Ottawa Tourism is expecting a strong summer tourism season, with many factors at play in the city’s favour.
One positive might be a desire by Canadians to vacation in their own back yard. Jérôme Miousse, director of public affairs at Ottawa Tourism, said 90 per cent of visitors to Ottawa year-over-year are domestic tourists. He added that tourists from within driving distance to Ottawa are among the city’s strongest markets.
“That’s always been our strongest market and we are going to keep it as our strongest market. Now the question is, is it going to be stronger now that factors like the price of gas play in our favour?” Miousse said, adding that visitors coming to the capital from Montreal or Toronto often make last-minute decisions.
OBJ360 (Sponsored)
Matching donations matters: How local companies help enable life-saving care for children in need
Self-storage company Access Storage is proud to support healthy communities where its employees work and live – and in the case of Ottawa, that means joining a host of other
Nicole Arranz lights up whenever she sees or hears children visiting Perley Health’s east-end Ottawa campus. “My mom loves kids, and being around kids brings life to her,” said Josée
In addition, with the relationship between Canada and the U.S. on thin ice, Miousse hopes warm summer weather and a favourable exchange rate will attract tourists from south of the border.
Andrew Siegwart, president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, recently told The Canadian Press that his organization is taking an “elbows up, but arms open” approach to marketing to U.S. travellers. Miousse told OBJ that Ottawa Tourism has adopted the same approach.
“We’re a welcoming destination. We’re hospitable. We’re close to them. We are not upset at the American people, so we still want to host them,” he said.
Looking beyond North America, Miousse said new direct flights from the Ottawa International Airport to London Heathrow and Paris-Charles de Gaulle have helped Ottawa Tourism’s efforts on the international stage.
In fact, Miousse said, visitors from Great Britain may be eyeing an Ottawa getaway due to King Charles III’s upcoming state visit to Canada on May 26-27.
“King Charles coming here also might be helpful in raising Ottawa’s profile in the United Kingdom,” Miousse said, adding that Ottawa saw a modest spike in British visitation when then-Prince Charles visited Ottawa in 2022.
Looking ahead, Miousse said Ottawa is already seeing “a slight increase” in hotel room demand. The city’s festivals, sporting events and landmarks continue to be reasons for tourists to explore the nation’s capital, Miousse said.
“Ottawa is an event city. (Events) create time-bound reasons for people to come to Ottawa. If they don’t want to come this weekend because it’s going to be rainy, well, the weekend after there’s (the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend), then a couple weeks after that, there’s the Festival Franco-Ontarien and Escapade (music festival),” he said. “There’s always a good reason to come spend the weekend or a weekday in Ottawa.”
Last year Ottawa was named the new home of the iconic Ironman Canada triathlon after a long stint for the event in Penticton, B.C. Miousse said the competition, set to take place Aug. 3, will see 3,000 participants and about 10,000 people travelling to Ottawa.
“The good thing about Ironman is that it’s all over the city, because it’s biking, running and swimming. The athletes that do Ironmans, they’ll come to Ottawa many weekends beforehand to try the whole track by themselves. So there’s also spillover traffic in Ottawa from them coming to test out the waters,” he said.
While festivals such as Ottawa Bluesfest, the Ottawa Jazz Festival and CityFolk are big draws for the city, Miousse said more sporting events in the city will add to Ottawa’s allure.
Tourists also travel to Ottawa to enjoy farmers’ markets, golf courses, green spaces including Gatineau Park and, weather permitting, a big Canada Day celebration.
All in all, Miousse said, Ottawa continues to see an upward trend in tourism, although numbers are not quite back to the pre-pandemic high in 2019.
“It’s been more steady, slow and steady, since 2023 and that’s what we’re expecting again this year. We’re not quite back to that record year 2019, but that’s our goal,” he said.
