by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 1:00 PM ET, Wed May 17, 2023
Canada’s tourism industry is showing strong signs of recovery and is on target to contribute more than $162 billion to the country’s economy in 2023.
New economic impact research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) shows that the Canadian travel industry is within striking distance of its 2019 pre pandemic peak of $173.9 billion. The same report projects that the industry will create some 90,000 jobs in 2023 alone, reaching a total of 1.64 million jobs altogether. If that happens, the industry will have recovered almost all of the jobs it lost amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
In 2022, Canada’s travel and tourism industry contribution grew by a significant 41.4 percent, reaching more than $138 billion. That figure represented 5 percent of Canada’s total economy, with one in every $20 in the country being generated by the travel industry.
Last year, the sector also created 169,000 more jobs than 2021, reaching 1.55 million jobs nationally, which represented one in 13 jobs across Canada. The sector has now recovered 124,000 of the 283,500 jobs lost during the pandemic.
International travelers also began returning to Canada in 2022, with spending from overseas visitors growing 64 percent to reach almost $23 billion. However, that figure was still 47 percent below the 2019 peak of $42.9 billion.
“The sector is a vital driver of economic growth and job creation in Canada with cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal remaining must-see global destinations for international visitors” Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said in a statement. “As overseas visitors continue to return to Canada, we will see international visitor spending recovering quickly, to reach 2019 levels in the coming years.”
Glacier National Park of Canada (photo via bon9/iStock/Getty Images Plus) (Photo Credit: (photo via bon9/iStock/Getty Images Plus))
The coming decade
The global tourism body is also projecting that Canada’s tourism industry GDP contribution will grow to more than $238 billion over the next 10 years, which would constitute a full 7 percent of the country’s overall economy.
It’s also expected that the industry will employ nearly 2.1 million people across the country by 2033—which would amount to one out of every 11 Canadians being employed by travel and tourism in the country.
The new WTTC data also reveals that the travel and tourism industry throughout North America contributed $3.05 trillion to the region’s economy, which is about 7 percent below the pre-pandemic 2019 peak. The WTTC expects the North American GDP contribution to fully recover within this year reaching $3.7 trillion.
About 24.7 million people across North America found jobs in travel and tourism in 2022, an increase of 3.6 million from the previous year, but still 1.5 billion behind the 2019 peak. The expectation is that the North American travel and tourism sector will fully recover jobs lost during the pandemic by the end of 2023.
The news about Canada and North America, follows equally positive recovery trends for the United States. The WTTOC recently released forecasts showing that the U.S. travel and tourism
sector will achieve record-breaking highs as 2023 continues,
outstripping even 2019’s pre-pandemic peaks.
It’s
anticipated that the sector will have contributed $2.24 trillion to the
U.S. economy by the end of the year, exceeding the 2019 record high of
$2.17 trillion. WTTC also reported that it predicts the industry will
create over 1.2 million U.S. jobs to reach 17.4 million this year, an
almost full recovery of the jobs that were destroyed due to COVID-19.
Globally, the travel and tourism industry is also well on its way to a full rebound.
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