The majority of tourist regions in Quebec have experienced an increase in traffic at tourist attractions and activities for the 2024 summer season, according to the report from Événements Attractions Québec (ÉAQ) published Wednesday.
The results, based on 405 activities and attractions across the province, show an increase of 9.3% in the number of visitors, between May and August 2024, compared to the same period last year, and this for all types of activities, indoor/outdoor and free/paid.
The ÉAQ notes an increase of 12% for the month of May, 12.4% in June, 9.3% in July and 6.1% in August.
In total, 21.6 million visits were recorded for the 2024 summer season.
Remember that the summer of 2023 was marked by unfavorable climatic conditions, in particular forest fires which had altered air quality, and record precipitation in July. Conversely, summer 2024 benefited from much more favorable conditions, with sunny days.
Outdoor activities recorded a slightly stronger increase of 9.8% this summer compared to last year, while indoor activities increased by 8.9%.
High traffic in casinos
Casinos and gaming halls showed the strongest growth with a 25.8% increase in traffic.
They are closely followed by parks and natural sites (+20.2%), industrial visits, such as hydroelectric power stations and factories with guided tours (+17.9%), and cruises and river excursions (+16 .8%).
Only four categories of activity recorded a decline compared to summer 2023: hebertism and aerial courses (-16.3%), gardens (-3.7%), zoos or aquariums (-2. 8%) and nature spas (-0.1%).
Attractions with paid admission recorded a higher increase (+9.7%) in the number of visits than those that are free (+4.9%).
“The 2024 summer ridership level reached 95.9% of the pre-pandemic level,” the ÉAQ also underlined.
The growth index by tourist area reveals that Montreal (102.8%) and remote regions (102.1%) reached levels higher than those of 2019 in 2024. Other regions, such as Quebec (94.6 %) and peripheral regions (88.4%), come close.
The general director of the ÉAQ, François-G. Chevrier, believes that the 2024 summer ridership results for the 1,850 activities and attractions in Quebec “are very satisfactory in the circumstances”.
“They demonstrate that, despite a more demanding financial context, attractions remain resolutely the heart of the visitor’s tourist experience.[-euse]s from here and elsewhere!”
