Canadian Tourism Performance 2003

The Canadian Tourism Performance provides a summary of the aggregate performance of Canada’s tourism sector in terms of both volume and value. This fact sheet includes data primarily from the following sources: International Travel Survey, Travel Survey of Residents of Canada, National Tourism Indicators and Tourism Satellite Account.

Inbound Tourist Trips to Canada

Tourist Trips from Major Overseas Markets

Outbound Tourist Trips by Canadians

International Travel Account

Tourism Spending in Canada

Total tourism expenditures reached $54.8 billion, a decrease of 3.1% over 2002. Weak tourism activity was mainly caused by adverse events, such as: the war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak.

Results were weak across the majority of the tourism commodities, with spending on rail transportation down 8.3%, air transportation down 7.5%, and accommodation down 5.1%.  Gains were registered in vehicle repairs and parts up 5.4%, vehicle fuel up 3.4% and pre-trip expenditures up 4.8%.

Spending by Canadians traveling in Canada reached $39.3 billion, up 2.1% from 2002, despite the hurdles of the overall tourism sector.

Foreign spending had a sharp decline of 14.1% from the previous year, reaching $15.6 billion.

Tourism GDP

As a percentage of total economy, tourism gross domestic product at basic prices reached 2.0% or $22.4 billion in 2003.

Government Revenues

In 2003, tourism represented 3.8% of total government revenues, generating $16.1 billion¹ of revenue for all three levels of government in Canada.

• Federal government: $7.7 billion
• Provincial/Territorial government: $7.4 billion
• Municipal government: $0.9 billion

Employment Generated by Tourism in Canada

Total tourism employment reached 612,100 full and part-time jobs in 2003, up 0.2% from the previous year.

Inbound Travel to Canada

Foreigners made 17.5 million overnight trips to Canada in 2003, representing a 12.6% decrease over 2002. The number of trips by Americans decreased by 12.0% to 14.2 million. Overnight trips by overseas residents decreased by 15.1% to 3.3 million, with Japan, China, Germany, France and Mexico all registering double-digit declines.

Canada Outbound Travel

Total outbound travel by Canadian residents decreased by 0.2% in 2003 to 17.7 million overnight trips. The number of overnight trips made by Canadians to the U.S. decreased by 2.8% to 12.7  million. Travel to overseas countries increased, reaching 5.1 million overnight trips, up 8.4% over 2002.

Canada’s Travel Account

The total travel deficit recorded the highest level in ten years, increasing from $1.7 billion in 2002 to an estimated $4.0 billion in 2003 (up 139.2%). This is a combination of a sharp decline in spending by non-resident travelers in Canada and a slight increase in travel spending abroad by Canadian residents. The Iraq War and the SARS crisis were the main reasons why foreign residents traveled and spent less in Canada. The stronger Canadian dollar, on the other hand, encouraged an increase in travel and spending by Canadians abroad.

World Tourism Organization (WTO) International Ranking

According to the latest available WTO data, Canada is one of the most popular destinations in the world, holding the 10th position in 2003 in terms of tourist arrivals, representing a 3.4% share of the global international tourism travel market.  In 2003, Canada ranked 11th in international tourism receipts.

Sources: National Tourism Indicators, International Travel Survey, and the World Tourism Organization.

Notes: All trips refer to overnight trips.

For more information about the Canadian Tourism Performance please contact Murielle Ballantyne at (604) 638-8328 or at ballantyne.murielle@ctc-cct.ca.