Canada
Intro
Travellers from Canada made 37.2 million outbound visits in 2023, with a total international tourism expenditure of US$38.3 billion.
In 2023, the UK welcomed a record 1.0 million visits from Canada. During the travellers’ visits, their total expenditure was a record £969.6 million, with an average spend of £966 per visit.
Discover visitor behaviour, travel trade insights, detailed data visualisations for this market – and more. The statistics in this market report are collated from a range of sources such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as sponsored questions and our own research. For further details, see How we source this information.
Visitor characteristics
- Canadian visitors tend to be older than the average visitor to the UK: 31% of Canadian visitors were aged 55+ in 2023, compared with the all-market average of 21%.
- Almost half of Canadian visitors come from Ontario.
- Six-in-10 Canadian holiday visitors are making a repeat visit.
- The Canada visitor market comprises 43% visits to friends or relatives and 40% holiday visits.
Popular activities for this market
Dining in a restaurant.
Sightseeing of famous buildings and monuments.
Going shopping.
Explore the inbound data in full
Use our visualisations to see data from this market in greater depth and clarity. Compare annual statistics, and filter by age group, gender, trip duration and more. Includes seasonality, trip purpose and regional spread of visitors to UK destinations. This data is based on the International Passenger Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Please click on the button below and select the country you are interested in.
Perceptions of Britain in the Canadian market
- Canadians ranked Britain seventh overall among 60 nations.
- Canadians rate Britain highly for sports, historic buildings, contemporary culture, culture generally and vibrant cities – but less so for natural beauty.
- Museums, films and music are the main cultural products most associated with Britain by Canadians.
- A trip to Britain would be expected to be ‘educational’, ‘fascinating’ and ‘exciting’ by many Canadians.
Global context
Top-level statistics relating to the population, GDP, tourism expenditure and popular destinations for this market. For greater detail on inbound tourism flows from this market to the UK, see our data visualisations.
| Measure | 2023 |
| International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 38.3 |
| Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 6 |
| Number of outbound visits (m) | 37.2 |
| Most visited destination | USA |
| Most visited destination in Western Europe | France |
Key demographic and economic data
| Measure | 2023 |
| Population (m) | 40 |
| GDP per capita PPP (US$) | 59,710 |
| Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%) | 1.7 |
| Annual GDP growth (%) | 1.2 |
Caring for visitors
- Britain is a home-from-home for many Canadian visitors, as it shares 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 and travel trade
- Toronto is a key location for doing business with the travel trade.
- Brochure production time is mainly September and 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 travel agent consortia.
Access to Britain from Canada
The key routes and transport modes that connect this market with the UK.
| Measure | 2023 |
| Weekly aircraft departures | 123 |
| Weekly seat capacity | 35,246 |
| Airports with direct routes in Canada | 6 |
| Airports with direct routes in Britain | 5 |
- Most Canadian visitors travel to the UK by air (91%); 6% arrive through the Channel Tunnel. (2023)
- 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 91% of market share in terms of seat capacity from Canada to the UK, in 2023.
- Following the COVID-19 pandemic, scheduled seat capacity on non-stop flights from Canada to the UK has recovered to 89% of 2019 levels in 2023.
- Departing visitors from Canada travelling home by air are charged £88 in Air Passenger Duty if travelling in economy class.
Further resources
Canada Market Snapshot.pdf
Canada Market Snapshot
Canada Market & Trade Profile.pdf
Looking to do meaningful business with Canada? Here’s what you need to know.
Canada Aviation Profile.pdf
Canada Aviation Profile
Canada Experience Seekers Pen Portrait.pdf
Canada Experience Seeker Pen Portrait
Canada COVID Sentiment tracker.pdf
Canada COVID Sentiment tracker
Where visitors from Canada to the UK reside in their own country.xlsx
Where visitors from Canada to the UK reside in their own country
North American LGBTQ travel to Britain.pdf
North American LGBTQ travel to Britain
Where visitors from Canada to the UK reside in their own country.xlsx
Data showing area of residence for visits made from Brazil to the UK
How we source this information
We work with a number of data sources to provide a rich and insightful picture of our key inbound source markets. This includes, but is not limited to, data provided by Oxford Economics, the UNWTO, Apex, Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index and from our own surveys and ad-hoc research. The largest share of the data comes from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) by the ONS.
Visit our About the International Passenger Survey page for more information on how the data is collected and analysed.
