Canada's most populous city was also its most-visited destination in 2015. Tourism Toronto announced on Feb. 8 that in 2015, 14.03 million overnight visitors travelled to the city in 2015 -- a record number, and the sixth consecutive year of growth.
Of these, more than 4 million international travelers visited -- a record-breaking number of foreign tourists. Many of these came from the U.S., with 2.48 million Americans spending an overnight visit in Toronto last year, the fifth consecutive year the city has seen an increase in American tourists. Tourism Toronto estimated that they spent $1.32 billion.
The amount spent by Americans was surpassed by overseas visitors, particularly those from China and the U.K. The record 1.75 million visitors spent an estimated $1.49 billion in the city.
"Our destination has never looked better or been more attractive to foreign and domestic travellers," said Johanne Bélanger, president and CEO of Tourism Toronto, in a statement. "Every day there are 110,000 visitors in our destination -- 38,000 of them staying in a hotel. On average there are 6,800 American travellers and a further 4,800 visitors from other countries in Toronto every single day, and that speaks to the growing appeal of Toronto on a global scale. It also speaks to the hard work our team and our partners do selling and marketing Toronto in key world markets and the results those efforts are producing."
A good number of these visitors came from meetings and conventions groups. In 2015, Toronto hosted 725 meetings and events that brought 356,600 attendees to the city (generating an estimated $417 million in spending). Tourism Toronto and its partners also report the booking of 751 new meetings and events for future years that will bring almost 352,000 attendees and $376 million in direct spending to the region.Tourism Toronto pointed to a few upcoming high-profile meetings, including the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Scientific Session later this spring, the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive & Critical Care Societies' World Congress and the Microsoft Worldwide Partners Conference later in the summer.