Canada Tourism to Hit Record $183B, Yet US Risks Persist

Canada’s travel and tourism sector is expected to contribute a record-setting figure of nearly CAD 183 billion (around USD 132 billion) to the national economy in 2025, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

The WTTC projects support for 1.8 million jobs in the industry this year.

Domestic visitor spending is forecasted to reach nearly CAD 104 billion (around USD 75 billion) in 2025, marking an 8.3 percent increase year-on-year and more than double the growth seen the previous year.

WTTC also projects that by 2035, Canada’s travel and tourism sector will contribute CAD 233.5 billion (around USD 169 billion), representing about 6.3 percent of GDP, and support more than 2.1 million jobs.

Canada’s inbound arrivals heavily depend on the United States, which accounted for about 71 percent of inbound visitors in 2024, while 52 percent of Canadians’ outbound trips also head to the US in 2024.

This year, however, the US saw a decline in the number of visitors arriving from Canada. For example, inbound seat capacity from Canada to Las Vegas shrank by more than 18 percent year-over-year, which is largely linked to tariff tensions between the US and Canada.

Political tensions have similarly affected tourism in Canada. Statistics Canada reports that flights from the US to Canada declined between January and March of this year.

Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash