Destination Canada projects ‘banner year’ for tourism

Destination Canada says the tourism sector is outpacing the country’s broader economy this year.

The Crown corporation responsible for marketing tourism is calling 2026 a “banner year,” adding Canada will “seize a greater share of the USD $2.1 trillion global market for international visitor spending.”

For the rest of the year, Destination Canada projects a six per cent rise in visitor spending from 2025, amounting to $140.9 billion.

“By 2035, total tourism revenue is projected to reach $216.3 billion, up 67 per cent from 2024 levels.”

It says the tourism sector ranks among Canada’s top service exports, supporting one in 10 Canadian jobs, and returning $32.7 billion in municipal, provincial and federal tax revenue in 2024.

Destination Canada credits some of the success to Canadians increasingly choosing to travel domestically.

On Thursday, Statistics Canada released its data on travel between Canada and other countries for the month of February.

“In February 2026, Canadian residents returned from 2.0 million trips to the United States, representing a 12.5 per cent decrease from the same month in 2025 and marking the 14th consecutive month of year-over-year decline,” said Statistics Canada.

Meanwhile, it says trips from the U.S. to Canada rose 5.9 per cent over the same period.

Trips by other overseas residents to Canada, it says, rose 7.5 per cent.