Published on : Tuesday, February 25, 2020
In a row, 2019 was the third year when Canada broke records in its own tourism sector, national marketing organization Destination Canada says, which experienced $104.9 billion amount generated in tourism expenditures (a 2.3 per cent increase from 2018).
These numbers are increasing constantly from 2018, which welcomed 21.13 million travelers to Canada and contributed $102.5 billion to the economy.
“The record number of arrivals shows once more that tourism is a strong and sustainable sector that benefits business and communities, large and small, across Canada,” Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages Mélanie Joly said in a statement. “By working together, we are inspiring travellers to visit more parts of the country in all four seasons, to experience Canada’s diversity and inclusivity, to taste its culinary delicacies and to discover its Indigenous peoples.”
As per Ottawa Tourism spokesperson, Julia Thomson, any rise in the number of tourists to Canada will profit Ottawa’s tourism industry, as traditionally the city has seen about a five per cent growth in all international visitors that come to the country.
As Ottawa Tourism is still crunching its 2019 data, Thomson explained that early indications are that international numbers of Ottawa are growing every year majorly due to overseas visitors and not U.S.
U.S. visitation numbers, she adds, are probably to stay somewhere around 2018’s figures.
However, majority of the tourists that come to Ottawa are domestic travelers – 90 per cent, to be exact – with Montreal and Toronto being important markets.
In 2018, Ottawa hosted 11 million visitors.
According to Destination Canada, the growth of the tourism industry of Canada is attributable to a series of factors, including the federal government maintaining renewed visa requirements for all the main markets, making traveling to Canada seamless.
Also, new flight destinations have been added to boost up the services on pre-existing routes to numerous airports in Canada, which has opened up additional air access.
Tags: Canada tourism