Statistics Canada has published canadian tourism figures for the month of March 2009. It would appear that someone (the tourist) or something (the economy) is pulling the rug right from under our collective feet. With very few exceptions (like China), all markets were down, some way down compared to March 2009. This is a reflection of the full impact of the recession and a call to redouble our collective marketing efforts. Hopefully, the government's stimulus package for Canadian Tourism will be spent wisely and will minimize the bleeding. There have been a few signs in North America that the economoy may start to stabilize in anticipation of renewed growth, but the recovery might not be felt until 2010. Millions of people are still travelling, but fewer are coming to Canada. This is how it looked in March compared to March 08 (first number compares to March last year, second number compares to Jan-March period of last year):
USA -5.9% -5.6% (US visits continue to fall dramatically, down a further 30% since 2006)
UK -34.1% -24.1%
Australia -5.7% -5.9%
France +0.7% -1.6%
Germany -6.9% +3.5%
Spain -25% -9%
Mexico -37.7% -20.7%
Brazil -16.8% +6.3%
China +17.5% +15.8%
Hong Kong -13.1% -11.5%
Japan -23.3% -24.1%
India +3.2% +11.6%
While the current environment will force most tourism businesses to make tough decisions in order to contain costs, this is not a time to eliminate marketing efforts. On the contrary, we must rededicate ourselves to better and smarter marketing. Competitors around the world are making extra efforts this year to attract the tourists that are still travelling this year (and there are millions of them). Stay the course.
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Jaime Horwitz MBA
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