New Analysis: Toronto's visitor economy generates $10.3 billion in economic impact

Toronto’s visitor economy is a vital catalyst for the city and regional economy, according to new data prepared for Tourism Toronto and the Toronto Region Board of Trade. The analysis in, Toronto’s Visitor Economy: An Economic Catalyst for the City and the Region, shows that visitors to Toronto generate an economic impact of $10.3 billion annually, from the city’s 27.5 million visitors per year.

Release time : 2020-01-07 17:05:09

source : media.seetorontonow.com

Toronto’s visitor economy is a vital catalyst for the city and regional economy, according to new data prepared for Tourism Toronto and the Toronto Region Board of Trade. The analysis in, Toronto’s Visitor Economy: An Economic Catalyst for the City and the Region, shows that visitors to Toronto generate an economic impact of $10.3 billion annually, from the city’s 27.5 million visitors per year. The significant impact is felt through tax revenue, job creation and growth, and overall spend in many industry sectors, making the opportunity to grow the visitor economy an important one.

The data analysis, produced by Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics, highlights that the visitor economy generates significant tax revenue - to the sum of $1.8 billion in taxes for all three levels of government. These funds help pay for essential services and amounts to $1,020 of tax revenue saved for every household in Toronto.

Visitor spending has a significant impact on industries and employment in Toronto. Nearly 70,000 jobs are supported by visitor spending, with those positions generating $3.1 billion in wages for employees and representing 4.6 per cent of all jobs within Toronto. With 10,000 new jobs added over the last five years, jobs supported by visitor spending are also growing at a faster rate than the overall economy.

“The visitor economy is an important pillar in Toronto’s diverse economy, and an incubator for the broader economy that fuels industries and creates jobs for residents,” said Scott Beck, President & CEO of Tourism Toronto. “This is a destination with visitors as diverse as the city itself. From the leisure travellers, to the delegates here for meetings, conferences and events, Toronto’s visitor economy is thriving - and when the visitor economy is strong, so is Toronto.”

The data also found that the benefits of the visitor economy are felt beyond the city of Toronto. When