It's unlikely gas prices will stop too many Pride Weekend or Caribana faithful from making the trek, but even for the casual tourist, the crude price of crude could offer an ironic boost to tourism in the GTA and across the nation.Statistics Canada suggests more Canadians vacationed in their own country than anywhere else over the past four months, a trend that could well stretch into the summer and deliver big bucks to city centres like Toronto taking money from those who once would have headed for the U.S. or overseas.
StatsCan also reports Canadians are spending 2.3 per cent more on travel within Canada than outside it, although the tradeoff comes from the reality that fewer people from overseas or south of the border are likely to pay a visit.
In addition to gas prices, higher air fares and a high loonie are also driving the trends, but U.S. tourists, some of them anyway, still prefer the Great White North.
"The Canadian dollar is a lot more friendly to the U.S. dollar than the Euro is," said Andy Schwitter, a tourist from Dallas. "This is like a bargain compared to going to Europe."
As for the cottagers -- a famous group when it comes to spreading money across the province and country -- a new study by Royal LePage suggests two in 10 could soon deliver a blow to the domestic tourism market by forgoing that lifestyle if gas prices remain high.
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