Tourism Injected Record $8.8 Billion into Toronto Economy in 2024

Toronto enjoyed the highest level of visitor spending ever recorded in the city, according to the year-end report Toronto’s Visitor Economy: 2024 Market Performance Highlights published by Destination Toronto.

Nine million overnight visitors to Toronto drove $8.8 billion into the city’s economy last year. The overnight visitor number is the highest since the pandemic, but still 600,000 fewer than the number of visitors welcomed in 2019.

“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.

Toronto officials say the domestic market has essentially fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. And while not yet fully back, 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% t of total visitors and 38 per cent of all visitor spending in 2024.

“Toronto is the most diverse city in the world—with hundreds of vibrant, thriving neighbourhoods,” said Mayor Olivia Chow. “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.” 

As the city tries to achieve its budget goals through a third consecutive year of larger than usual tax increases, Destination Toronto’s Weir stated that “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.” 

Toronto highlights for 2025:

Officials say 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. Among them:

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: Hilton Toronto, Chelsea Hotel Toronto and TIFF are all celebrating 50 years, The Bata Shoe Museum is celebrating 30 and DesignTO is celebrating 15.

Sports: Women’s professional soccer league Northern Super League will make its debut and the WWE Elimination Chamberis coming to the Rogers Centre.

Developments: A new roller coaster AlpenFury is opening at Canada’s Wonderland, Rogers Stadium is set to open at the former Downsview Airport Lands, the Gardiner Museum will unveil its reimagined space, and the Port Lands will continue its transformation including Ookwemin Minising.

Airports: U.S. pre-clearance is coming to Billy Bishop City Airport to allow U.S.-bound travellers to clear U.S. Customs, Immigration, and Agriculture inspection before takeoff.