Sport Tourism, and tourism in general, has taken a significant hit over the past year and a half. As we mark our second Tourism Week in Canada with the pandemic’s effects on our industry, we support the Tourism Industry Association of Canada’s assertion that tourism counts.

Here are some of the ways sport tourism in Canada counts:

• STC serves over 500 members across Canada, including 150 municipalities, 300 national and provincial sport, multi-sport and major games organizations and a variety of other sport and tourism industry partners.
• Sport tourism is a significant economic driver in our country:
  • $6.8 billion in total spending
  • $4.4 billion spending by domestic visitors
  • $2.5 billion spending by international visitors
  • 16.3 million total visitors: Same day, overnight, USA, international.
  • 14.5 million domestic trips (8.8 million same day; 5.6 million overnight)
  • 1.8 million international visitors (980,000 USA; 836,000 overseas)
• Our recent survey of more than 600 organizations indicates that we are resilient and ready to host sport events safely once again.

Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and share how tourism counts to your sport, municipality, or organization, using the hashtags #TourismCounts and #TourismWeek. We will post and share throughout Tourism Week, May 23 to 30. Don’t forget to tag us too!