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National tourism indicators, third quarter 2019

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Released: 2020-01-09

Tourism spending in Canada edged down 0.2% in the third quarter following a 0.6% gain in the second quarter.

The decline was led by lower transportation spending by Canadians in Canada, while spending by international visitors was flat.

Tourism gross domestic product (GDP) edged down 0.1% in the third quarter, following a 1.0% increase in the second quarter. Economy-wide GDP grew 0.3% on strong business investment. Tourism GDP was affected by declines in the transportation (-0.6%) and non-tourism (-0.4%) industries, which more than offset a 1.0% increase in the accommodation industry.

Meanwhile, employment attributable to tourism grew 0.4%, following a 0.2% gain in the second quarter. Growth was largely due to more tourism jobs in the air transportation (+2.9%) and accommodation (+1.0%) industries. Overall employment in Canada grew 0.2% in the third quarter.

Tourism represented 2.0% of GDP and 3.9% of the Canadian workforce in the third quarter.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Tourism spending in Canada edges down
Tourism spending in Canada edges down

Tourism spending by Canadians edges down

Tourism spending by Canadians in Canada edged down 0.3% in the third quarter, following a 0.2% increase in the second quarter. Tourism spending by Canadians accounted for roughly 80% of total tourism spending in Canada.

Lower spending on passenger air transport (-0.9%), vehicle repairs and parts (-3.2%), and food and beverage services (-0.5%) contributed to the decline.

Chart 2  Chart 2: Tourism spending by Canadians in Canada declines
Tourism spending by Canadians in Canada declines

Spending by international visitors is unchanged

Tourism spending by international visitors to Canada was unchanged in the third quarter, following a 2.4% increase in the previous quarter.

Higher spending on accommodation (+1.1%) was offset by lower spending on passenger air transport (-1.3%). Both air travel from abroad and same-day car travel from the United States decreased in the third quarter.

Chart 3  Chart 3: Tourism spending by international visitors in Canada unchanged
Tourism spending by international visitors in Canada unchanged


Sustainable development goals

On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the next 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.

The national tourism indicators are an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on the global goals for sustainable development. This release will be used in helping to measure the following goal:

  Note to readers

Growth rates for tourism spending and gross domestic product (GDP) are expressed in real terms (that is, adjusted for price changes), using reference year 2012, as well as adjusted for seasonal variations, unless otherwise indicated. Employment data are also seasonally adjusted. Tourism's share of economy-wide GDP is calculated from seasonally adjusted nominal values. Tourism's share of economy-wide employment is calculated using seasonally adjusted values. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.

Associated percentage changes are presented at quarterly rates unless otherwise noted.

Economy-wide GDP is obtained from table 36-10-0104-01. Economy-wide employment is obtained from table 36-10-0207-01.

With the third quarter of 2019 release of the national tourism indicators, all data for the first and second quarters have been revised.

The national tourism indicators are funded by Destination Canada.

Next release

Data on the national tourism indicators for the fourth quarter of 2019 will be released on March 31, 2020.

Products

The data visualization product "Provincial and Territorial Tourism Satellite Account," which is part of Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (Catalogue number71-607-X), is available.

The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subject module of our website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.

The Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (Catalogue number13-605-X) is available.

The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (Catalogue number13-606-G) is available.

The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (Catalogue number13-607-X) is available.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).

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