Canada Is Witnessing a Surge in Domestic Tourism Revenue as Canadians Spend Billions Closer to Home in 2026

Written By: Jishnoo Banerjee

Jishnoo Banerjee

A published author with over 9 years of experience in writing, poetry, and novel creation. Starting out on social media, Jishnoo gained recognition for engaging content in both English and Bengali. With a strong background as a news content writer, Jishnoo now contributes to a prestigious global travel magazine. Known for blending creative writing with journalism, the work seamlessly combines artistic expression with insightful reporting across different platforms.

See Full Bio

August 9, 2026 6:57 PM

Image generated with Ai

Canada’s tourism economy is increasingly being powered from within, as Canadian residents continue to direct the overwhelming majority of tourism spending towards destinations and businesses at home.

The latest Statistics Canada National Tourism Indicators show that total tourism spending reached $28.4 billion in the first quarter of 2026, while domestic tourism spending accounted for $21.2 billion. International visitors contributed another $7.2 billion. This means Canadian residents generated roughly three-quarters of tourism spending within Canada during the quarter, underlining how important domestic demand remains for hotels, transport operators, restaurants, attractions and regional destinations.

How Much Is Domestic Tourism Worth to Canada?

Domestic travellers remain the financial backbone of Canada’s visitor economy. In the first quarter of 2026, Canadians spent $21.2 billion travelling within their own country, compared with $7.2 billion spent by international visitors.

The official first-quarter figures are particularly important when assessing the strength of Canada’s visitor economy. They demonstrate that domestic travellers continue to account for the majority of tourism spending, even as international tourism remains an important source of additional demand.

Why Are Canadians So Important to Their Own Tourism Economy?

Canada’s domestic market offers something international tourism cannot always provide: enormous underlying scale.

Canadian residents made 342 million domestic visits during 2025, an increase of 1.5% from 2024 and 2.5% above 2019. Domestic tourism expenditure reached $81.3 billion, climbing an impressive 8.7% year on year and standing 41.8% above 2019.

Those figures show why domestic tourism can act as an economic stabiliser. Canadians travelling between provinces and within their home regions create continuous demand for accommodation, food and beverage services, transport, attractions and entertainment.

Domestic tourism therefore does not merely complement international tourism. It provides the industry’s largest customer base, helping destinations remain economically active even when inbound travel patterns fluctuate.

Is the Canada-US Travel Shift Helping Domestic Tourism?

Canada’s travel relationship with the United States changed substantially during 2025, creating an important backdrop for the domestic tourism story.

Canadian-resident visits to the United States declined amid changing travel sentiment and political tensions between the two countries. Canadians made 23.1 million trips involving a US visit in 2025, down 23.5% from 2024 and 26.7% below 2019. Spending on US visits declined 15.1% year on year to $18.8 billion.

At the same time, domestic visits increased and domestic tourism expenditure rose strongly.

The figures do not prove that every cancelled or avoided US holiday was replaced by a Canadian staycation. Canadians also travelled to other international destinations. However, they demonstrate a significant shift in travel behaviour, with US trips falling sharply while domestic tourism remained an enormous part of Canada’s travel economy.

How Did Canadian Staycations Become a Major Economic Force?

The strength of Canada’s domestic tourism market became particularly visible during the peak summer travel period.

Between July and September 2025, Canadians spent $30.5 billion on domestic tourism, representing an impressive 11.1% year-on-year increase. Overnight domestic visits increased 2.6%, while the average duration of those trips increased 4.4%.

Overnight travellers spent an average of $513 per domestic visit, compared with $116 for same-day visitors.

This difference matters enormously for tourism destinations. Overnight travellers require accommodation and usually have more opportunities to spend on restaurants, attractions, shopping, entertainment and local transport.

A Canadian choosing a multi-night holiday within the country can therefore generate significantly more economic activity than a traveller making a simple day trip.

Where Is Canada’s Domestic Tourism Money Flowing?

Domestic tourism spending has a broad economic footprint because travelling involves far more than paying for a hotel room.

Canadian tourism demand supports businesses across several industries:

• Hotels and accommodation, including resorts and other overnight properties.
• Passenger transport, particularly aviation and ground transportation.
• Restaurants and food services, from major cities to smaller tourism communities.
• Recreation and entertainment, including attractions and outdoor experiences.
• Retail businesses, particularly in tourism-intensive destinations.
• Regional economies, which benefit when Canadians travel beyond the country’s biggest cities.

The economic effect becomes particularly valuable when travellers stay overnight or combine several destinations within a single holiday.

Across 2025, domestic and international visitors together injected $140.5 billion into Canada’s economy, with domestic visitors accounting for $105.6 billion. This highlights the extraordinary scale of Canada’s home-grown tourism market.

Is Tourism Growing Faster Than Canada’s Wider Economy?

One of the strongest signals comes from tourism GDP rather than visitor numbers alone.

Real tourism GDP increased 0.5% during the first quarter of 2026, continuing an upward trend that began in the second quarter of 2022. Economy-wide real GDP by industry increased just 0.1% over the same quarter.

Tourism consequently represented approximately 1.80% of Canada’s nominal GDP, rising from 1.77% in the previous quarter.

Employment also moved in a positive direction. Tourism supported approximately 695,900 jobs, increasing 0.4% quarter on quarter even as economy-wide employment declined 0.3%.

That makes tourism considerably more than a holiday story. The sector supports employment and economic activity across accommodation, food services, transport, recreation and numerous other industries.

Is International Tourism Still Important to Canada?

Absolutely. The extraordinary scale of domestic tourism should not obscure the contribution made by international visitors.

International visitor spending increased 0.9% during the first quarter of 2026, reaching $7.2 billion. Overnight international travel increased 1.4%, with stronger travel from the United States helping support the inbound market.

International travellers accounted for approximately 25.4% of tourism spending, leaving domestic travellers responsible for roughly three-quarters of the total.

Canada therefore has two important tourism engines working simultaneously: a huge domestic tourism base and a valuable international visitor market.

The strategic opportunity is to strengthen both. International visitors bring money into the Canadian economy, while domestic travellers keep substantial amounts of Canadian travel spending circulating within the country.

Can Canada’s Domestic Tourism Strength Continue Through 2026?

Canada enters the remainder of 2026 with an exceptionally powerful domestic tourism foundation, although the latest figures also show why the term “boom” requires context.

Domestic spending edged 0.2% lower quarter on quarter in the first quarter of 2026. The more important story is its enormous scale and the strong expansion recorded during 2025.

Canadian travellers are supporting hotels, restaurants, airlines, rail operators, attractions, resorts, retailers and smaller tourism businesses across the country. Every additional domestic holiday creates an opportunity to retain travel expenditure within Canada’s economy rather than seeing that money spent abroad.

International tourism remains vital, but Canadians themselves continue to represent the industry’s biggest economic engine. With billions of dollars flowing through domestic trips, Canada’s tourism strength is increasingly being built at home, turning staycations and domestic holidays into a powerful source of tourism revenue, jobs and wider economic activity.