January 24, 2018

Toronto broke a new tourism record with 43.7 million visitors in 2017!

As the largest city in Canada, there is no doubt that people would be attracted to visiting Toronto and its surrounding area. Even with cold temperatures during the Winter months, tourists still continue to visit as they spent almost $9 billion dollars in 2017.

This amount that was spent is up 47 per cent in the past 5 years, while the number of visitors rose 17 per cent in the same period. Toronto saw the highest number of overnight visitors coming from the United States with 2,973,000 visitors and China with 319,000 visitors.

More than 70 per cent of American visitors arrived by plane, which is a dramatic shift from 50/50 back before the year 2000. This increase is important to Toronto’s economy as the visitors who fly here are staying longer, doing more and are spending more money.

Toronto’s biggest increase in regards to overnight visitors came from Mexico, as we saw a 72-per cent jump from 44,000 to 75,000 visitors. This is due to the fact that back in December 2016, Canada removed a 7-year-old requirement for Mexican travellers to obtain a visitor visa.

Domestic travellers continue to visit Toronto more than any other Canadian city. Toronto welcomed 10.4 million overnight domestic visitors, spending $2.6 billion dollars in 2017.

Clearly there is something special about Toronto that continues to draw in tourists from around the world and within Canada. Toronto is known for its tall skyscrapers, famous sport teams, music/film festivals, multicultural and delicious foods and is viewed as an ideal candidate for what a city can and should be.

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