Issue link: http://tourismwpg.uberflip.com/i/1024529
National Tourism Highlights 2017 was a successful year for tourism activity in Canada, boosted by celebrations across the country to commemorate Canada's 150th anniversary of confederation – which included free admission to national parks and historic sites. For 2018, the Conference Board of Canada is forecasting travel growth in Canada will moderate across all travel markets: domestic, U.S. and overseas. In their latest Travel Market Outlook (Spring 2018), the Conference Board forecasts overnight visitation in 2018 will grow an additional 2.6 per cent over 2017 actual visits. Related visitor spending is projected to increase 6.6 per cent over last year's total to an estimated $60.3 billion. Travel growth in 2018 will be aided by increased cruise ship activity in several provinces, strong convention activity across Canada, and increases in domestic and international air capacity serving Canada. In addition, 2018 has been designated as the Canada-China Year of Tourism. Weakness worth noting include a cooling economy in many provinces, higher gas prices and interest rates that will affect household disposable incomes and high accommodation rates in some parts of the country. Despite these weaknesses, results from the Conference Board's latest Travel Intentions Survey in March of this year found 80 per cent of respondents were planning to take one or more overnight trips for vacation or leisure purposes between May 1 and October 31; a full 3.3 percentage points higher than in 2017. Compared with last year, the survey also found that among those intending to travel during the summer, a slightly higher percentage are planning to stay in Canada for their longest trip. The domestic market represents the largest share of travel in Canada at 84 per cent. Overnight domestic visits in 2018 are forecasted to grow 2.2 per cent above 2017 visitation. Domestic leisure travel is set to grow 2.2 per cent and business travel at 2.4 per cent in 2018. A healthy economy and increased air capacity by domestic airlines are factors expected to help boost domestic visitor activity this year.