KENTUCKY: Tourism is booming but it’s not going to be as easy as you might think, according to a new study.
Tourism economists from Tourism Canada said that while the sector is expected to expand by 1.8 per cent this year, it will still be about the same size as in 2013.
“We have a pretty large population of people who are coming here,” said Brian Balsam, the tourism director for the company that has done the study.
“The question is, is it going to continue at the same pace or do we have to think about how we manage that growth and that population?”
Tourism Canada expects the economy to grow by 1 per cent next year, but it expects that to be smaller than it was in 2013, and by about 1.2 per cent if the economic downturn continues.
In 2014, Canada recorded an economic growth rate of 2.4 per cent, and is expected this year to be 3 per cent.
That was in line with the average for developed countries, said Balsamp, but not as much as some of the emerging economies in Asia, where the growth rate is likely to be closer to 4 per cent in the coming years.
“Our projections are that in Canada, we’re going to see the growth continue at a relatively slower pace,” Balsamps said.
Balsams said that the industry’s growth is not necessarily due to a lack of demand for tourism, because demand is growing in many of the country’s provinces and cities.
“Demand is going to accelerate.
I think it’s going to happen pretty quickly.
People are going to want to visit more places,” he said.”
They’ll be coming from a number of different regions.
We’re seeing a lot more of the same things that we see in other parts of the world.”
Tourism has also grown more slowly than the economy, with only about a third of Canada’s growth over the last 10 years coming from tourism, according a recent report by the International Tourism Centre.
The Tourism Industry Association of Canada says that’s largely due to the way the industry is structured.
The government does not set a specific growth target for the industry, and instead relies on a variety of factors including the economy and demographics to estimate growth.
The growth rate for tourism in Canada is based on two factors: the number of tourists visiting and the number visiting for leisure.
The tourism industry is also being affected by the economic slump in the U.S. The economic downturn has led to a decline in the number and size of international visitors.
The number of visitors to Canada dropped by nearly half last year, from nearly 2.1 million to 1.7 million, while the number traveling abroad increased by nearly 25 per cent to 2.7 billion.
Balsams expects the industry will be back on track by 2019.
He says there is room for the economy.
“I think we’ll see some good growth, I think we’re a bit ahead of our projections, and I think our forecast is probably closer to 2 per cent,” he added.