Canadian tourism up 30 per cent as U.S. travel continues to decline: survey

Canadian tourism up 30 per cent as many choose to spend within Canada.

It’s being called “great news” for the Canadian tourism industry.

Due to political tensions between Canada and the United States brought on by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, Canadians were rethinking their travel plans this summer.

According to new data from Moneris, more than a quarter of Canadians changed their travel plans to avoid crossing the border, and instead explored provinces here in Canada.

Canadians crossing the border also showed a steep decline for a seventh month in a row, by both air and car.

• READ MORE: ‘Steep decline’ continues: Canada-U.S. travel data down again in August

A new Angus Reid travel survey commissioned by Moneris found that 26 per cent of Canadians changed, postponed or cancelled their travel plans to the U.S.

This was great news for Canadian hotels, restaurants, and other businesses.

“Domestic tourism as a spending vehicle to drive the economy is enormous,” said Sean McCormick, director of Business Development of Data Services at Moneris.

The survey also found that among the respondents who had changed, postponed or cancelled their travel plans to the U.S., 30 per cent decided to travel to other provinces instead, while 44 per chose to travel within their own province.

The shift towards spending tourism dollars domestically helped boost the Canadian economy by millions of dollars a day, according to Moneris.

“When you think about businesses in Canada and merchants in Canada, tourism is so important to what they do,” said Moira A. McDonald, school director and associate professor with the Master of Arts in Tourist Management at Royal Roads University.

Moneris said year-over-year interprovincial spending across the country has increased by five per cent. The territories increased ten per cent in spending volume. Alberta went up by nine per cent and Saskatchewan increased six per cent.

“This is great news and we are just very, very thankful to Canadians who took this step,” said McDonald. “Canadians took this step and they really talked with their actions.”

McDonald also told CTV News the tourism industry in Canada is thriving with skilled workers needed in many areas.

According to the university, the American tourism market has seen a major decline, not just in individual travelling, but also for conferences and school trips.

Until political tensions with the U.S. ease, it’s expected Canadians will continue to explore different regions of Canada and spend their money here.

“Well done Canada for just supporting who we are,” McDonald said. “We want to really support our local economies and you really saw that this year and the numbers are there to support that.”

Despite the increase in travel within Canada, travel to Mexico, South America and Europe was also up.