ENCOURAGING GAINS

Tourisme Montreal has released its summer traffic results, reporting that Greater Montreal hotel occupancy rates, Quebec border crossings and air passenger traffic at the Montreal airport have all increased.

For the period of May to September, Greater Montreal hotel statistics show that the average hotel occupancy rate was 77.50%, an increase of 2.17 percentage points over last year. The average daily room rate rose by 3.68% to $148.54 from $143.27 last year.

For the months of May, June and July, international tourist arrivals (United States and other countries) across the Quebec border1 rose slightly by 1.1%. An encouraging rate of American tourists returning to the province was noted, with a significant increase of 2.5%. However, the rate of visitors from abroad decreased by 1.4%, a result of Europe\’s economic conditions and France\’s market, in particular. Air passenger traffic to the Montreal-Trudeau, airport increased by 3.8% between May to August over the same period last year.

Yves Lalumiere, president and CEO of Tourisme Montreal, observed, \”At a time when some destinations are struggling to attract new visitors, Montreal is enjoying great success thanks to its creativity and the exceptional collaboration between industry partners. The combined effort and dedication of attractions, festivals alongside the hospitality industry and business market have resulted in growth, even in an extremely competitive context.\”

For more, go to http://www.octgm.com/toolkit/fr/statistiques/bilan-ete-2013.pdf (available in French only).