Canada’s tourism industry has been basking in a robust visitor economy in the past years, even highlighting last year, 2019, as the strongest ever in terms of the number of visitors and GDP contribution.
The tourism industry is making substantial contributions by being a sustainable sector itself, generating more job opportunities for the locals.
However, with a sudden turn of events, the early months of 2020 seem to be breaking the three-peat winning streak for Canada tourism. Enter, the Coronavirus pandemic.
Why Canada’s Tourism Industry Is Successful for Three Consecutive Years
Canada’s been attributing its success in resurrecting the tourism industry with the joint efforts of its people.
Canadians are renewing their interest in exploring their local heritage, favoring top cities like Montreal and Toronto. On the other hand, international visitors are also increasing because of the government’s improvements in visas and travel access. Now, more tourists experience seamless traveling to and from Canada, making them want to stay longer.
The Canadian tourism industry is also looking at increasing relevance to both international and local markets. The team is working with more industry partners to promote tourism and cater to more age groups and encourage them to discover Canada.
Gaming tourism paid the dues
The main factor in Canada’s tourism success is the gaming sector. Have you heard about gaming tourism? Canada is the leading country in that industry. People all over the world travel to Canada for the gaming industry. Unlike other countries like the US and China, Canada has a very liberal approach to gaming, especially the casino and gambling sector. People love the freedom that Canadian casinos give to international players. When you travel to Canada, you have many things to see. Canadian casinos offer the same type of games on online platforms as you may witness in casino building. International players can play casino games online all the way to exploring Moraine Lake. That’s the advantage of Canada – you can play the casino game everywhere, even when you try to reach the peak of Niagara falls. Canadian gaming tourism became popular over the years and many decisions made by Trudeau changed the POV of many international travelers. The number of Chinese and US visitors increased in the last five year and according to data half of them visit the country for gaming tourism. Representatives of the tourism industry believe that Canada can show better results in gaming tourism from 2021 as the covid-19 pandemic ends as the government has an interesting package ready to attract the attention of Chinese and US tourists again.
2019 was a Record-Breaking Year for Canada’s Tourism Industry
Let’s do a backtrack first on how was the tourism sector in Canada in 2019. As reported by Destination Canada, statistics show that 22.1 million visited the country in 2019, breaking the 22 million visitor-count from the previous year.
In the same report, the Canadian tourism industry also shows a bustling economy itself, which experienced about 2.3 percent growth in terms of spending. That is about $105 billion in figures! According to the same report, 22.1 million visitors were spending about $102 billion during this time.
In the same way, the industry has also been encouraging to investors and businesses. Many are allocating more of its resources to cater to more visitors in the coming years.
Mélanie Joly, the Canada Minister of Economic Development and Official Languages is expressing her optimism towards the tourism industry. She was saying that with the people’s joint efforts, they are encouraging more travelers to see what Canada has to offer all year round. She looks forward to more visitors experiencing the best of Canada’s tourism – its culture, diversity, food, and its people.
How Coronavirus May Affect the Tourism Industry In 2020
Just as Canada’s three-peat success inspires the best for 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic seems to halt all the plans for now.
For once, the worldwide lockdowns are drastically bringing all forms of travel down. Airlines are closing operations momentarily to help them cope because of fewer people on board during flights. Economies are breaking, and people are prioritizing their expenditures to bare necessities like food. We’re seeing that the global pandemic will be affecting the world longer and who knows when it’s going to end.And lastly, the trauma the virus is causing might stay for a while, making people fear travel for the meantime. Seeing the Prime Minister’s wife and family being this vulnerable at this point might also trigger some discouragement in the market for now. We can all hope that the crisis will end soon, and Canada’s tourism plans will ensue.
