The Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) welcomed last week’s US presidential visit and expressed hopes that the meeting between Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would further bilateral relations between Canada and the US, particularly in strengthening both leisure and business tourism.

In a joint statement with Meetings Mean Business Canada (MMBC), the organizations encouraged the two leaders to work collaboratively to boost a sector that still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic.

The sector, which includes conferences, conventions, trade shows, symposiums, and other business gatherings, is a very significant part of the joint travel economies and in Canada represented $41 billion in spending pre-pandemic (or about 40% of all tourism spending) and supported hundreds of thousands of jobs, said the statement.

According to MMBC, however, the number of international business events that took place in Canada in 2022 was only at 55% of pre-pandemic levels and the future booking pace five years out is now only at 47%.

Due to a number of factors, including the long planning cycle for such events, it is expected that this important sector will be the very last of all tourism sectors in Canada to recover, MMBC says.

It added that equally important are the social impact that meetings and business events bring to communities across the country and the capacity of the sector to help attract direct foreign investment.

At the same time, the organizations said US visitors are vitally important to Canada’s travel economy, representing 80% of all foreign travellers.

However, in 2022, the total of 14 million US residents entering Canada was only 56% of the level of 25 million in 2019.

Tourism in Canada has long been an important driver for the economy overall, generating more than $105 billion in spending annually pre-pandemic and sustaining close to two million total jobs. Prior to COVID-19, one in 10 workers in Canada had a job in tourism and the sector accounted for 2% of Canada’s total GDP.

At the same time, the organizations concluded: “More than its economic might, tourism also fosters social cohesion and is a prime vehicle for promoting Canada’s ideals as a country on the world stage.”