Entrepreneurship in Tourism

It was a pleasure to welcome Lorraine Simpson as a guest speaker to our Entrepreneurship in Tourism class this month.

Lorraine is a Three-Time Magellan Award-Winning Travel Entrepreneur, Cityline TV Travel Expert, a popular keynote speaker at travel industry events, and she was recently nominated for a 2021 RBC’s Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award.

Lorraine is a passionate advocate for the travel industry and her entrepreneurial spirit is inspiring. She was to launch a bricks and mortar travel agency in March 2020 however didn’t get a chance to open the doors due to covid. She decided to pivot her business and opened the Travel Café in the same location with, of course, a travel theme offering delicious foods that are reflective of cultures from around the world along with travel-inspired décor.

She shared her entrepreneurial stories with our students as to how she started out as many Travel Advisors did, with a home-based franchise, a computer, and very limited resources. After surpassing $4million in sales she sold her business and started over again focusing on luxury group travel. She also has a solid background in marketing and public relations. Her stories were well received by our students who learned firsthand what the life of a travel entrepreneur looks like. The students were fully engaged in her talk and were enthusiastic about what entrepreneurial life will look like once they graduate.