Tourism among the fastest growing sectors in 2024, setting the stage for 2025

In 2024, tourism activities generated $104.4 billion in revenues (inflation-adjusted), distributed over a wide range of services provided in communities of all sizes across Canada. This was up 3.5% from 2023, in which recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued.

Notably, in 2024, tourism demand surpassed the pre-pandemic level of 2019 (+3.3%) for the first time and was the highest on record since the beginning of the current data series in 1986.

Tourism activities include, among others, spending on transportation, accommodation, food and beverage services, and recreation and entertainment.

Alongside higher spending in 2024 was an increase in visits. Overnight domestic trips reached 105.6 million in 2024 (+8.8% from 2023), and overnight non-resident arrivals totalled 19.9 million (+8.6%).

Jobs attributable to tourism demand nearly eclipse pre-pandemic level

Both domestic and international visitor spending supported 702,700 tourism jobs across various industries in 2024, slightly below the high of 704,100 jobs from 2019.

There were over 265,800 businesses in tourism industries in 2024, and these businesses supported 1 in 10 workers in the Canadian workforce.

Key economic contributor

Tourism contributed $41.0 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, accounting for 1.8% of overall GDP. While its contribution was relatively small, the sector saw its growth rate in 2024 (+3.6%) outpace national growth (+1.7%) and was among the fastest-growing sectors.

Growth in tourism GDP in 2024 also helped offset slower growth in other sectors, as well as contractions in the manufacturing (-2.8%) and construction (-0.3%) sectors.

So far in 2025

In the first quarter of 2025, tourism GDP grew by 0.5%, a slower rate of growth compared with the fourth quarter of 2024 (+1.3%), amid a decline in non-resident visits.

While tourism spending was virtually unchanged in the first quarter of 2025, the number of tourism jobs edged up (+0.1%).

A new resource

Check out the infographic Tourism Contributes to the Wealth of Canadians from Destination Canada, which uses Statistics Canada data to summarize the wide range of economic and societal impacts of the tourism sector in 2024.