Tourism Series: Tourism Count$ in the NWT

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Blog Entries

From the midnight sun to the dancing Aurora, roaming wildlife to unforgettable adventures, the Northwest Territories (NWT) has something for everyone. It’s no wonder that the territory’s tourism industry is thriving!

As we near National Tourism Week, May 29 – June 2, we’ll be sharing a special series of blogs covering this important and vibrant industry.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) invests in tourism and parks infrastructure; provides funding support to NWT Tourism, the territory’s destination marketing organization; and delivers a suite of programs, services and training to our local tourism and hospitality industry.

Here are the NWT tourism basics, by the numbers:

  • 93,910: the number of visitors the NWT welcomed in 2015/16.
  • $167.1 Million: the amount spent by tourists in the NWT in 2015/16.
  • $207 Million: the anticipated value of the NWT’s tourism industry by 2021, as identified in ITI’s “Tourism 2020” plan.
  • $2.5 Million: the amount that ITI is investing in tourism in 2016/17 (*does not include funding provided to NWT Tourism).
  • 55%: the amount that tourism spending has increased since 2009/10.
  • 48%: the amount that Aurora visitation increased by in 2015/16.   
  • Seven: the number of tourism segments in the NWT: Aurora viewing, outdoor adventure, fishing, hunting, business, visiting friends and relatives, and general touring.

Hello. Bonjour. Kon'nichiwa. Nǐ hǎo. Hallo.  

Where do our visitors come from? All over the world!

According to our 2015/16 statistics, our highest numbers of visitors (in descending order) visited from: Canada, the United States, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, France, Norway, and Italy.

Did You Know: The number of travellers to the NWT from China has increased significantly over the last six years. According to Airport Exit Surveys, in 2010/11 there were 84 travellers from China, yet by 2015/16, there were 5,035 travellers from China.