The Canadian dollar may be plunging, but tourism is booming in the National Capital Region. Newly released figures from Ottawa Tourism show the number of international visitors increased by a whopping 27 per cent between April and June, compared with the same time last year. Air passenger traffic was also up, jumping by 2.2 per cent.
“It’s been a strong summer,” says Jantine Van Kregten, director of communications for Ottawa Tourism.
“We had some blockbuster exhibitions at the museums and galleries, the Women’s World Cup was in town for nine matches in June and festivals, like Bluesfest, did well too.”
As the heart of tourism in the capital, Centretown and its many attractions were among the biggest winners of the summertime tourism rush. From June to August, nearly 239,000 people walked through the Canadian War Museum’s front doors, up significantly – 22 per cent or 43,500 guests – from 2014.
It was a similar story at the Museum of Nature, which also posted double-digit gains in attendance. John Swettenham, the museum’s marketing director, says he’s thrilled by these numbers.
“We’re up in the high teens over last year. It’s astounding, we’re so happy.”
We were up last year too, so to be that strong this summer, on top of a good year in 2014, it’s really great,” he says.
Hotels across the city – particularly those within the downtown core – were bustling over the past few months, too.
As of the end of August, the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association says occupancy levels have increased by three per cent year-over-year.
“We’ve had a pretty strong spring and summer. People are pleased and we’re seeing movement in the right direction, for sure,” says Steve Ball, the group’s president.
But he warns the bump in business may be misleading because the region’s supply of hotel rooms has declined of late.
“We’ve had six properties close in the past couple of years, so there are fewer rooms in town and that certainly helped,” he says
So, what’s behind the recent tourism boost? Many may point to the low loonie – trading in the mid-‘70s for much of the year – but though the number of international visitors is up substantially, those within the industry say the plummeting dollar isn’t the biggest factor driving their success.
“I definitely think we benefited from it, but I don’t think it was purely because of the low dollar that we saw numbers go up this summer. I’m not entirely convinced it motivated tons of new people to come,” Van Kregten says.
“I think it’s a combination of things – lower inventory, more staycations, increased meetings and business travel – it’s pretty varied, I’d say,” Ball says.
Despite the advantageous exchange rate, Ball says American travellers aren’t flocking to Ottawa in big numbers.
Instead, the city’s growth in tourism this summer may have been largely fuelled by Canadians choosing to stay home and travel within the country – and get the biggest bang for their buck.
“The bulk of the increase we’ve seen so far is Canadian visitation – it’s Canadians visiting their capital,” Van Kregten says.
Van Kregten also says Ottawa’s geographic location gives it a leg up over other Canadian cities in the fight to lure domestic visitors.
“Being so close to two huge population centres definitely works in our favour. We’re a short getaway from Montreal or a long weekend from Toronto.”
The summer tourism season could wind up being an even bigger success, when Ottawa Tourism releases its third-quarter data in November.