Victoria tourism industry struggles as travel spending drops
Staff at Victoria Carriage Tours, a horse-drawn carriage company stationed beside the B.C. legislature, say business hasn’t been as brisk as past summers.
“It’s been less busy this summer, compared to past,” said Lucy, an employee signing up customers Thursday. “A lot of business we get is from cruise ship passengers.”
Michael Hill is a jewelry merchant in the Inner Harbour, another traditional hotbed for visitors. He says sales are slower than usual this summer.
“I’ve noticed people spending a little bit less money,” said Hill “I've just started seeing the families out, so the families weren't travelling much in June.”
A new poll released Thursday by Nanos Research shows that more Canadians are planning to spend less on summer travel this year, or are putting vacation plans on hold altogether.
The poll indicates 38 per cent of those surveyed are more likely to spend less this summer on travel. That figure is up from the 31 per cent of Canadians surveyed in 2015 who said they planned to spend less on travel.
Paul Nursey is the head of Destination Greater Victoria. He says the tourism industry in the capital is still likely on pace to match its strong performance in 2022, but it won't exceed that.
“The first half of this year was very strong, but we are seeing some softening,” said Nursey Thursday. “Households are starting to see higher mortgage rates, those types of things.”
Trips abroad are also taking a hit. Fifty-seven per cent of those surveyed aren’t interested in travelling internationally this summer, meaning the tourism industry now hopes locals will make up the difference through staycations or local domestic travel as all Canadians contend with inflation and interest rate hikes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Man throws flaming liquid on New York City subway, burns fellow rider
A man set a cup of liquid on fire and tossed it at fellow subway rider in New York City, setting the victim's shirt ablaze and injuring him.
'Furiosa,' 'Garfield' lead slowest Memorial Day box office in decades
Movie theaters are looking more and more like a wasteland this summer. Neither "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" nor "The Garfield Movie" could save Memorial Day weekend, which is cruising towards a two-decade low.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
Sirens sound in Tel Aviv for the first time in months as Hamas says it fired rockets from Gaza
Rocket sirens sounded across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, for the first time in months on Sunday, as Hamas claimed to have fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza.
At least 9 dead in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after severe weather roars across region
Powerful storms killed at least nine people and left a wide trail of destruction Sunday across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after obliterating homes and destroying a truck stop where drivers took shelter during the latest deadly weather to strike the central U.S.