Connection, Then Relationship, Then Partnership: Building the tourism industry one step at a time

It’s no secret, Indigenous tourism and the demand for Indigenous experiences is on the rise.

While Indigenous tourism is rapidly growing in Manitoba, there is still work to do in recognizing the strength and needs of the sector. Indigenous Tourism Manitoba partnered with Travel Manitoba to better understand the areas of opportunity to connect Indigenous tourism and non-Indigenous tourism in the province and what gaps in training and knowledge might exist.

In spring and fall 2025, Probe Research and Celeste McKay Consulting conducted one-on-one interviews with 30 tourism operators including non-Indigenous, First Nations, Métis and Inuit. Then in December 2025, the research team distributed two surveys – one for Indigenous and one for non-Indigenous operators – to gather perspectives and verify the findings from the interviews.

While 70 per cent of Indigenous tourism operators say they are working with non-Indigenous operators, only 44 per cent of non-Indigenous operators say they are working with Indigenous operators.

Top challenges to collaboration for non-Indigenous operators include:

• difficulty with getting an introduction
• communication challenges
• a lack of response

All of these issues stemmed from not knowing who to reach out to and how to get started.

Indigenous operators noted their challenges were:

• lack of time or capacity to build relationships
• communication challenges
• limited knowledge of community priorities
• lack of knowledge about protocols for non-Indigenous operators

The research identified different challenges around collaboration. For example, non-Indigenous operators may be eager to jump to collaboration on a project immediately upon introduction, while Indigenous operators may instead be looking to build relationships first. Rigid policies or rules may prevent ceremonial practices like smudging in spaces or a venue’s procurement policy might not allow for external Indigenous vendors to cater an event.

Another important insight came from the perception that exposure – gained through offering free and elaborate meals to influencers, for example – is a fair substitute for monetary compensation.

The good news is that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous operators agreed on the need for advanced sessions on working with Indigenous governments, organizations, Elders and Knowledge Keepers. However, Indigenous operators believe there is a greater need for non-Indigenous operators to seek out further training than non-Indigenous businesses recognize. Nearly 60 per cent of Indigenous operators suggest in-person workshops would help to increase familiarity with the Indigenous tourism industry. Familiarization tours appealed more broadly to both groups.

The recommendations from the findings suggest taking a staggered approach to build connections, then relationships and then partnerships. Here are some specific suggestions from the results:

• Identify opportunities to work with tourism organizations and industry representatives at the local level to help create connection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous operators
• Share invites to attend events in the community or stay in contact through newsletters and social media,
• Host familiarization tours
• Get a membership with an organization and in turn have someone from that organization join your organization (reciprocity membership)
• Share existing data, stories and tools to help get the word out on the strength and economic impact Indigenous tourism makes to Manitoba

Once connections occur, more opportunities to build relationships can come from in-person events offering meet-and-greet or networking opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous operators to get those “handshake” moments. Other important opportunities for relationship building include cultural competency training and promoting educational awareness resources.

Education is a core gap identified in the study, underscoring the importance of knowledge and understanding in helping to bridge divides between Indigenous and non-Indigenous operators.

Finally, to help build more partnerships in the industry, it’s important to showcase great examples already happening with operators building in opportunities for Indigenous businesses and people through procurement, hiring practices and vendor policies. Establishing a Memorandum of Understanding between an Indigenous and non-Indigenous business is a great way to formalize the partnership and ensure there are clear deliverables on both sides, making sure everyone goes forward in a good way.

We thank everyone who took the time to respond and provide their insight. While the results are more qualitative and experience-based than pure data, the findings provide a pretty clear picture of the perceptions Indigenous and non-Indigenous tourism operators have on collaboration and knowledge gaps each have to overcome to make that happen.