Data Collective — How AI-Powered Data Sharing Is Redefining Canada’s Tourism Experience

Earlier this year, Destination Canada, Canada’s national tourism organization, launched the “Canadian Tourism Data Collective”— a data and analytics platform designed to transform the country’s tourism industry and fuel economic growth.

Like many forward-looking global enterprises, Destination Canada is leveraging data, analytics, and AI to drive innovation, make better decisions, and enhance customer experiences.

In an interview with CDO Magazine, Meaghan Ferrigno, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Destination Canada, discusses the pivotal role of the Data Collective in positioning Canada as a top global tourism destination. She sheds light on the significant business impact of seamless data sharing and the importance of equipping stakeholders with the right tools and insights to thrive in the rapidly evolving tourism industry.

Ferrigno oversees Destination Canada’s financial and data strategy, driving insights-led decision-making to strengthen the competitiveness and resilience of Canada's tourism sector. With experience at the crossroads of strategy, technology, finance, and data, she brings a unique perspective to this evolution.

Unpacking the Data Collective — A comprehensive overview

The Data Collective is a collaboration involving Destination Canada, Statistics Canada (the national statistical agency), and the Canadian Government’s Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), which seeks to improve investment conditions while promoting science and innovation.

According to Ferrigno, the Data Collective supports a robust network of stakeholders, including provincial, territorial and regional tourism organizations, policymakers, industry associations, and over 200,000 local tourism businesses.

“It offers a holistic and consistent view of the tourism landscape that benefits the entire ecosystem. Long-term, it aims to enhance the competitiveness and resilience of Canada’s tourism sector by making stakeholders smarter marketers, more successful destination developers, more efficient operators, and more accountable to Canadians,” Ferrigno says.

The Data Collective is more than just a data repository — it's a comprehensive suite of AI-powered data products designed to inform strategic planning and policy formulation. One of these products, Tourism Outlook, uses scenario modeling to predict future trends in tourism visitation and spending.

Another, TourismScapes, is a geospatial tool offering insights into more than 5,000 regions, many of which would otherwise struggle to access tourism data due to high costs and the specialized expertise required. By visualizing data on interactive maps, it helps users understand community profiles, supports strategic planning, showcases tourism’s impact on local economies, and allows investors to easily compare potential markets.

Another product in the suite is the Spend Reporting system, which applies statistical and machine learning techniques to analyze expenditure data across 191 cities and 122 tourism regions, offering detailed insights into visitor spending patterns.

Built with AI at its core

Ferrigno shares that the Data Collective was built with a data-sharing and AI-led future in mind. “Central to the Data Collective's mission is its data exchange cloud platform, which facilitates secure data access and sharing.”

The platform features enterprise-level AI services, oversees more than 175 harmonized datasets and over 10 billion rows of data (and growing). Its AI and machine learning functionalities automate essential processes like data discovery, governance, and quality control, ensuring the data remains reliable and valuable.

Ferrigno emphasizes the critical role of AI in driving the Data Collective across multiple levels. “We are now leveraging generative AI to help users extract personalized insights from the complex field of tourism data,” she explains.

In addition, algorithms like regression, classification, and clustering power data products, offering predictive capabilities and assessing the impact of changes across cities and regions nationwide.

Canada’s linguistic duality plays a role in data accessibility too. By using Google’s Translate API to translate data between English and French, the Data Collective ensures timely and accessible information in both official languages.

“We also rely on AI to power the Collective in various ways including data management and quality assurance and utilize an intelligent data fabric to define data quality rules and automatically detect data drift as billions of data points are processed. This allows us to quickly identify and rectify any data quality issues,” Ferrigno adds.

But data-sharing is key…

While AI plays a crucial role in generating valuable insights, the true success of these initiatives hinges on efficient data sharing among various sources and stakeholders. Ferrigno emphasizes that data is key to understanding traveler preferences and behaviors.

Accurate and timely data is the foundation of effective decision-making, and the Data Collective offers actionable insights to a wide cross section of industry stakeholders. By aggregating and analyzing data from across the sector, the Collective provides a comprehensive view of industry trends, challenges, and opportunities.

This approach empowers stakeholders to make informed decisions that not only benefit their organizations but also help the broader industry adapt to shifting market dynamics and competitive pressures.

“By bringing together government agencies, the private sector, tourism stakeholders, and data providers, the Collective delivers a unique ecosystem of shared knowledge and insights and fosters transparency. This multi-stakeholder approach ensures a wide range of perspectives and data sources, resulting in more comprehensive and reliable insights, including crucial data for rural and remote communities,” says Ferrigno.

The platform is also built for scalability, allowing stakeholders to utilize it at national, provincial, regional, and city levels. Its intuitive data products include interactive dashboards, making complex data analysis accessible to users without technical expertise. This inclusivity, combined with the availability of both national-level insights and granular local data, ensures that a wide range of stakeholders are served.

“Designed as a two-way street for sharing and accessing tourism data, this model encourages the free flow of information and ideas, potentially leading to new insights and innovations. The architecture also allows for the incorporation of new data sources and analytical capabilities, key to long-term relevance and utility,” Ferrigno elaborates.

Today, almost 60 Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) partners are subscribed to the Data Collective, which boasts 10,000+ unique active users and an impressive average engagement rate of 84% for its data products between May 24 to September 30, 2024.

Moreover, the integration of data from multiple and varied sources is the very foundation and intention of the Data Collective. It is one of the unique attributes that sets it apart from any similar platform. “We have been intentional and deliberate about the collective nature of the platform and have designed the system to serve as a true tourism data lake, ingesting and synthesizing data from over 175+ harmonized datasets,” Ferrigno reveals.

Trade organizations, hoteliers, associations, and DMOs have leveraged the platform for various purposes. Some of them are even conducting in-depth analyses of economic impacts, while others are exploring comparative data to inform strategic discussions.

“For instance, one township effectively used geographic data to support investment decisions for upcoming development projects. These early use cases illustrate the tangible benefits and versatility of the Data Collective in addressing critical needs within the tourism sector,” shares Ferrigno.

The CDO as the enabler

While data and AI are driving significant transformation in Canada's tourism industry, concerns regarding transparency, scalability, and accessibility could potentially hinder the broader adoption, if not adequately considered and addressed.

Ferrigno believes Chief Data Officers (CDOs) can play a key role in addressing these challenges. Additionally, the CDO is becoming increasingly central to business strategy, especially in promoting customer-centric approaches.

“In today’s business environment, data is a critical asset for understanding and anticipating customer needs. The CDO is not just a steward of data governance but a key driver in translating data insights into strategies that enhance customer engagement and satisfaction. This requires close collaboration with other departments and a commitment to aligning data-driven decisions with the company’s broader financial and strategic goals,” Ferrigno says.

As the role of Chief Data Officer evolves, it will be essential to balance industry-focused strategies with a strong emphasis on data ethics and privacy. This approach will help maintain stakeholder trust while fostering business growth through informed and strategic decision-making.

“My experience at the intersection of strategy, technology, finance, and data has given me a unique vantage point on this evolution. The merging of finance roles, like Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Financial Officer, with data-heavy roles like Chief Data Officer or Chief Digital Officer reflects how these functions are now deeply intertwined, highlighting the CDO’s growing strategic significance. At Destination Canada, we have elevated Collective Intelligence to a strategic driver — it’s one of the ways we plan to differentiate ourselves within the tourism industry,” Ferrigno concludes.

*The Data Collective has earned two prestigious accolades in 2024: the DataIQ AI for Good Award and the Skift Idea Award in the Problem Solvers: Data Provider category.