Alberta on track to break international tourism spending record for 2024, province says

From majestic national parks to the West Edmonton Mall to the renowned Calgary Stampede, Alberta has a lot to offer visitors.

And according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada, tourists are coming to the province in droves.

The Alberta government says tourism revenues grew 10 per cent year over year – based on data from the first three quarters of 2024. There is a lag of roughly six months between data collection and publication.

Those numbers mean Alberta is outperforming every other province in tourism sector growth, the province says, advancing at more than double Ontario and B.C. and more than three times the Canadian average.

The 2024 figures so far (from the first nine months of the year) suggest Alberta will break its record for annual international visitor spending, established in 2023 at $12.7 billion – which was already a nearly 20 per cent jump from the previous record.

“There has never been a better time to invest in tourism in Alberta, as the industry drives export revenues, fuels job creation, strengthens local businesses and showcases the province’s incredible natural and cultural assets to the world,” said Jon Mamela, the chief commercial officer at Travel Alberta, in a provincial news release.

The provincial government says its plan is to grow Alberta’s visitor economy to $25 billion by 2035.