Travel Markets Outlook: Metropolitan Focus: Autumn 2004

This report offers an in-depth analysis and forecast for the tourism industry in Canada and nine metropolitan areas.

Document Highlights

• Among the nine Canadian cities we monitor, overnight travel to Calgary and Edmonton was hit hardest by the ill effects of BSE and SARS during 2003. In 2004, our outlook suggests that tourism in these cities should post the strongest growth among the nine Canadian cities and recover much of the ground lost during 2003. Meanwhile, overnight travel to Toronto is expected to post the third strongest growth in 2004 at 6.6 per cent.
• Tourism growth in Montréal, Quebec City, Ottawa and Winnipeg is expected to be more modest, partly because these centres were less affected by global events during 2003.
• Among the nine Canadian cities, Vancouver’s tourism industry is the most reliant on international travellers, particularly from Asia. While the drop in Asian and U.S. travellers hurt visitation to the city last year, increased air capacity and solid pent-up travel demand is expected to help support a 6.1 per cent recovery in overnight visitation during 2004.
• Looking ahead into 2005, Vancouver and Toronto are expected to vie for top spot in overnight travel growth among the nine Canadian cities.