Summer in the city: Tourisme Montréal expects about 4 million visitors again this year
Tourisme Montréal is hoping for a slight increase in the number of visitors during the busy summer tourism season, but in a climate of global economic uncertainty, stability will be a good sign.
Last year, more than 11 million people visited the city, including about 4 million during the summer months. This year, Tourisme Montréal CEO Yves Lalumière said he expects those numbers to be relatively similar.
'We have confidence, and we're going to be happy to be positively stable,' he said.
Visitor numbers could increase or decline by about one per cent, Lalumière said.
Lalumière said it's hard to predict how many visitors will come from the U.S., which has been the largest source of visitors from outside Canada. But the number of people coming from other countries is expected to rise.
This year, airlines are adding flights to Edinburgh, Scotland; Naples, Italy; and Valencia, Spain, following recently added flights to South Korea, Japan, India and Morocco.
'That's three new flights,' Lalumière said.
He said that as the number of flights to and from the U.S. declines, some airlines are redeploying their resources.
That diversity of destinations bodes well for tourism, he said.
'What gives me confidence is the international flights are doing well,' he said, adding that the number of visitors coming to Montreal from Latin America, Morocco and Asia is rising.
The number of seats on flights from France is increasing from 33,000 a week to 36,000 a week, he said, and there are still 66,000 seats on flights between Montreal and the U.S.
'Some of the flights have been redeployed, but there's still lots of flights from the U.S. into Montreal,' Lalumière said.
The number of visitors from the U.S. expected this summer is harder to predict than in the past, Lalumière said, and could rise or fall by up to five per cent.
Advertising will target Americans' interest in Montreal's festivals and food and also highlight the fact that their dollar will go further here than at home. Lalumière said monthly surveys show that 37 per cent of Americans know there's a favourable exchange rate when visiting Canada, but very few know how much more the U.S. dollar is worth than its Canadian counterpart.
An advertising campaign with images like that of 'a bagel that's longer, an ice cream cone that's three feet tall' will highlight the favourable exchange rate for American visitors, Lalumière said. Some ads will have a dynamic calculator with the exchange rate.
Lalumière said he expects the arrival of the Michelin Guide in Montreal this week to have a big impact on tourism.
'It will add a new breed of customers to our list, especially the Americans,' he said.
The number of visitors from other parts of Canada is expected to rise by between three per cent and five per cent as Canadian travellers look to stay in the country instead of going to the U.S., he said.
Business travel is also strong, with 77 groups scheduled to hold conferences in the city this year and more expected in 2026 and 2027 as international and Canadian organizations look to host events in Canada, rather than in the U.S.
Lalumière said he expects Grand Prix weekend June 13-15 to push hotel occupancy to about 90 per cent and give the summer tourist season a strong start.
'It will be a different recipe, more Canadians, a bit more international and maybe a little less U.S., but the jury is still out on the U.S. at this point, so we feel confident,' he said.
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