Destination Canada: USA Global Tourism Watch

2017 United States Public Summary Report

Read the Full Report Here: 2017 Destination Canada USA Public Summary Report

Key Highlights Include:

Market Potential:

  • The immediate potential market has increased from the previous year: 53.0 million travellers are definitely or very likely to visit Canada in the next 2 years (versus 47.6 million in 2016).

  • The international outlook for US travellers continues to soften, while the outlook for domestic travel, both within and beyond state of residence, has seen significant increases.

Competitive Environment:

  • Domestic destinations continue to dominate on an unaided basis, spurred by increases for California.

  • Canada has jumped 2 spots to 7th in terms of aided mentions due to significant declines in mentions for New England and the Midwest.

  • Travellers from New York are among the most likely to mention Canada on both an unaided and aided basis.

Path-to-Purchase:

  • New Yorkers and travellers aged 25-44 are among the most likely to be actively planning a trip to Canada.

  • Canada’s performance is no longer below average at converting US travellers between the creating a movie and itinerary planning stages.

  • Additional focus could be placed on moving travellers from the consideration phase to creating a vacation movie, where conversion is weakest.

Destinations: 

  • There are several significant downward shifts in likelihood to visit in 2017, including with BC’s Rocky Mountains, Edmonton, Fredericton, other PEI regions, and the Prairie provinces (including Churchill, Regina, and other regions within Saskatchewan).

  • Montreal saw a significant decline in 2017 for most appealing destination

Vacation Activities:

  • Natural attractions, Northern lights, historical sites, cruises, nature parks, trying local food and drink, and wildlife viewing are the top trip anchor activities for US travellers.

  • Popular activities that Canada could better promote to US travellers: Northern lights, food and drink festivals, cruises, canoeing/kayaking/paddle boarding, amusement parks, and fall colours.

Barriers:

  • Cost remains the primary deterrent to visiting Canada. Mentions of inclement weather have fallen significantly.

  • Not enough time to take a vacation is the 2nd most frequently mentioned barrier among those at both the evaluation (gathering information or planning a visit) and consideration stages.

For more research information by TOTA, Visit us online at: https://totabc.org/research/

For more research information by Destination Canada, Visit: https://www.destinationcanada.com/en/research

Thompson OkanaganThompson Okanagan Tourism AssociationDestination Canada, USA, Research