Thank you, Taylor
Thanks in part to Taylor Swift’s concerts in the city last fall, tourists spent $8.8 billion in Toronto last year, the highest level of visitor spending ever recorded in the city.
The nine million overnight visitors to Toronto last year are the most since the pandemic, though still 600,000 fewer than the number of visitors welcomed in 2019, according to the year-end report Toronto’s Visitor Economy: 2024 Market Performance Highlights published today by Destination Toronto.
“Toronto’s visitor economy is proving once again to be an engine for the city, drawing almost 9 billion dollars of new money into our economy from across Canada, across the border and around the world,” said Andrew Weir, President and CEO of Destination Toronto.
While the domestic market has essentially fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, travel from international markets is progressing steadily and driving disproportionate value; international visitors tend to stay longer and spend more than domestic visitors. Toronto welcomed 2.7 million international visitors in 2024—a 7% increase over the previous year—with strong performance from the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. International travellers accounted for 30% of total visitors and 38% of all visitor spending in 2024.
“Toronto is the most diverse city in the world—with hundreds of vibrant, thriving neighbourhoods. In 2024, we welcomed Taylor Swift, the NHL All-Star Game and of course every year, TIFF, the largest film festival in North America. With hundreds of conferences, events, festivals and visitors bringing almost $9 billion, tourism is enormously valuable for our city,” said Mayor Olivia Chow.
Visitor spending continues to recirculate throughout Toronto’s economy, producing an overall economic impact of $13 billion in 2024. Last year’s study Economic Impact of Visitors in Toronto traced the full impact of visitor spending, including induced and indirect spending across industries like finance, insurance and real estate, utilities and health care.
“The tax revenue generated by visitors last year was greater than $2 billion. In fact, without tourism, every family in Toronto would have had to pay $1,850 more just to maintain the same levels of government services across all three levels of government,” said Weir.
The outlook for 2025 is positive, with growth in the visitor economy expected to maintain momentum and a number of openings, developments and anniversaries planned.
• Hotel openings: TOOR Hotel Toronto, Union Hotel Toronto, NOBU Hotel Toronto, and Le Meridien Pinnacle Toronto Hotel all projected to open in 2025.
• Airlines: Virgin Atlantic is set to return to the Canadian market after a decades-long absence, resuming its Toronto-London route on March 30, 2025.
• Anniversaries: The Hilton Toronto, Chelsea Hotel Toronto and TIFF are all celebrating 50 years, while the Bata Shoe Museum is celebrating 30.
