International visitors to Canada loosened their wallets in the second quarter of 2014, according to data that Statistics Canada released September 26.
The government data-cruncher pinned international visitor spending as soaring 3.7% in the April through June quarter. That’s the largest quarterly increase since the 6.2% surge in the first quarter of 2010, when Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics.
The strong second quarter coincided with the Canadian dollar relatively weak when compared with the U.S. dollar. The quarter also started one week after the Canadian dollar hit a five-year low versus its U.S. counterpart.
Bank of Canada data shows that the Canadian dollar was valued at an average of US$0.9099 in April, US$0.9183 in May and US$0.9237 in June.
U.S. visitors are by far the most numerous international visitors to Canada and to Metro Vancouver.
Tourism Vancouver statistics show that Metro Vancouver hosted 489,082 U.S. overnight visitors in the second quarter of 2014. That’s 20.2% more than the 406,660 overnight visitors from the rest of the world combined (248,120 from Asia Pacific nations, 116,546 from Europe and 41,994 from other parts of the world).
Spending on most tourism goods and services were up although air transport spending (up 5.8%) was the area that saw the biggest jump.
Accommodation (up 3.2%) and food and beverage (up 3.2%) also saw significant gains, according to Statistics Canada
Domestic tourism spending crept up 0.9% to notch the fifth consecutive month of tourism spending increases by Canadians traveling within the country.
