Your Insights Drive Real Change: Take the 2025 Tourism Performance & Sustainability Survey

If you run a tourism business or are involved in tourism development in Ontario’s Highlands, your perspective matters. The Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization (OHTO) is inviting you to complete the 2025 Tourism Performance & Sustainability Survey — open from Oct. 15 to Nov. 5.

Each year OHTO asks a simple question: What do we need to know, right now, to support our region’s tourism sector in a meaningful way? 

This survey helps OHTO to gather the data needed to respond to the real challenges and opportunities facing our region. It’s also how we measure progress on regional priorities like sustainability and community alignment. 
Last year, your feedback led directly to action.

What We Heard From You in 2024

The 2024 survey revealed:

• Operators are cautiously optimistic – many saw signs of recovery, but concerns about staffing, rising costs, and unpredictable visitor trends remained high.
• Sustainability matters, but support is still needed – while most understood and supported the Wander Sustainably approach, gaps in implementation persist.
• Impacts of climate change are being felt across the region – tourism operators are feeling the impact of climate change while communities are actively managing the negative community impacts of tourism. 
• Marketing and business development are top priorities – especially tools that help businesses adapt to changing visitor expectations and digital trends.

How That Helped Shape 2025

Based on what we learned in the 2024 survey this helped shape OHTO’s operations and response in the following ways:

• We developed new content and tools to support operators in making sustainability part of day-to-day operations. 
  • Launched the Wander Sustainably with Ontario’s Highlands course in our Member Portal 
  • Guided the themes and research shared in the 2025 Edition of the Unlocking Tourism Trends report [available for download in our Member Portal]
• We expanded capacity-building tools and resources to provide support directly to businesses. 
  • Became collaborative partners in the Forward Ready Tourism workforce initiative led by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario.
• Your feedback helped shape conversations with provincial partners to ensure the region’s priorities are reflected in provincial-level tourism strategies.
• We strengthened how we gather information from operators to guide marketing efforts.
  • Enhanced operator exposure on ComeWander.ca by investing in better integration between this website and our Member Portal.
  • Continued delivering Discovery Calls to develop relationships with operators and communities in our region.

Why This Survey Matters

The 2025 survey continues this important work. It will help OHTO:

• Track how tourism businesses are performing across the region
• Understand which programming, partnerships, or supports are working and what’s missing
• Identify opportunities to strengthen both business operations and how tourism can support community development.

Every survey response is a win for OHTO and tourism in our region. If you are a tourism business owner or operator, community organization involved in tourism, experience provider or destination marketing organization, we want to hear from you!

Do You Have a Few Minutes?

As a small business owner, we know your time is limited. That’s why we have kept the Tourism Performance and Sustainability Survey short, focused, and easy to complete. 

As a thank you, you’ll be entered into a draw for a $500 website or social media audit to help strengthen your digital marketing. 

The survey is open from Oct. 15 to Nov. 5, 2025. Make your experience count!