ACTA Members, Partners, and Friends. Wow, it's great to be back with you for ACTA's Eastern Canada Summit 2025!
My Name is Ryan McElroy, Travel Industry Entrepreneur, and I'm thrilled to be your EMCEE for the third straight year. As my friend Jamie Fox from Air Canada said a couple of days ago on LinkedIn, I'm basically Pumpkin Spice at this point!
In 2023, I stood here and used the broken pencils that were placed on your tables as a metaphor. A pencil that is broken or dull cannot fulfill its purpose. As travel professionals, if our skills are not maintained and updated, we become less effective in our craft. We must constantly keep our pencils sharp if we want to keep our edge and fulfill our obligations to our clients and teams!
Last year, I asked the question: What is it that all of us in this room do?
I argued that collectively, we provide people with life-defining events, experiences, and moments that become not just memories, but core memories that last a lifetime.
Think about it for a moment. In the last twelve months, how many core memories have you helped create? Was it a multi-generational trip for a family on a river cruise in Europe? A once-in-a-lifetime safari in Kenya? A honeymoon couple or destination wedding in the Caribbean? A first-class airline seat for a business traveler closing a deal that will shape their career and the future of their company?
Count those core memories you helped make.
This is what you do, every single day.
As I prepared for this morning's opening remarks, I asked myself:
What have I learned in the past year that I could share with you that will leave a lasting impact?
My mind immediately went back to a meeting I had in New York City, in the boardroom of a company you would all recognize. The chairman of the board looked across the table and asked me a simple yet powerful question: What is your MOAT?
At first, my mind went to a castle with a drawbridge. But then he explained that every business needs a MOAT, and he broke it down for me in this way.
M is for Margin.
In business, margin is the difference between what you sell something for and what it costs you to deliver it. If you don't have healthy margins, you won't have the resources to reinvest, innovate, or weather storms. Margin is your jet fuel.
No margin, no magic.
O is for Operations.
Can you run this business successfully, day in and day out? Operations are about execution. You can have the best idea in the world, but if you can't consistently deliver, the business will never scale.
A is for Advantage.
What sets you apart? What is it that you do better than anyone else that a competitor can't easily copy? Advantage is the reason customers choose you, and it's what keeps you in the game for the long term.
T is for Total Addressable Market.
Is there demand for what you're selling, and how big is that demand? You could have great margins, strong operations, and even a clear advantage, but the opportunity will always be limited if the market is too small.
When you put these four together — Margin, Operations, Advantage, and Total Addressable Market — you begin to see the strength of your MOAT. Like a castle's moat keeps it protected, your business MOAT keeps your company strong, defensible, and positioned to grow.
I'll be honest with you. As I walked out of that meeting, I thought to myself: Wow, I need to build a MOAT with crocodiles in it… and right now mine looks more like a kiddie pool I bought at Walmart.
But here's the thing: we all start somewhere. The important part is recognizing where you are today and making deliberate choices to deepen that moat over time.
As travel professionals, we must ask ourselves: What is my MOAT?
- Are my margins strong enough to sustain my business through ups and downs?
- Are my operations set up so I can consistently deliver exceptional service?
- What is the unique advantage I bring to my clients that no one else can match?
- And is the market I'm going after large enough to fuel my growth?
If you can confidently answer those questions, you've got a MOAT. If you can't, then today is the perfect place to start thinking about how to build one. Because in an industry as dynamic, fast-paced and competitive as travel, your MOAT is what will protect you, sustain you, and ultimately set you apart.
Now, in my opinion, you can't just have a business MOAT. You also need a personal one.
To execute in your business pursuits and fulfil your ambitions, you need to protect your peace and invest in yourself.
The most crucial piece of the puzzle is you. You are the castle, and you need to protect yourself.
Your Personal MOAT
M is for Mindset.
Everything begins here. How you think shapes how you act. A growth mindset allows you to see challenges as opportunities, not roadblocks. If your mindset isn't strong, the rest of your moat will always have cracks.
O is for Opportunity.
Opportunities are around us every day. The question is: Are we open to seeing them? Are we willing to step into them? Opportunity is about staying alert, curious, and ready to seize the moments that can move us forward.
Opportunities don't knock twice; sometimes they just text.
Don’t leave them unread.
A is for Action.
This one is simple, but often the hardest. You have to take action. Ideas without execution are just dreams.
As Denzel Washington once said,
Action is what moves you from intention to impact.
T is for Transformation.
When you protect your mindset, seize opportunities, and take consistent action, transformation is the natural outcome.
Transformation is about becoming the best version of yourself, not just for your career but for your life.
So yes, every business needs a MOAT. But every person needs one too. Because if the castle isn't protected. If you aren't protected, the business won't matter.
To bring this full circle, my hope for all of us is that by the end of the summit, we'll have traded in our kiddie pools for at least a decent-sized moat, maybe with a crocodile or two, a drawbridge, and enough water to keep our castles protected, both professionally and personally.
