More Tourists Travelling to Alberta (Summer 2016)

Alberta’s Popularity as a Tourist Destination is on the Rise

Just recently an airline based out of Alberta reported that it had beaten its previous record for passengers flown in the month of May mainly because of new service routes that it opened up to its customers.

How much have these new flights attracted tourists to Alberta?

According to the latest statistics, approximately 60,400 non-resident tourists travelled to Alberta last March. That includes non-Canadian residents coming to the province by car, bus, train, plane and other transportation methods.

That number of travellers mentioned above was 13.4 percent higher year-over-year and 29.1 percent larger compared to February of 2016. Meanwhile, compared to this time last year, the average amount of visitors to the province has grown by approximately 3,500.

Moving Forward

Because of the weak Canadian dollar (sitting at about $US 0.76), Alberta can expect an even larger influx of tourists for the rest of the year as our southern neighbours are seeing our province as a relatively affordable (and close by) travel destination.

With that in mind, tourism will be a very important industry for Alberta this year as others, such as oil and gas, are suffering job losses and shrinking revenues because of weak energy prices.

The growth of international tourists has kept up demand for tourism-related services and has encouraged government at all levels to spend on tourism and other infrastructure–related projects such as roads and hotels.

This is particularly important for Alberta at a time like this because these create and maintain jobs for thousands of people.

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