Ontario Travel & Tourism Monthly (OTTM) is a CRG and Destination Ontario research study tracking Ontario’s tourism landscape. Built specifically for Ontario, it delivers monthly metrics on economics, social factors, safety, climate, AI usage, and more across priority domestic and international markets.
With roughly 2,000 travellers surveyed each month, OTTM helps the Ontario tourism sector spot emerging trends, anticipate shifts, and make proactive decisions in a fast-moving market. This month’s wave surveyed 2,297 travellers between June 25 and 30, 2026, and marks the entry of a new market to the survey: the United Kingdom.
Highlights from the June 2026 Report:
- The United Kingdom Joins the Study The UK enters the OTTM this month as a high-engagement, long-haul market drawn from Destination Canada’s Outdoor Explorers and Refined Globetrotters segments. UK travellers stand out: they are the most active seekers of travel information among all markets in the study, the most likely to view travel as a worthwhile financial investment, and the most motivated by sustainability considerations. Ontario already rates well among UK respondents as a pleasure travel destination — a promising starting point as tracking for this market begins to build.
- Travel Intent Holds Steady, With Quebec on the Rise Travel intent toward Ontario remains stable across most markets, with Ontario residents continuing to show the highest intent overall. Quebec resident intent shows a significant increase this month and continuing an upward trend that began in late 2025.
- Summer Travel Intent Leads with September Gaining Ground Summer remains the dominant season for planned travel, with intent peaking in August. September has now moved ahead of July as the second-strongest month, reflecting growing fall momentum. Planning windows are also shifting, with near-term planning rising sharply. While aggregate summer intent appears to dip slightly, Canadian and domestic markets are actually trending upward.
- AI Tools Surpass Official Tourism Websites for the First Time This month marks a meaningful inflection point: AI tools have overtaken official tourism websites as a source of travel information for the first time in the study. ChatGPT remains the dominant platform, used primarily to discover destination ideas, research attractions, and get general travel advice. The shift is being driven across multiple markets — U.S. Drive, U.S. Fly, Manitoba, Quebec, Western Canada, and the UK — where AI tools already rank among the top four sources consulted, signalling a rapidly evolving discovery channel for content and digital strategy.
- Cost Remains the Top Barrier for the Twelfth Consecutive Month Half of travellers continue to cite cost as a barrier to travelling to Ontario, a figure that has held for a full year. High transportation costs remain the second-ranked barrier overall but eased this month after several consecutive increases, with the decline most pronounced in Ontario, U.S. Fly, Manitoba, and Western Canada. Financial pressures on future travel plans held stable.
- Confidence in the U.S.–Canada Relationship Continues to Recover Traveller expectations around the U.S.–Canada relationship continue to recover from the low recorded earlier in 2026, with improvement seen across every market. Canadian travellers remain considerably more pessimistic than their U.S. counterparts, though the direction of change is positive, and Canada continues to rank as the most welcoming country among U.S. travellers.
- FIFA World Cup 2026 Awareness Continues to Build Awareness that Toronto is a FIFA World Cup 2026 host city rose across nearly every market this month, with especially large gains in Quebec, U.S. Fly, and Western Canada. Motivation to visit Toronto in connection with the tournament remains stable, with the strongest interest among U.S. Fly and UK travellers.
Three signals from June’s survey stand out for strategic planning.
- AI has become a primary trip-discovery channel, making how Ontario is represented within AI-generated recommendations an increasingly important consideration for destination marketers.
- September is strengthening as a travel window, creating new opportunities for fall campaign timing and shoulder-season programming.
- The UK enters the study with high engagement and positive ratings for Ontario.
Download the June 2026 Ontario Travel & Tourism Monthly report and more studies on the Destination Ontario Insights Portal.
