Ottawa tourism sector on the rise, but foreign visits still lagging, veteran hotelier says

May 15, 2023

Ross Meredith, the general manager of the Westin Ottawa and the Delta Ottawa City Centre hotels, said he thinks it will “probably take a few years” for the Ottawa tourism sector to see pre-COVID levels of overseas visitor spending.

Already an Insider? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become an Ottawa Business Journal Insider and get immediate access to all of our Insider-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become an Insider

While a new report says spending from overseas travellers bound for Canada is expected to nearly double in 2023, a prominent local hotelier says the nation’s capital is lagging behind in attracting foreign tourists due to a lack of international flights. The latest research from the World Travel and Tourism Council released Monday says Canada’s post-pandemic tourism rebound is expected to keep gaining momentum this summer. The industry is set to contribute $162.6 billion to the Canadian economy in 2023, up 17 per cent from last year, the council said in its new report. The forecast also comes within sight of the previous peak of $173.9 billion in 2019. A hefty chunk of that money is projected to come from visitors outside Canada and the United States. Last year, spending from overseas travellers bound for Canada ballooned by 64 per cent to $23 billion, the report said. Council president Julia Simpson said the trend is likely to continue, bringing the expected total this year closer to the $43 billion seen in 2019. “The sector is a vital driver of economic growth and job creation in Canada, with cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal remaining must-see global destinations for international visitors,” said Simpson, whose organization represents more than 200 companies including airlines, cruise lines and hotels. But Ross Meredith, the general manager of the Westin Ottawa and the Delta Ottawa City Centre hotels, said he thinks it will “probably take a few years” for the National Capital Region to return to its pre-COVID levels of overseas visitor spending. The hospitality industry veteran said Ottawa International Airport, which has not had any direct flights from Europe on its schedule since early 2020, is “performing below its weight” when it comes to welcoming foreign passengers. “We would love to see more air access into Ottawa to support international visitation,” Meredith said. “We do know that when people get through into Montreal or Toronto that Ottawa is often a spot they will also try to visit, but we’re up against a little bit of air traffic resistance.” Meredith is hoping the city will get a bump from Air France’s new direct flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and YOW that will start operating five times weekly in June. Still, he said international visitors will likely be “the last to come back” as the industry recovers from the pandemic because they have farther to travel and typically have to spend more to get here than domestic or U.S. customers. The new Ottawa-Paris route should spark a resurgence in overseas visits because it makes the capital easier to get to from “not just the French market but much of Europe, Asia and Africa and beyond,” said Ottawa Tourism spokesperson Jantine Van Kregten. The organization “is definitely bullish on the prospects of increased international visitation in 2023,” she said in an email on Monday. Van Kregten added that Google inquiries about local tourist attractions are “steadily increasing” and have already surpassed 2019 levels. “More people globally are expressing confidence and intention to travel internationally … so all that points to an increase in visitors,” she said. Van Kregten also noted that foreign tourists have an outsized impact on the local industry. While travellers from outside Canada and the U.S. represented only “a small fraction” of total visitors to the capital before the pandemic, they spent “significantly more” on average than domestic tourists, she explained. “These visitors also become ambassadors for our region in their social networks, sharing our stories around the world,” Van Kregten added. Canada’s transportation and hospitality businesses were among the most battered by the pandemic, which shut borders and restricted travel and restaurant dining. The recovery from COVID-19 is far from complete, as inflation and labour shortages gnaw at profit margins and growth. Bankruptcy filings by restaurants, caterers and other food services have risen by 116 per cent since 2022, according to Restaurants Canada. “No industry was hit harder by the pandemic than the food service sector, and the industry still has a long road to recovery,” the industry group said in a release earlier this month. Beth Potter, who heads the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said she expects domestic tourism spending to match pre-pandemic levels this year, but overseas visitors may not reach that peak until 2025. Business-related tourism likely won’t fully recover until 2026, she said. “There's an awful lot of change in the way that we do business – certainly a lot more use of (virtual) technology. But also, when you’re booking those big conferences and trade shows, those events are booked multi-years out,” Potter said in a phone interview. Business-related tourism event bookings for this year are at 47 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, she said. The biggest challenge facing tourism operators is labour, with some 300,000 jobs likely to go unfilled this year, Potter said. Whitney Coccimiglio, director of sales and events at the Andaz Ottawa ByWard Market, agreed the industry is hamstrung by a shortage of experienced workers. Booking requests are flooding in “fast and furious” at the downtown property, Coccimiglio said, but it’s hard to find people to answer the phones and emails. “We are having an incredibly hard time staffing,” she told OBJ on Monday. “As fast as these leads are coming and as hungry as these meeting planners are for contracts, it’s extremely hard to get these businesspeople, all of their documentation, in real time, because we don’t have manpower. “I hope there’s a romance with hospitality very soon.” Potter said higher interest rates remain a major thorn as well. “Most of these businesses took on debt during the pandemic through things like the CEBA loan,” Potter said, referring to the federal government’s Canada Emergency Business Account for small businesses. The loans of up to $60,000 were interest-free, but will carry a five per cent interest rate starting Jan. 1, 2024. Overall, Meredith said, the 2023 tourism season is off to a strong start, with room bookings at his properties almost on par with 2019. His earlier fear that the threat of a recession might scare off tourists is so far proving to be unfounded. “Basically, we’re not seeing future booking indicators that tell us that a recession is coming,” he said. “If you bumped into most hoteliers on the street, they’d be smiling.” In 2019, overall tourism spending – on everything from airlines and hotels to bars and festivals – reached about $105 billion, Potter said. Sparked by the easing of pandemic travel restrictions, a growing recognition of the destinations on offer across Canada marks a point of hope for many operators. “Tourism is important to every community in our country. It’s not something that is only centred around iconic destinations or big cities,” Potter said. The World Travel and Tourism Council predicted the sector will employ 2.1 million people and boost its contribution to gross domestic product to more than $238 billion by 2033, a seven per cent slice of Canada’s economy. The report was conducted in partnership with consulting firm Oxford Economics. – With additional reporting from the Canadian Press