Canada’s visitor numbers are well on their way to recovery, according to Destination Canada, as it aims to change its strategy to become more active in attracting tourists to its shores.
Marsha Walden, president and chief executive of Destination Canada, said that while recovery is going well, it’s not there yet but is “gaining momentum”.
“Europe is recovering exceptionally well and quickly, whereas our Asian markets are a little slower to bounce back,” she said. “In general, when we look at the end of 2022, we were about 89% recovered in total and we think that we will pass the mark of 2019 – which is the benchmark everyone likes to look back at – by late 2023 or early 2024. We’re almost there.”
Walden was speaking from Rendez-vous Canada, the country’s annual tourism marketplace, held in Quebec City last week, with 1,500 participants.
For the UK specifically, Destination Canada’s data shows that tourism visitation will exceed 2019 levels in 2025, when it will make up 105% of that year’s numbers. Spending will also be back to 2019 levels in the same year, when it’s expected to make up 118% of 2019 levels.
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Currently, in 2023, visitation and spending from the UK market are at 78% and 72% respectively, relative to 2019.
Speaking to Travel Weekly, Maureen Riley, vice president international of Destination Canada, said: “I think what we’re seeing out of the UK is there is a certain amount of pent-up demand.”
However, she acknowledged that there is an issue with capacity of accommodations across the country. “What we’re trying to do right now is make sure we’re trying to deliver against the experiences that they’re looking for,” she said.
There are limitations on capacity in some of the more remote destinations across Canada, said Riley, adding: “We’re trying to make sure that our UK visitors are able to come back in the future even if they can’t get in this year.”
And travel trade is “integral to UK visitation to Canada,” Riley said.
“I think if you’ve been here once you may still need a little bit of help on your second trip because it is such a big country,” she noted. “What we’re finding is British travellers are starting to use tour operators more and more to get to more remote areas which is even more unique and [there’s a] bigger opportunity to leverage the knowledge of these operators.”
Canada is also shifting its strategy on how it approaches tourism, according to Randy Boissonnault, the Minister of Tourism and Association Minister of Finance.
“What we’re trying to change is a 50+ year thinking that tourism just happens,” he said, adding: “We have a very passive, ‘nice to have’ approach to tourism that we are fundamentally changing to an intentional ‘we are going to compete’, and ‘we are going to get our share of the market’.”
Rendez-vous Canada will take place next May in Edmonton, Alberta.
PICTURE: William Au Photography
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