At the moment, Canada is tied with Singapore and Luxembourg in seventh place in world ranking of the best and most lucrative tourist destinations on the planet. Canada"s tourism industry is immense, reeling in around $62.7 billion annually. In spite of this, Canadian tourist organisations are not satisfied and it is widely believed that there is much room for improvement.
Although tourists are offered a wide choice of activities and places to see, foreign visitors often complain that locals can be stand-offish. A bigger problem concerns pricing policies. Air-ticket taxes are amongst the highest in the world and petrol is expensive relative to the US. Indeed, petrol prices, which have risen by 60% in Canada since 9/11, are thought to be one of the main reasons why the number of Americans visiting by car has dropped to its lowest level since the late 1970’s. In addition, Americans feel that they lose out in the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Canadian dollar.
Further problems will arise if the proposed changes in border regulations between the US and Canada, which aim to reduce free travel between the 2 countries, come into place as planned in January 2008.
