exploring the travel trade partnership should consider the following when assessing their readiness level for this step into the international market:

Are You Travel Trade Ready?
Businesses interested in participating should already be operating at, or actively preparing to meet, international standards. This includes offering clearly defined and bookable experiences or packages, establishing net-rate pricing suitable for commissionable sales, maintaining the operational capacity to manage advance bookings, and demonstrating strong communication and service practices.

Are You a Team Player?
Equally important is a collaborative mindset. The partnership thrives when operators support one another, build complementary itineraries, share insights, and respond collectively to market opportunities. Partners invest not only financially, but relationally — contributing to a shared strategy that strengthens the entire destination.

Does Your Offering Complement the Program?
The partnership also grows intentionally in response to market demand. Feedback from international buyers helps identify gaps in the regional offer — whether in accommodations, experiences, seasonal product, or thematic itineraries. New participants are considered not only for their readiness, but for how their product strengthens and complements the overall portfolio.

In Summary

Travel trade is long-term market development. It requires responsiveness, consistency, and a commitment to continuous improvement. When businesses align around these principles and contribute strategically to the regional offer, international market access becomes not only achievable — but sustainable.

Businesses that see themselves reflected in these expectations are encouraged to reach out to Travel Trade Specialist Holly Blefgen to begin the conversation at trade@ohto.ca.