Thursday, September 27 was World Tourism Day.
London, Ontario may not be the most popular tourist destination, but tourism is still a big part of the city’s economy. Tourism in London supports over eight-thousand jobs and brought in almost 800-million dollars last year.
Brock University, 2018
General Manager of Tourism London, John Winston, says that the key to establishing a solid front line for tourism is within the city’s hotels.
“They really, really are the symbol of what London is and they illustrate how successful the community is. You walk into a dirty, run-down hotel, you get the impression that the city’s not very prosperous. Walk into our hotels and I can assure you people feel good about being in our city,” he says.
Over the last five years, London hotels have invested around 100-million dollars into upgrades and improvements for their facilities.
The tourism industry doesn’t just benefit our city’s economy, it also gives Londoners easy access to a wide range of fun activities.
Winston says that tourism in London has lots to offer: “We’re quite busy, quite active, and it helps to not only improve our financial economy in the city, but it also really supports the quality of life in our city. The activities that we bring to the city that are world-renowned or nationally-renowned – local people have the opportunity to experience them. They don’t have to travel all over the place in order to find these experiences.”
Local attractions such as the Western Fair and Boler Mountain bring millions of visitors to London every year.
Tourism is the world’s biggest commercial service sector and it contributes over seven trillion dollars in global GDP.
