strategic plan 2013-2015 - Tourism Calgary

visitor economy
Tourism benefits the entire community. It attracts
export dollars to Calgary through $1.4 billion
in visitor spending; employs one in 10 working
Calgarians; contributes to the tax base of all three
levels of government; draws major sport and
cultural events to enrich quality of life; and sustains
Calgary’s myriad of attractions who thrive because
of the city’s 5.2 million visitors.
Only since the 1990s have we been measuring
the full economic benefit of the tourism sector.
Statistics Canada and the Canadian Tourism
Commission (CTC) were pioneers in an effort to
define the sector’s component parts, the size of its
contribution, and how tourism compares to other
sectors of the economy.
According to a CTC study conducted by The
Conference Board of Canada, “The tourism sector
provides the fourth best overall balance of strong
and consistent performance over a broad range
of both economic and financial performance
measures.”
Every $100 spent by visitors supports a wide variety of
economic sectors and all three levels of governmnent.
In descending order of proportion, the industries
that contribute to Canada’s $78-billion visitor
economy include transportation, retail goods, food
and beverage services, accommodations, recreation
and entertainment, travel services, and pre-trip
commodities/convention fees. For every $100
spent by visitors a total of $28 fills federal, provincial
and municipal tax coffers. Of note, after air travel,
shopping is the single largest contributor to the
visitor economy followed by hotel and restaurant
expenditures.
Understanding the visitor economy provides the
tourism industry with the ability to quantify its
impact and demonstrate its value at a national,
provincial and local level. And understanding the
scope of where visitors spend their money serves
to show the value of tourism investment to those
included in the various benefiting and linked
industries.
Canadian Tourism Satellite Accounts
transportation
• $16.15 – air
• $6.85 – fuel
• $2.00 – rentals
• $1.42 – repair/parts
• $1.42 – motorcoach
• $0.60 – water
• $0.45 – rail
• $0.35 – taxi
retail goods
• $8.65 – shopping
• $2.65 – groceries
accommodations
• $7.30 – hotels
• $1.45 – motels
• $0.52 – camping
• $1.10 – other
recreation
& entertainment
• $4.70 – miscellaneous
travel services
• $3.42 – miscellaneous
pre-trip commodities/
convention fees
food & beverage services
• $1.02 – accommodation meals • $2.63 – miscellaneous
• $7.30 – restaurant meals
• $0.48 – accommodation alcohol
• $1.36 – restaurant alcohol
• $0.40 – other
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