CANADIAN IMMIGRATION NEWS

Tourism industry in Canada proves gloomy forecasts wrong

Thursday, 7 February 2008

Toronto in Canada has exceeded all expectations as a recent report shows a record increase in visitor numbers in the hotel and tourism sectors.

According to visitor numbers compiled by Tourism Toronto from Statistics Canada data, as well as its own research, Toronto had 160,000 more overnight travellers in 2007 than in the previous year.

This is reflective of a new dedication to attract tourists and visitors to Canada, and in the fact that the occupancy at Toronto hotels was the highest they've been since 2000. Also, hotels didn't have to cut room rates to build traffic. The rates, in fact, were modestly higher.

All in all, a record has been set with 10.66 million overnight visitors - up from 10.5 million the previous year.

"It's overall turned out to be a good year," said Terry Mundell, head of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association.

It was also found that travellers to Toronto stayed longer – an average of 2.2 nights instead of two nights. Or, as chief executive of Tourism Toronto David Whitaker puts it, every 10th visitor stayed an extra night.

The tourism industry experienced noticeable growth for people visiting from Mexico and China, where the total number of visitors saw a 15% increase, while Canada’s largest visitor market, the UK, saw a growth of 2%.

According to the report, this indicates an overall increase in Toronto’s quality of food, entertainment, accommodations, and attractions.

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