Study: Tourism employment in rural Canada

Tourism accounted for about 3% of total employment in Canada's predominantly rural regions in 2003, about the same as it did for the economy as a whole, according to a new study.

"Down East" hospitality came to the fore as the Atlantic provinces led the way in rural tourism employment growth in the late 1990s.

This study, based on Labour Force Survey data, showed that the rural regions of the Atlantic provinces had the largest growth in tourism employment between 1996 and 2003.

New Brunswick led with a gain of nearly 30%, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador at just over 25%. This compares with an increase of just 15% for rural regions in Canada as a whole.

Two major employment challenges for communities in rural Canada are job losses in primary sector industries and the exodus of youth in search of work. Tourism is seen as one way to bring money into a community and maintain local employment.

The study found that tourism employment in the predominantly rural regions of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia appears to have the greatest potential for increase.

This contrasts with tourism employment in the predominantly rural region of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. There, growth is less than the Canadian average and the intensity of rural employment in tourism is low.

The study also found that throughout Canada, rural regions closest to urban centres took advantage of these markets to generate a 17% increase in tourism employment between 1996 and 2003. This compares with an increase of 15% in rural regions as a whole and 13% in urban regions over the same period.

In 2003, the accommodation sector was the largest source of tourism related jobs in rural regions, accounting for over 40% of all tourism employment. In urban regions, the food and beverage industry predominated.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3701.

The Rural and Small Town Canada Analysis Bulletin, Vol. 5, no. 8, entitled Tourism Employment in Rural Canada (21-006-XIE2004008, free) is now available online. From the Our products and services page, under Browse our Internet products, choose Free then Agriculture.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Roland Beshiri (951-6506; roland.beshiri@statcan.gc.ca), Agriculture Division.