Good news for Niagara Falls as tourism spending hits 86.7% of pre-pandemic level

It’s been a long slow climb back to normalcy for the tourism industry but according to Statistics Canada, the 2.6 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2023 (January to March) brought things ever closer to where they left off before the pandemic.

Stats Can also reported that the 2.6 per cent first quarter hike was largely due to an increase of 3.5 per cent in domestic tourism spending by Canadian residents.

For Niagara Falls, the tourism capital of Canada, that means things are inching back to normal.

Since the tourism industry is connected to the livelihood of over 40,000 Niagara Falls residents, there was more good news as jobs related to the field also saw increases.

Stats Can said jobs connected to tourism rose 2.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, following an increase of 1.4 per cent in the previous quarter.

In the first quarter of 2023, food and beverage saw a 3.6 per cent bump while accommodation services (hotels, motels) also pushed up 3.2 per cent. Comparatively, economy-wide employment (all jobs) only increased by 1.7 per cent in the first quarter.

Finally, while tourism spending in Canada by Canadians increased 3.5 per cent in the first quarter, international visitors edged down 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023. However, that’s nothing over which to panic since the last three quarters of 2022 each saw after double-digit increases.

While overnight travel by international visitors declined by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter, it was offset as same-day travel to Canada by non-Canadians increased by a staggering 10.5 per cent.