Canada

From 22 May we will be working to update all of the data and documents on this page following the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revision of the International Passenger Survey (IPS) data for 2009-2018 and the released detailed 2019 data. UK data will be updated first and followed by the regional data from 27 May. Please be patient as we update these pages or contact the VisitBritain research team if you have any questions- VB/VEResearch@visitbritain.org. Thank you.

Visitor characteristics

Canadian visitors tend to be older than the average visitor to the UK: 31% of Canadian visitors were aged 55+ in 2018, compared to the all market average of 20%
Almost half of the Canadian visitors come from Ontario
6 out of 10 Canadian holiday visitors are making a repeat visit
The Canada visitor market compromises of 42% holiday visits and 40% visits to friends and/or relatives

Popular activities

Dining in a restaurant

Sightseeing of Famous Buildings/ Monuments

Went Shopping

Global context


Measure	2019
International tourism expenditure (US$bn)	35.3
Global rank for international tourism expenditure	8
Number of outbound visits (m)	38.7
Most visited destination	USA
Most visited destination in Western Europe	France

Key demographic and economic data


Measure	2019
Population (m)	37.5
GDP per capita PPP (US$)	50,645
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%)	2.2
Annual average GDP growth in 2018 (%)	1.7

Canada Market and Trade Profile (PDF, 2.73MB)

Canada Market Snapshot (PDF, 838 KB)

Canada Aviation Profile (PDF, 2.31MB)

Find out where visitors from Canada to the UK reside in their own country (Excel, 176KB, Published 2015)

Read the report on North American LGBTQ travel to Britain (PDF, 2.7MB, Published March 2019)

Exchange rate

1 GBP = 1.7381 CAD

As of 22 January 2021

Retrieved from the Bank of England

Inbound visits to Britain from Canada

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Drag to change year on charts and tables.

Touch the data points to see the values.

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Number of visits

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Total expenditure (GBP)

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Total nights spent

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Average length of stay (Nights)

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Average spend per visit (GBP)

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What Canadians think about Britain

Canadians ranked Britain 6th overall among 50 nations
Canadians rate Britain highly for historic buildings and vibrant city life but less for natural beauty
Cultural attractions motivated many Canadian visitors to choose Great Britain for their holiday destination
A trip to Britain would be expected to be ‘educational’, ‘fascinating’ and/or ‘exciting’ by many Canadians

Caring for visitors

Britain is a home away from home for many Canadian visitors, sharing a common language, culture, tradition and heritage
Canada is a culturally diverse country, over 20% of the total Canadian population is foreign-born
Canadians do not like to be referred to as American or even North American
As many Canadians arrive in Britain on overnight flights, the possibility of early check-in at their accommodation is appreciated

The leisure & travel trade

Toronto is a key location for doing business with the travel trade
Brochure production time is mainly September/October
Independent, customisable packages were cited as the highest growth area among tour operators
The market is experiencing growth in the Home Based Travel advisor community; often affiliated to a travel agent consortia

Access to Britain from Canada


Measure	2019
Weekly aircraft departures	136
Weekly seat capacity	39,661
Airports with direct routes in Canada	9
Airports with direct routes in Britain	5

Most Canadian visitors travel to the UK by air (91%), another 6% arrive through the Channel Tunnel
Airline seat capacity to the UK is highly seasonal with roughly twice as many seats in the height of summer as in mid-winter
London Heathrow and London Gatwick had 90% of market share in terms of seat capacity from Canada to the UK, in 2019
9 airports in Canada were connected to 5 airports in the UK, via direct flights, in 2019

Markets

Markets

Canada

Canada