All indications are showing 2015 is shaping up to do even better.
Montreal hoteliers and businesses whose bottom lines heavily rely on tourism are taking comfort in the results of a recent study taken on behalf of Tourisme Montreal showing that 9.2 million people visited the city in 2014, injecting a healthy $2.7 billion into the local economy. Those figures represent 2.2 per cent more tourists spending an average 4.6 per cent more dollars over 2013.
Montreal Convention Centre
Other good news evidenced by the Tourisme Montréal study include that the average hotel occupancy rate in Montreal in 2014 was up 3.32 percentage points to 71.24 per cent, with an average room rate of $148.40, also up by 5.17 per cent.
Of course, the fact that there are roughly 1,300 fewer hotel rooms in town than there was in 2013 play into those figures, which remain positive nonetheless. If you’re wondering where some 1300 hotels rooms disappeared to, the answer is that several major downtown hotels have been converted to university dorms in recent years. Last year alone the Delta and Holiday Inn Midtown became student residences, while the Quality Hotel also became a dorm building.
But the Tourisme Montreal study isn’t the only positive news so far as Montreal hotels are concerned. While personal travel to the city took a major hit after the 2008 financial crisis [in 2009, local hotels saw a dismal 60.5 per cent average occupancy rate], with the exception of 2012, when Montreal got a lot of bad international press over the provinces student strikes, other studies are showing travel to the city has been on the rise ever since, a welcome trend.
In 2014, for example, the city hosted 27 multi-hotel conventions that brought more than 55,000 convention-goers to the city, compared with only 17 major conventions the year before.
Further, business travel to the Montreal has either grown or remained consistent over the past several years. According to the GBTA Foundation, the research arm of the Global Business Travel Association, in 2013 business travellers spent some $23.5-billion in Canada, generating roughly 1.5 per cent of the country’s GDP, with 60 per cent of that money going to Quebec and Ontario, primarily the cities of Montreal and Toronto. Based on 2013 figures, the GBTA expect that number to grow by 5.5 per cent in 2015. Combine that with a relatively weak Canadian dollar nobody foresaw in 2013 and it’s quite possible the numbers will be notably higher than that.
Historically Montreal has always been a popular travel destination and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Nevertheless, the city recently announced a $40.5 million action plan to help further beautify the city with the aim of aiding merchants located along its busiest commercial strips, all with an eye not only towards crucial infrastructure development, but to better position Montreal as a premier North American travel destination.
By all accounts 2015 is indeed shaping up to be a pretty good year for Montreal area hoteliers – and by extension, of course, for the local economy as well.
Photo Credit
Montreal Convention Centre – Wikimedia Creative Commons
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