Toronto Still Having Trouble Attracting Tourists

Those who live here know Toronto’s got it all.

From sports to arts and everything in between, Hogtown is a great place to be no matter what it is you’re looking for.

And yet somehow, in spite of all its attractions, Canada’s biggest city still struggles to draw tourists.

Take the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto for example. Traditionally, the summer race is one of the city’s most popular tourists attractions, but thanks to a raucous World Cup celebration that consumed much of the Greater Toronto Area on the same weekend, 2006 may go in the books as a down year for the event.

In 2005, the former Molson Indy drew a crowd of just over 70,000, the lowest total in the better part of a decade. And 2006? Event organizers won’t even release the numbers.

“We’ve made a decision not to publish those,” said Karen Harding with the Grand Prix Association of Toronto.

But what about other attractions? As it turns out, even with all T.O. has to offer it’s still fighting an uphill battle.

“The tourism industry is probably one of the most competitive in the world right now,” admits Duncan Ross with the City of Toronto’s tourism board.

It must be, because to hear experts tell it not even the million-plus that made the Celebrate Toronto Street Festival and Pride Weekend were enough to buoy business in the face of some major obstacles.

“We have high gas prices, we have exchange rates, we have uncertainties with respect to U.S. visitors crossing the boarder,” said Ross.

Need proof? Just look at Toronto’s theatre industry. Only last week the multi-million dollar production of Lord of the Rings unexpectedly shut down after three short months.

The next great hope for Toronto is Caribana Weekend, which takes place at the end of July. Each year the festival typically draws more than one million attendees, most of which come from out of town.

As for whether it can help put Toronto back on the tourism map however, that won’t be known until the end of the year.