Figures for the month of June won't be available until later this week, but all signs are pointing to a good summer for tourism in Montreal.
The Grand Prix du Canada pumped an estimated $90 million into the local economy, including a significant chunk of money from outside the province. And the jazz festival, which sounded its final notes on Monday night, had its usually strong contingent of U.S. visitors - this time undeterred by the high value of the Canadian dollar.
It's left Tourism Montreal vice-president Pierre Bellerose sounding upbeat. "We don't have June (data) yet, but the first five months showed good growth - better than 2010, which was the best year of the decade," he said.
So far this year, each month has been better than it was in 2010, although Bellerose cautions that last year's numbers for June were inflated by the one-time impact of the big Rotary International convention that brought 15,000 visitors to the city.
"Maybe we'll have a bit less this June, but for the rest of the year, it will be a bit better than 2010," he predicted. "We're living good times for tourism in Montreal right now."
Hotel occupancy rates have remained reasonably high, if still below the levels registered in Montreal before the hotel building boom of the last decade. The construction spurt increased the number of rooms available from 21,000 to 26,000.
"That was huge, it was more than a 15-per-cent increase," Bellerose said, "so we would have to grow (visits) by 15 per cent just to keep the occupancy rate the same as it was before."
Even if all the new capacity isn't yet absorbed, a record number of room nights were sold in the first six months, according to figures from the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal.
The occupancy rate for the period was 63.7 per cent, at an average room rate of $138.79. That compares with 60 per cent at $135.64 for the first six months of 2010.
A reversal in the longstanding drop in U.S. tourists is also under way. Bellerose says the typical U.S. visitor to Montreal is more affluent than in the past, and more likely to come by plane than drive across the border.
Economic difficulties in the U.S. have crimped the travel plans of many middle-class families, but "people with money travel a lot" and those Americans who come here don't seem overly concerned by a Canadian dollar that trades above par with the U.S. currency, Bellerose observed. At the Festival International de Jazz, the closing weekend fell on the U.S. Fourth of July long weekend, noted festival president Alain Simard.
"It was hard to find a hotel room anywhere in Montreal" and on-site sales over the weekend hit a record because of all those U.S. tourists.
Intensive efforts to market Montreal as a party city seem to be paying off in the U.S.
And it's not just the nightlife that's a draw but also the city's creative image as home to the Cirque du Soleil and a range of great summer festivals.
"There's a buzz about Montreal, maybe not quite as much as Barcelona or Berlin, but it's there," said Bellerose, whose job it is to develop the city's brand.
The jazz festival, for one, does its part, by staging promotional tours throughout the year to places like New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. Increased media coverage of Montreal is also helping.
Taxpayers, to be sure, have contributed in a big way when you consider the $125 million being spent to complete the Quartier des Spectacles along Ste. Catherine St. between Jeanne Mance and St. Laurent.
But Simard predicted that tourists and Montrealers alike will be impressed when the project is completed in time for next year's festival.
"It will be a much easier, more practical and beautiful site."
The project includes retractable posts that will rise from the ground whenever that stretch of Ste. Catherine is closed to traffic. If the rebound in tourism is sustainable, it will be a definite boost to a city economy that is hurting in other areas.
