Canada’s largest city is courting Europeans to spend some of their summer in the Six.
What happened: Destination Toronto opened two international offices in the U.K. and Germany. The non-profit promoting travel to Toronto is also partnering with four agencies in the region to drum up tourism from surrounding countries, like Ireland and Switzerland.
- The U.K. and Germany are burgeoning sources of tourists for the city, Destination Toronto claims, accounting for 220,000 visitors and $320 million in spending last year.
Catch-up: Toronto, like other Canadian cities, has seen tourism rebound slowly since the pandemic. While it did break a record last year for tourist spending, it still had 600,000 fewer visitors than in 2019.
Why it matters: Toronto’s strategy to court more travellers from abroad could be emulated by other Canadian tourist destinations, as U.S. actions regarding tariffs and border security have created both uncertainty and opportunity in the North American tourism sector.
- On one hand, tourism to Canada from the U.S. is currently on the decline amid ongoing trade tensions, which isn’t great considering the U.S. is easily the top source of foreign visitors.
- On the other hand, some foreigners who may have wanted to visit the U.S. are now thinking twice about vacationing in what they view as an inhospitable nation — this could be a gap for Canada to fill.
What’s next: Toronto’s all but guaranteed to get some European tourists next year for the World Cup — if it impresses them on that stage, maybe it could create some repeat visitors.—QH