Tourism spending across Canada in Quarter 1, 2019

We're able to share some early indicators for tourism spending in Canada. These will be finalized a little later in the year, but give an indication of spend in Canada by 10 key markets and the rest of the world in 20 regions across Canada and in six key tourism spending categories.

Each quarter, Destination Canada will publish new data on international tourism spend in Canada by 10 key markets and the rest of the world.

These indicators, developed by Statistics Canada for the tourism sector, provide spending of international visitors while in 20 regions across Canada and in six key tourism spending categories:

• Accommodation
• Food and beverage
• Recreation and entertainment
• Clothing and gifts
• Transportation
• Other

The spend is estimated by Statistics Canada by combining the Visitor Travel Survey data and the anonymized, aggregated data obtained from the financial sector. The early indicator is a prediction measure of foreign tourism spending in Canada, which is usually released 2 months before the current quarter survey data becomes available. For information on the quality of the estimates, please refer to the ‘Note to Users’ included in the data tables.

Key highlights from first quarter 2019 early indicators

• Over the first three months of 2019, visitors from the United States represented 45% ($1.9 billion) of all spending by international visitors, visitors from China represented 12% ($511 million) and visitors from the United Kingdom represented 4% ($185 million). Over the same period, Canada welcomed almost 3.8 million visitors from the United States, of which Statistics Canada estimates that 2 million were visitors that stayed one or more nights in Canada. The number of same-day and overnight visitors from China were 136,820 and from the United Kingdom were 101,019.
• International visitors spent 38% ($1.6 billion) of all their spending on food and beverages, 27% ($1.1 billion) on accommodation, 17% ($721 million) on clothing and gifts, 8% ($314 million) on transportation, 8% ($314 million) on recreation and entertainment, and 1% ($59 million) on souvenirs.
• Of all the countries tracked, Indian travellers spent highest share of their spend in the Greater Toronto Area, representing 23% ($12.2 million). Second highest was Montréal (10.3%, $5.3 million) followed by Vancouver (9%, $4.9 million).
• Visitors from the United States seemed to indulge in Vancouver and Ontario’s food scene - they spent 10% of their total spend ($191 million) on food and beverages in Vancouver, 6% ($117 million) in the Greater Toronto Area and 7% ($130 million) in the rest of Ontario.
• Chinese travellers spent 52% ($5 million) of their spend in Calgary on clothing and gifts, and only 8% ($770,900) on accommodation. In contrast, in the Kootenay Rockies, Chinese spent 52% ($995,800) of their spending on accommodation and 12% ($221,300) on clothing and gifts.
• International travellers spent 54% ($13.4 million) on accommodation in Northwest Territories, 47% ($3 million) in Nunavut and 32% ($6.5 million) in Yukon. This is much higher than the average of 27% on accommodation nationally.
• Australian visitors seemed more likely to stay overnight in the Niagara region - 44% ($1.3 million) of their spend in Niagara region was on accommodation compared to the average of 24% ($38 million) by all countries combined.

*Destination Canada