Seems a shame, but Canada’s visibility on the world tourist scene has dropped, and is predicted to drop more. Before the 70s, when many trans-Atlantic flights had to make stop in Canada, it was #2 in the world for tourist visits; it’s sunk to #18, behind Ukraine and others.
TravelGumbo readers know from blogs and pics here what an amazing variety Canada has for travel, so after you read THIS, hop over here for Canada tourism info.
I think there are three main problems Canadian tourism faces. 1) The weather. Very limited season, unless you want to ski. 2) Expensive airfares. In the last 5 years, air fares went from being competitive to being very expensive — overly taxed, I guess. And predictably, when you charge more for something you get less of that activity. 3) Heightened border security between Canadian and US border can cause long delays and has greatly reduced cross border crossings in the past 15 years. It’s just not as much fun going from say, Seattle to Vancouver for the day or a weekend, as it was back then.
Otherwise expenses in Canada are only slightly higher than in the US and certainly much cheaper than Europe. And certainly in the Canadian Rockies, there’s no shortage of tourists in both summer months and at the ski resorts in the winter.