Tourism in Quebec

Tourism in Quebec is the fifth largest export product of Quebec. Nearly 30,000 businesses are related to this industry, 70% are located outside of Montreal and Quebec City. They employ more than 400,000 people, mostly in the areas of catering and accommodation. In 2010, nearly 27 million tourists visited Quebec, three quarters of which are from Quebec and one quarter from the outside, especially in neighboring markets (Ontario and the Atlantic Central and New -England the United States). French tourists are the ones that stay the longest in Quebec (14.9 days on average in 2010). Markets outside Québec generate half of tourism revenue. It was the Spanish tourists that spend the most per night in Quebec ($ 176 on average in 2010), immediately followed by tourists from the United States ($ 153).

Tourism Statistics

20081, 29592 businesses related to the tourism industry. They generate 410,900 direct jobs and 54,840 jobs indirects2. That same year, Quebec welcomed 26,008,000 tourists, including 77.7% from Quebec (52.4% of tourism expenditure), 10.8% of other Canadian provinces (14.1% of tourism expenditure) 7% of the United States (15.5% of tourism expenditure), and 4.5% from other countries (16.9% of tourism expenditure), including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico and Japan3.

Location

Quebec is located in the northeast of the Americas and covers an area of ​​1,667,926 km24. Quebec is the largest province in Canada and covers an area three times the size of France. Neighbor of the United States to the south and west Ontario, over 90% of its territory consists of the Canadian Shield. This is why the vast majority of the population lives along the St. Lawrence River in what the Lowlands of the St. Lawrence is commonly called. The mountainous Appalachian occupies the southern part of Quebec.

tourism Regions

The two main major tourist cities in Quebec are Montreal and Quebec City. Over 50% of all tourist spending in Quebec are effectuées5. 

Quebec has 22 distinct tourism regions: 

Abitibi-Témiscamingue 

Baie-James 

Bas-Saint-Laurent 

Townships Eastern 

Centre-du-Québec 

Charlevoix 

Chaudière-Appalaches 

Duplessis 

Eeyou Istchee6 

Gaspésie 

Magdalen Islands 

Lanaudière 

Laurentides 

Laval 

Manicouagan 

Mauricie 

Montérégie 

Montreal 

Nunavik 

Outaouais 

Quebec 

Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean 

Major tourist organizations 

Over the past hundred years, several organizations have been established to promote the Quebec and its regions to tourists: