Community > Member News > Sport Tourism Spending Soars to $3.6B Annually
Sport Tourism Spending Soars to $3.6B Annually
February 16 2012
Posted by:
hkennedy
February 15, 2012 (Ottawa) - Spending associated with the Canadian sport tourism
industry reached $3.6 billion in 2010, an increase of 8.8% from 2008, based on Statistics
Canada (2010) data commissioned by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA).
This compares to a 0.7% decrease in tourism demand for the Canadian tourism industry
as a whole over the same period, thus continuing sport tourism’s trend of being one of
the fastest growing industry segments within Canada’s tourism industry. The increase in
sport tourism spending was driven by domestic sport travelers, while U.S. sport tourism
demand remained relatively steady and overseas expenditures declined. The change in
both domestic and U.S. sport tourism expenditures exceeded the growth rates of
domestic and U.S. tourism in general, while overseas sport tourism spending reflects
similar declines in the overseas Canadian tourism industry.
Data from the 2010 Statistics Canada’s Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (TSRC)
and International Travel Surveys (ITS), suggests that domestic sport tourism spending
reached $2.6 billion (an increase of 16.6%); U.S.* residents spent $283 million (down
1.0%), while international* residents spent $660 million (down 10.9%). By way of
comparison, overall domestic tourism grew by 0.6% over the same period, while U.S.*
expenditures fell by 3.0% and international* revenues fell by 8.2%.
(*Note that U.S. and international figures for sport tourism refers to overnight visitation
only.)
“This data once again confirms sport tourism as a critical economic driver in
communities across Canada,” said Rick Traer, CEO, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance.
“As the domestic tourism industry continues on its path to recovery, sport travel
continues to lead the way, acting as a stabilizing force during times of volatility within the
tourism industry.”
Regional Growth in Sport Tourism:
The data provided by Statistics Canada also allows for a more detailed analysis of
Canadian sport tourism travel patterns. (**See "Click to visit website" link below to access the full tables.)
Table 2 details the number of person visits
made to each province and Canada as a whole, while Table 3 provides the same
information for all tourists. In nearly all cases, the growth in sport tourism was stronger
than the growth of the number of person visits overall, with the exception of British
Columbia. It should be noted, however, that B.C. experienced the highest overall growth
of the number of person visits made by Canadians, with B.C.’s growth rate being more
than double that of Canada as a whole.
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About CSTA
The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance is a tourism industry led organization that
promotes sport tourism as an economic driver at the community level. The CSTA
services over 300 members across Canada, including 125 municipalities, 150 national
and provincial sport, multi-sport and major games organizations and variety of other
national and provincial sport and tourism industry partners.
Contact: Rick Traer, CEO at rtraer@canadiansporttourism.com or (613) 688-5843 or
Tony Fisher, Director of Research at research@canadiansporttourism.com or 613-266-
6964
Click to Visit Website
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