Tourism Montreal kicks off season with campaign aimed at Americans

Summer tourism season is underway but officials say they expect to welcome fewer American visitors this year.

Montreal’s summer tourism season is officially underway, and the city is expecting another strong year. But with political tensions and currency concerns, officials say fewer Americans may make the trip north.

“It’s going to be a range between minus three and plus three. I think we will know a little bit more after the [Montreal] Grand Prix,” said Yves Lalumiere with Tourism Montreal.

Tourism Montreal recently launched an ad campaign targeting American visitors called “Strech Your Dollar Further in Montreal.”

“It’s not about the cheap destination it is just to tell the Americans that your value is good, and 37 per cent of them are not aware that their currency is actually providing so many benefits,” Lalumiere added.

The City of Montreal also hopes to capitalize on Canadian boycotting the U.S., like Clara Iturra who is visiting the city from Vancouver.

“I want to support Canadian businesses, support Canadian tourism. Canadians have a lot of money to spend. And I tell Canadians stay in Canada,” she explained.

Montreal’s downtown business development group, SDC Montréal centre-ville, says it is cautiously optimistic about this summer.

“We’re talking about billions of dollars of foreign dollars entering the coffers of businesses, and to the city and our government,” said the development group’s executive director, Glenn Castanheira.

The Montreal Grand Prix continues to be a major boost to tourism and despite some recent question marks about its future in Montreal, Lalumiere said the Formula One race is here to stay.

“Very confident that we are going to have very good news for you very shortly in terms of extending and staying the Grand Prix for forever,” Lalumiere said.