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Tourism in Toronto recovering from recession

Toronto's tourism industry is beginning to recover from the recession, according to findings from a recent Toronto Tourism report. While car-borne travel from the United States is on the decline, international air travellers are arriving in the city in increasingly large numbers. The increase in air travellers is attributed to, among other factors, Toronto's many international festivals and successful efforts by Toronto businesses to forge overseas connections.

"Toronto hosted an estimated 9.9-million overnight visitors in 2010, a rise of slightly more than 3 per cent from a year earlier, but fewer than the 10.5 million who came in 2007. Domestic visitors accounted for more than two-thirds of all tourists, Americans made up one-fifth, and overseas travellers represented 13.4 per cent of the total."

"While the vast majority of tourists continue to come from other parts of Ontario, the city is becoming increasingly popular as a long-distance, international destination. The trend is most dramatic among developing countries: the number of visitors from Brazil more than doubled compared with 2009, while tourism from India was up 28 per cent and from China 26 per cent."

"Toronto's increasing popularity among visitors from the developing world is, in part, a function of rising incomes in these economic powerhouses, but it also indicates that city businesses have been successful in forging partnerships with the tourism sectors in those countries, Mr. Weir said. More international tour operators now include Toronto on their itineraries, while overseas airlines have added more to Pearson International Airport."

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original source Globe & Mail
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