Visitors from Canada

Read key insight into our Canadian visitors including number of trips, nights, and spend.

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Overview

With strong ancestral ties between the two countries, Canadian visitors to Scotland enjoy exploring many parts of Scotland and hearing unique stories of regional history and culture.
In 2024, Canada was Scotland’s ninth largest international source market measured by number of visits. It was seventh by expenditure and eighth by number of nights.
Canadian visitors accounted for 3% of all overseas visits to Scotland and 3% of all overseas spend in Scotland in 2024.
Find methodology information within the official statistics and partner’s section.

Key statistics

144,460

total number of visits by Canadian visitors to Scotland in 2024

1,129,870

total number of nights spent in Scotland by Canadian visitors in Scotland in 2024

£131 million

total spend by Canadian visitors to Scotland in 2024

7.8

average nights per visit by Canadian visitors to Scotland in 2024

Source: International Passenger Survey 2024

1. Market performance 2024

In 2024, Canada was Scotland’s ninth largest international source market, measured by number of visits. It was ranked seventh by expenditure and eighth by number of nights.

Canadian visitors accounted for 3% of all overseas visits to Scotland and 3% of all overseas spend in Scotland in 2024.

After continued growth post-pandemic, the Canadian market weakened in 2024.

Visits declined by 17%, compared to 2023. Nights declined by 41% and expenditure was down 27%.

However, visits, nights, and spend in 2024 still outperformed pre-pandemic levels with visits increasing by 15% and spend increasing by 43% when compared to pre-pandemic years.

The average spend per visit in 2024 was £908, which was 12% less than in 2023.

The average length of stay was 7.8 nights, down significantly from an average of 11 nights in 2023.

Source: International Passenger Survey, 2024

Explore more data on tourismobservatory.scot

2. Scotland Visitor Survey 2023

In 2023, we commissioned the Scotland Visitor Survey to gather insight on visitor attitudes and behaviours. The scope of the survey was leisure overnight visitors only.

The survey explored the profile of the visitors who took part in the research, including:

their motivations for visiting
their experiences
how they have rated aspects of their trip

Information on Canadian visitors will be updated in 2024. Information is available on the background, methodology, and key highlights from the Scotland Visitor Survey 2023.

Browse our visitor survey.

3. VisitBritain MIDAS research 2022

In 2022, our partner, VisitBritain undertook comprehensive research with international leisure travellers. They spoke to global tourists from many markets, including Canada.

Whilst the research focuses on perceptions and experiences of Britain, there are insights which are useful for the Scottish tourism industry.

Long-haul markets see Britain more consistently as:

offering heritage and history
the ability to roam
explore a broad mix of "must-do" experiences (both old & new)

Read the full MIDAS research on visitbritain.org.

4. Official statistics and partners

The International Passenger Survey is a continuous survey carried out by the Office for National Statistics. It covers all major air, sea and tunnel ports.

The survey provides information on the numbers and types of visits made by people travelling to and from the UK. Anonymous face to face interviews are undertaken with a sample of passengers entering and leaving the UK.

Find out more on the survey methodology on ons.gov.uk.

Read further ONS publications on ons.gov.uk.

Read how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on the IPS data collection on visitbritain.org.