VANCOUVER — Canada is redirecting its tourism focus towards the United States 14 years after 9/11 chilled American travel northward.
Tourism Minister Maxime Bernier says visits from places where Canada marketed itself increased by an average of 11 per cent, and that marketing in the U.S., combined with the Canadian dollar's lower value, could have a positive impact.
He says his ministry supports the Canadian Tourism Commission's plan to resume marketing Canada as a tourist destination in the U.S. and hoped to see that reflected in the next federal budget.
Tourism commission president David Goldstein says when the border between Canada and the U.S. thickened after the terror attacks, trips to Canada fell by a third.
Canada responded to the drop in tourism after the terrorist attack by marketing itself more aggressively in India, China, Brazil and Mexico, increasing visitors, in some cases, as much as 30 per cent, he says.
Goldstein adds Canada lags behind the international tourism industry's annual five per cent growth rate at 3.5 per cent, but bringing U.S. traffic back to pre-2001 levels should mean it will catch up in 2015.
