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 that we monitor, tourism in Toronto was hit the hardest by SARS in 2003. Consequently our outlook suggests that without a reoccurrence of SARS, Toronto should lead the recovery among Canadian cities in 2004. Overall overnight trips to Toronto are expected to increase by 7.7 per cent.
- Cities like Montréal, Quebec City and Halifax were not affected as much by global events in 2003 as Toronto was. As a result, the rebound in those cities is not expected to be as robust as in Toronto this year.
- Winnipeg and Edmonton are less reliant on international travellers, so the impact of SARS was more muted in 2003. The travel recovery in these cities is expected to be strong, as the regional domestic economic fundamentals are solid.
- The tourism industries in Vancouver and Calgary rely more heavily on international travellers, especially from Asia. The drop in Asian and U.S. travel hurt overnight visits in these two cities in 2003. Increased air capacity, solid economics and a slowly depreciating Canadian dollar all support a 6.3 per cent recovery in overall overnight visits to Vancouver and a 7.2 per cent increase in Calgary this year.
