StatCan just published the numbers for inbound tourism to Canada in its International Travel Advance Information Bulletin. Inbound Tourism en Español continues to grow amidst global economic uncertainty, proof that Hispanics around the world are very interested in visiting Canada. Mexico, the star in this space (mostly due to the fact that it's the only Hispanic market where Canada is spending substantial marketing dollars), was up 11.3% this past July compared to July '07. For the period Jan to July 2008 Mexico is up a decent 12.6%. Spain, a relatively new market where very little marketing is being done (although Canada en Español has been generating Spanish Web traffic for years), and where the economy is not doing great, was up by 14.9% in July and 9.4% from Jan to July. Spanish speaking South America was up 5.4% for the first 7 months of the year compared to 2007.
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Belgium, Denmark, France and Sweden are also performing quite well for Canadian Tourism all showing double digit growth in July 2008 compared to July 2007.
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However, all these gains as great and welcome as they are do not make up at all for the continuitng decline in American visits. The numbers are critical and something must be done. The US market is still the biggest market for Canadian Tourism other than Canada itself. It represents billions of dollars for the Canadian economy, billions that have been dissappearing like sub-prime mortgages. US inbound was down a further 11.2% in July and 13.1% lower for the period Jan to July compared to 2007. TIAC has pointed out that our industry is on the verge of crisis. The fact is that many tourism businesses are in crisis or shutting down because of the downturn in US visitations, a problem that has been growing since 1999. Where are we going to find new American tourists? My answer: the US Hispanic market, a market of 40 million plus people.
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saludos,
Jaime Horwitz MBA
www.canadaenespanol.ca
www.canadaenespanol.ca
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