Visitors injected billions of dollars into Toronto's economy last year, a new study finds, but tourists have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels amid signs of slowing growth. Some 26.5 million visitors arrived in 2023 and spent $8.
4 billion -- the bulk of it on hotels, restaurants and transportation -- according to a report from Tourism Economics. However, tourist numbers fell short of the high water mark in 2019, when 28 million people descended on the city, according to tourism organization Destination Toronto, which commissioned the study. Last year, 88 per cent of visitors were Canadian, while nearly seven per cent came from the U.
S. and 4.5 per cent from overseas.
The percentages for the latter two were higher before the pandemic. While spending in 2023 slightly surpassed pre-pandemic levels, much of that owes to inflation, said report author Tariq Khan. Growth also appears to be sputtering.
Hotel bookings in May fell from a year earlier, said Destination Canada CEO Andrew Weir, a sign of a possible pull-back by visitors this summer. "The recovery is still far from complete, and uneven," he said in an interview. "Revenge travel was great for a while," Weir said, referring to the wave of tourism that followed two years of pent-up demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's not a straight line. Growth is returning but it's slowing." However, the industry hopes at least one event this year might kick off something of a new era.
"Taylor Swift," said Weir. The pop supersta.
