Destination Canada

Tourism in Canada

Beautiful landscapes. A diverse, welcoming culture. A rich, storied history. Canada's tourism industry truly is world-class. And every day, tour operators, retailers, hoteliers, restaurateurs—many small business owners—welcome thousands of tourists from around the world. It is these hardworking Canadians that give us a welcoming, inclusive and warm reputation for which we are famous.

Tourism is a vital part of the Canadian economy.

The Government of Canada, led by the Honourable Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism, has a clear plan to work with all partners to grow international tourism to Canada.

The New Tourism Vision is a whole-of-government approach to seizing the global opportunity that tourism offers.

In every region of the country, tourism creates jobs and opportunities, for Canada's middle class:

• It is our largest service export and represents more than 2 per cent of our GDP.
• One in 11 Canadian jobs—more than 1.7 million—depends on the tourist economy.
• Tourism is our number one employer of youth, and is an important provider of employment for new Canadians.
• In 2016, international visitors accounted for $20 billion in tourism revenues. Domestic tourism raised just under $72 billion.

Tourism builds people-to-people connections, supports cultural exchange, expands trade opportunities and foreign direct investment, while helping Canadians and people from around the world better appreciate and understand each other.

Through the New Tourism Vision, the Government is taking action to improve Canadian tourism marketing, access, and product—all with the clear goal of increasing the total number of visitors to Canada.

---

The Global opportunity

Worldwide, tourism is booming. In 2016, more than 1.2 billion tourists took a trip internationally—an increase of almost 4 per cent from 2015. Growth in tourism outpaced growth in merchandise trade.

The tourism industry is valued at over US$1.5 trillion (approximately CDN$2 trillion).

Canada's opportunity

Canada stands to benefit from this encouraging global trend. We have seen tremendous growth in international tourist arrivals in recent years.

In 2015, the number of international visitors to Canada grew by 7.5 per cent to reach 17.8 million. In 2016, we welcomed almost 20 million tourists, a further increase of 11 per cent.

The world has taken notice of Canada. The New York Times, Lonely Planet and Condé Nast have all recognized Canada as the top international destination for 2017. With the 150th anniversary of Confederation underway, 2017 is going to be bigger and better.

Next year, we will celebrate the 2018 Canada-China Year of Tourism. This is an opportunity to welcome more visitors from the world's fasting growing source country for international tourists.

Where we're heading

Canada's New Tourism Vision sets out concrete targets for growth:

• Canada will compete to be one of the Top Ten most visited countries in the world by 2025.
• The number of international overnight visits to Canada will increase by 30 per cent by 2021.
• The number of tourists from China will double, by 2021.