Created in November 2000 through a partnership with the Destination Canada, Sport Tourism Canada (sporttourismcanada.com) has grown from 18 founding members to over 500 members including 200+ municipalities, 250+ national and provincial sport organizations, 20+ educational institutions and a variety of product and service suppliers to the industry. Sport tourism is now the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry.
The STC leverages its expertise and leadership as a catalyst to grow the $6.8 billion a year sport tourism industry in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2016), promoting the development of partnerships between events rights holders and host cities. As a member, STEP St. John’s utilizes a number of the STC services, including sharing best practices, measuring the economic impact of sport events and enhancing the profile of sport tourism.
STEP St. John’s is a founding partner of Event Atlantic (www.eventatlantic.ca) which was formed in 2015 as a non-profit association. The organization is comprised of members from a number of sectors including; tourism, economic development, sport industry and various levels of governments from all four Atlantic Provinces.
The association works towards a number of key objectives including; the sharing of event hosting best practices, establishing consistent event measures, exploring joint event hosting opportunities for the region and marketing Atlantic Canada as an event hosting destination.