According to a report from Deloitte & Touche, the number of international travellers to Canada has declined 20 per cent since 2000. Canada was one of the most popular international tourist destinations in 1970, second only to Italy. Now it’s No. 18, and behind countries like Ukraine and Saudi Arabia.

Why should we care about this?

It’s clear that strengthening tourism would have a positive impact on Canadian companies and our overall economy. What’s more, an increase in travellers to Canada could encourage Canadian companies to enter new markets internationally and experience greater competitive intensity, which we know results in periods of high productivity growth positively impacting the economy.

I believe that government should carry out some measurements such as structural reforms to the air travel sector to reduce high base fare and reform the process for issuing visas to reduce wait times and uncertainty. Furthermore, tourism organizations also need to be more innovative in reaching out to the new demographic who are travelling, and providing a product that will appeal to them.