Manitoba's tourism industry rebounding faster than anticipated following the pandemic

Manitoba tourism outlook shows signs of optimism Maralee learns about Travel Manitoba’s updated economic forecast that paints an optimistic picture of the sector’s future.

Before the pandemic in 2019, Manitoba had one of its best years ever for the tourism industry. The province was able to attract 10.5 million people to Manitoba.

But then the pandemic hit and the industry has struggled ever since. But it appears tourism in Manitoba is set to rebound and faster than first expected.

"Manitoba has outpaced virtually the entire country when it comes to terms of rebounding from the pandemic, and that is really at the heart of a lot of it," said Colin Ferguson, president and CEO of Travel Manitoba.

In 2021, Travel Manitoba hired an industry analyst to provide an economic forecast, and originally, the province was set to get back to 2019 levels in 2024, but now that has been pushed up to 2023.

"We shifted most of, or all of our marketing rather, to focus on short-haul markers, primarily moving Manitobans throughout the province and Manitobans took up the call and they travelled to places they hadn't been to. They travelled to places they hadn't been to in a long time."

To watch the full interview with Ferguson and to learn more about Manitoba's tourism industry, readers can watch the video above.