Mr. Speaker, we are proud of the work that Destination Canada, its partners, and tourism industry stakeholders do in stimulating economic growth. For the first time in over a decade, overnight visitors to Canada increased by 7.5%, outpacing the international growth of 4.4%. These visitors spent $16.8 billion while in Canada, contributing to the livelihood of over 190,000 small and medium-sized tourism businesses and supporting over 637,000 jobs.
The tourism industry is important for economic growth. We support tourism.