Toronto as a tourist destination is looking good to the rest of Canada and the world if 2024’s figures are anything to go by.
Destination Toronto says 9 million overnight visitors spent a record $8.8 billion in T.O. last year — the highest level of visitor spending ever recorded in the city.
The Toronto’s Visitor Economy: 2024 Market Performance Highlights report says while those visitors are the most since the pandemic, the figure is still 600,000 fewer than the number welcomed in 2019.
“Toronto’s visitor economy is proving once again to be an engine for the city, drawing almost $9 billion of new money into our economy from across Canada, across the border and around the world,” Andrew Weir, president and CEO of Destination Toronto, said in a statement.
The reports say the domestic market has fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels and travel from international markets is progressing with international visitors tending to stay longer and spending more than domestic visitors.
Toronto welcomed 2.7 million international visitors last year — a 7% increase over 2023 — with notable numbers from the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. International travellers accounted for 30% of total visitors and 38% of all visitor spending in 2024.
The report also says visitor spending continues to recirculate throughout Toronto’s economy, producing an overall economic impact of $13 billion in 2024.
“The tax revenue generated by visitors last year was greater than $2 billion,” Weir noted.
“In fact, without tourism, every family in Toronto would have had to pay $1,850 more just to maintain the same levels of government services across all three levels of government.”
The report said multi-day events with more than 1,000 attendees brought nearly 250,000 visitors in 2024, including the NHL All-Star Game.
In 2025, the same kind of events are projected to draw 300,000 visitors, with the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference and the American Bar Association Annual Meeting being hosted in Toronto.
Destination Toronto says the outlook for this year is positive with new hotel openings including TOOR Hotel Toronto, Union Hotel Toronto, NOBU Hotel Toronto, and Le Meridien Pinnacle Toronto Hotel.
Virgin Atlantic is also set to return to the Canadian market after a decades-long absence, resuming its Toronto-London route on March 30, and U.S. pre-clearance is coming to Billy Bishop City Airport to allow U.S.-bound travellers to clear U.S. Customs, Immigration, and Agriculture inspection before takeoff.