The Harbour City has an opportunity like "never before" to benefit from Canadians forgoing U.S. vacations for Canadian ones, according to Tourism Nanaimo.
Carly Pereboom, executive director with Tourism Nanaimo, gave a presentation to city council on Monday, May 5, stating it would be remiss to not discuss the current relationship shift between the U.S. and Canada.
"The tourism sector has shifted dramatically under the current circumstances with our southern neighbour and Tourism Nanaimo has certainly remained adaptive to these changes, positioning ourselves to make the most of this opportunity," Pereboom said. "Data is suggesting 43 per cent of Canadians intend to cancel or decrease their travel to the U.S. in 2025 compared to 2024, and with 61 per cent of those intending to explore Canada instead."
Calling it a "transitional time," Pereboom said Nanaimo has several market strengths including its identity as a hub city as well as an inclusive and welcoming destination, competitive pricing and brand awareness in the U.S. with marketing initiatives such as Tod Maffin's recent grassroots Nanaimo Infusion.
She said new direct flights from Toronto to Nanaimo also present an opportunity for the city.
"Ontario presents a strong market opportunity due to its high likelihood of reducing travel to the U.S. at this point…" she said. "Manitoba and Saskatchewan residents are also most inclined to adjust their travel plans in Canada right now, and this combined with Nanaimo's inclusive brand tone, particularly in support of LGBTQ-plus travellers, positions us well to appeal to these under-tapped and very highly aligned audiences."
The city's top markets are domestic, with 50 per cent of tourists coming from within B.C., which Pereboom said shows Nanaimo is a "highly attractive but price- sensitive market." Combined with tourists from Alberta and Ontario, the three provinces make up what she called "the bread and butter."
"We cannot command Vancouver-level hotel rates, but we're still extremely competitive when compared to peer cities like Kamloops. This reinforces that we need to focus on growing volume and value, and adding visitor year-round offerings in experiences that elevate that spend per trip into the local economy."
The challenge remains the off-season, with the winter experiencing a "huge gap" that Tourism Nanaimo hopes can be supplemented by shoulder-season marketing, event attraction, group bookings and experience development.
Destination B.C.'s 2022 value of tourism indicated more than 26,000 people were employed in tourism-related businesses in the Vancouver Island region with $886 million paid in wages and salaries, representing 17 per cent of B.C.'s total tourism employment.
The average stay of tourists on the Island is about 3.4 nights, comparable to the provincial average of 3.6.
"There's still room to grow that, and with targeted marketing and curated itineraries, our business and events and sports strategies are encouraging longer stays and boosting economic impact per visitor."
