加拿大市场洞察

CANADA September 2009 This Market Insight is one of an ongoing series of market profiles produced by the Market Intelligence Group [MIG] ofthe European Travel Commission [ETC]. New market profiles will be added to the series and updated at regular The members of the MIG comprise the Research Directors of the 39 National Tourist Offices (NTOs) who are membersof ETC. The group regularly commissions and publishes market intelligence studies, handbooks on methodologiesand best practice, and facilitates the exchange of European tourism statistics on the 'TourMIS' web platform. More information on ETC's programme of market intelligence activities - including links to studies and sources ofEuropean tourism statistics - can be found on the organisation's corporate website:http://www.etc-corporate.org. OVERVIEW •With an expenditure of US$27.0 bn in 2008, Canada is ranked eighth in the world in terms of spendingon travel abroad (excluding transport) by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). •With the help of a strong currency, outbound travel has been rising strongly in recent years. Tripvolume reached 27.0 mn in 2008, 18.9 mn of which were to the USA and 8.1 mn (30%) were to •Although Canada has not been immune to the downturn in world tourism in 2008-09, travel tooverseas destinations has continued to rise: in the first five months of 2009, overnight trips to the USA •The leading European destinations are the UK and France, with about one million visits a year,followed by Germany and Italy, with a third of a million visits a year, and the Netherlands, with a •In April 2009, 18 airlines operated 312 scheduled weekly flights from Canada to Europe, with acapacity of 84,095 seats, serving 8 airports in Canada and 22 in Europe. •It is believed that nearly half of all Canadians hold a passport. This proportion has been rising rapidly,partly as a result of the US Government's Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the last phase of COUNTRY PROFILE •Canadian dollar (C$)€1 = C$1.56 (average 2008); €1 = C$1.59 (July 2009)•The Canadian dollar rose steadily against the US dollar in 2002-07 – from an average of US$1 =C$1.57 in 2002 to C$1.06 in 2007. It reached parity with the US dollar at the end of 2007, and hoveredthere throughout the first half of 2008. It then fell to US$1 = C$1.20-1.25 in October 2008, remainedabout that level for the next six months, and then staged a partial recovery, reaching US$1 = 1.19 by •33.6 mn (2009) – just three people per km2.•The population is expected to increase by 10.5% to 37.1 mn in 2009-20, but the population is ageingfast. The number of people over 55 years old will increase by 16% in this period, while those aged15-44 will decline slightly.•The fertility rate (the average number of children per female) is estimated at 1.6 – well below the'replacement rate' of 2.1 – but net immigration is strong (over 200,000 a year).•More than 80% of Canada's population live in towns and cities within 250 km of the US border.45% live in the largest metropolitan areas of Toronto (5.1 mn), Montreal (3.6 mn), Vancouver (2.1 mn),Ottawa (1.1 mn), Calgary (1.1 mn) and Edmonton (1.0 mn). Age Ancestry The population is mainly of European origin, but with a growing Asian component. About 4% are ofindigenous descent. The following figures come from the 2006 Census (% of respondents – note that 41% The numbers of immigrants living in Canada are very high – 19.8% of the total population in 2006(compared with 12.5% in the USA, for instance). Of the 6.2 mn immigrants in 2006, 2.3 mn (37.2%) wereborn in Europe (including 9.4% in the UK, 4.8% in Italy, 2.8% in Germany, 2.8% in Poland and 2.4% in Languages English and French are both official languages – French in Quebec, French and English in New Brunswick,and English in all other provinces and territories. In the 2006 Census, 17.9 mn people gave English astheir mother tongue, 6.8 mn gave French (including 5.9 mn in Quebec), and 6.1 mn gave other languages; Canadian Economy 2008-09 •Canada, as an economy and market, is dwarfed by the USA (its population is little more than one tenthof its neighbour's) – but its affluence (in GDP per capita terms) is closely comparable and it is very •Economic growth has been robust in recent years – but the prosperity was unevenly distributed: highenergy and commodities prices benefited the natural resources-based western provinces of BritishColumbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, while the strength of the Canadian dollar damaged the •Having very largely avoided the pitfalls in the housing and financial markets, Canada was expected toweather the economic downturn relatively easily. In April 2009 the IMF predicted that real GDP wouldfall by 2.5% in 2009 and rise by 1.2% in 2010. Other analysts, however, have more recently been TRAVEL PROFILE •Growth in overseas trips (i.e. to destinations other than the USA) has generally been higher than thatfor trips to the USA since 2000, but Europe's share of overseas trips has