Canada's tourism slowing down again since pandemic lockdowns lifted, new report finds
CTV
Canada’s tourism sector seems to be slowing down again, following a brisk recovery when COVID-19 lockdowns lifted, a new report found.
Canada’s tourism sector seems to be slowing down again, following a brisk recovery when COVID-19 lockdowns lifted, a new report found.
Canada’s tourism sector seems to be slowing down again, following a brisk recovery when COVID-19 lockdowns lifted, a new report found.
Over the past three years, the tourism industry had been clawing its way back to pre-pandemic numbers, however, a new report by TD bank found the pace of recovery started to slow this year.
The report, titled ‘A Slow Road to Recovery for Canadian Tourism Spending,’ says the decline is due to financial challenges in Canada such as higher interest rates, a slowing job market and broader tourism slowdowns seen both domestically and internationally.
This slowdown means a full recovery will take time, as tourism activity and travellers’ spending are not expected to reach former levels until 2025, stated the report published on Thursday by TD’s economists Marc Ercolao and Rishi Sondhi.
While the number of domestic travellers was not available at the time the report was published, economists say the data available shows domestic tourism activity had a milder decline during the beginning of the pandemic, and has since recovered faster than international tourism.
From the beginning of this year until May, international travellers to Canada increased from 2.11 million to 2.25 million. This is similar to the 2011-15 average; however, this number is still 20 per cent lower than the pre-pandemic peak, read the report.