Despite trade war and tariffs, Montreal tourism numbers stable

Tourism Montreal CEO Yves Lalumière said travellers continue to visit Montreal despite economic uncertainty.

Montreal continues to draw visitors to the city despite less than certain economic times, tariff/trade wars and some less than ideal weather.

Tourism Montreal said in its mid-season report that numbers are stable in the city from 2024, despite a slight drop from American and European travellers.

Tourism Montreal president and CEO Yves Lalumière said that the seven per cent drop was a touch lower than the five per cent the organization expected, but that spending was higher than in 2024.

“It’s important for us to capture that spending,” he said. “Despite the fact that there’s minus seven per cent number of passengers from the US, mostly on the land portion, not on the aerial portion, on the aircraft portion, the spending is still above what it was last year, so the fact that their dollar was strengthened, it strengthened in the spring, gave us a boost in terms of the spending.”

Major events such as Osheaga, the F1 Canadian Grand Prix, Montréal International Jazz Festival and other events continue to be a major draw for tourists.

Tourism Montreal says that 60 per cent of the crowd at Osheaga was out of province, and that it was one of its biggest in 18 years. The Jazz Fest, meanwhile, set a new attendance record with over 700,000 festivalgoers.

The surging Canadian travel market, particularly the Atlantic provinces (+15 per cent), also helped.

“Anytime we are marketing outside Quebec, we always use the playground aspect of it,” said Lalumière. “So the number of festivals, the culture, the gastronomy, with Michelin now being part of our DNA. When we compare ourselves to many of the cities in North America, we’ve got a lot more to do here.”

Lalumière said marketing for winter will follow a similar pattern in highlighting the volume of things to do in the city.

Tourism Montreal also reported that the city’s hotel inventory grew by just under five per cent with a 73 per cent occupancy rate, and demand for Airbnb accommodations grew by 7.5 per cent in June and 12.4 per cent in July.

The upcoming Lasso country music festival, Grand Prix Cycliste du Montreal (Sept. 14) and Montreal Marathon (Sept. 21) are among the events that the tourism industry expects to draw more visitors.

“So still a lot to do, and that’s why we say that summer continues until the end of October, which are two strong months for us, for European travellers and U.S. travellers as well,” said Lalumière.