Toronto sees rise in visitors, but UK numbers are down
A record 43.7 million visited Toronto in 2017, spending more than $8.8 billion, which was up by more than 9%, but the number of visitors from the UK was down.
Tourism Toronto said the city hosted more overnight domestic visitors than any other Canadian destination, with 10.4 million.
There were nearly three million US visitors in 2018, plus 2.1 million tourists from other overseas destinations.
Overseas travellers spent more than $2 billion, the agency said.
Outside of North America, China was the top source market, with 320,000 Chinese tourists visited the city.
“More and more, world travellers are seeing Toronto as an exciting urban destination, and we’re seeing that with both a record number of visitors and visitor spending,” said Tourism Toronto president and CEO Johanne Belanger.
“The campaign we launched last year is tapping into that sense of excitement and confidence.”
The numbers weren’t unexpected as 2017 was always going to be a successful year for tourism in Canada. In 2017 the nation celebrated Canada 150 with a host of special tourism focused events around the country including free admission to national parks.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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