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Tourism in Alberta 2019

High level summary of key tourism statistics in Alberta

In 2019, Alberta saw a total of:

  • $8.2 billion in tourism expenditures – a decrease of 0.5% from the previous year
  • 34.7 million person-visits – a decrease of 1.5% from the previous year

2019 Tourism expenditures and visitation in Alberta by market

*Small sample size. Data contain high margin of error and are subject to significant year-over-year fluctuations.
Source: Statistics Canada, Visitor Travel Survey and National Travel Survey.
Market of origin Tourism Expenditures Person-visits
Canada $5.9 billion 32.4 million
United States $991 million 1.2 million
United Kingdom $200 million 187,000
China $188 million 118,000
Japan $56 million 42,000
Australia $141 million 106,000
Germany $114 million 118,000
South Korea* $59 million 52,000
The Netherlands $45 million 43,000
Mexico* $22 million 34,000

In 2019, tourism spending by visitors contributed to the provincial economy with:

  • 68,000 tourism jobs (full-time equivalent employment in person years)
  • $6.5 billion in contribution to Alberta’s GDP ($3.9 billion direct, $1.5 billion indirect and $1.1 billion induced)
  • $1.1 billion in contribution from taxes on products and services, including:
    • $530 million in federal tax revenue
    • $371 million in provincial tax revenue
    • $168 million in local tax revenue

Source: Alberta Jobs, Economy and Innovation (Statistics Canada Visitor Spending Model for Alberta – 2019 numbers)

The Government of Alberta collaborated with Statistics Canada to develop a new tourism visitor spending economic impact model for Alberta, which generates data based on visitors’ tourism spending in the province. The key indicators and assumptions from the new model differ from previous models.

For this reason, GDP, jobs and tax revenue data for tourism in Alberta from 2017 onwards cannot be directly compared to figures reported for 2015 and prior.

Visitor profiles by region

Visitor profiles provide information on visitor origin, purpose of trip, accommodation, length of stay, seasonality and spending in Alberta and tourism regions.

Alberta

There are 2 visitor profiles for Alberta. One is a high level summary for all the visitors to Alberta and the other one is a detailed visitor profile for domestic visitors to Alberta.

Tourism region

You can find archived visitor profiles at Open Government.

The raw data for total Alberta tourism, domestic tourism, and tourism by region is also available in Excel format.

International visits and spending

See statistics on overnight person-visits and expenditures from specific countries between 2002 and 2019 while in Alberta.

Economic impact of tourism in Alberta by region

Economic impact studies provide a snapshot of an entire existing economy at a specific point in time.

It follows spending associated with tourism activity to identify changes on employment, income and government tax revenue at regional and provincial levels.

You can find archived economic impact studies at Open Government.

Contact

Connect with the Research and Reporting Branch:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-644-1582
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

Address:
6th Floor, Commerce Place
10155 102 Street
Edmonton, Alberta  T5J 4G8

Related

Alberta tourism market monitor

Alberta tourism industry research