The National Tourism Indicators (NTI) portray the evolution of tourism in Canada on a quarterly basis. These bottom-line figures officially represent the most current results on the significance of tourism in the Canadian economy and form the basis to measure its progress. They constitute a set of statistics that provide historical and current quarterly analysis of tourism, covering tourism commodity supply and demand, employment and prices.
National Tourism Indicators
Third Quarter 2003
Summary of the results adjusted for seasonality and inflation and expressed in 1997 constant dollars (compared to the preceding quarter):
Total real tourism spending reached $11. 5 billion in the third quarter of 2003. This represents a 1.5% increase over the second quarter of 2003, which is mainly attributable to a slight recovery in spending by international visitors. Significant increases in total tourism spending were registered in passenger air transportation (up 3.3%) , accommodation (up 2.2%), and passenger rail transportation ( up 1.5%).
- Real spending by Canadian residents in Canada amounted to almost $8.0 billion, a weak increase of 0.2% from the previous quarter.
- Foreign spending in the third quarter 2003 increased by 4.4% over the previous quarter, reaching $3.5 billion.
- Total tourism employment reached 575,800 full and part-time jobs, an increase of 0.6% from the previous quarter, outpacing the business sector for jobs. The gain was widespread across all tourism industries, with the accommodation industry in the lead, up 1.1%.
Summary of the results for data unadjusted for seasonality and expressed in current prices (compared to the preceding year):
- Total tourism expenditures reached $17.7 billion, a slight decrease of 2.1% over the same quarter of 2002. In contrast to the quarter-to-quarter comparison (seasonally adjusted data), this decline was mainly attributable to continued weakness in spending by international visitors. Major decreases in spending were registered in accommodation (down 16.5%) and vehicle rental (down 7.6%).
- Spending by Canadians travelling in Canada reached $11.4 billion, an increase of 3.2% over the last year, which represents the sixth year-over-year gain.
- Foreign spending reached $6.3 billion, down 10.3%, representing the third consecutive decline.
- Total tourism employment dropped 1.4% from the same quarter of 2002, reaching 595,900 full and part-time jobs. Major decreases in tourism employment were registered in water transportation (down 10.1%), food and beverages (down 2.9%), and travel agencies (down 2.5%).
