Northern Lights at the End of the Tunnel: Yukon’s Travel Markets Outlook to 2025

• • Yukon tourism depends on international travellers more than the provinces. For this reason, we do not expect to see a return to pre-pandemic total visit levels until 2024—a year behind the national recovery.
  • Yet, we see Yukon’s tourism sector starting to recover during the second half of this year, especially following the reopening of the Canada–U.S. border in August.
  • Total visits to Yukon will reach only 44 per cent of their 2019 level this year.
  • Tourism expenditures should recover to their pre-pandemic trend by 2023–24. Yukon operators cannot make up for international revenue losses by pivoting to “staycations” as its population is not large enough.
  • Yukon tourism will benefit from strong resident and government support for the industry. With less industry diversification than the provinces, Yukon relies on tourism to fuel its broader economic engine, and the territorial government is motivated to support the sector and foster its recovery.
  • Yukon’s vaccination rate is among the highest in the country, yet variant outbreaks of COVID-19 remain an ongoing risk for tourism in the territory. Significant outbreaks in Yukon would likely bring on a rapid tightening of restrictions, either at the territorial level or across Indigenous traditional territories.

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