Montreal crowds return in full force this summer after years of pandemic lows

Despite unseasonably wet weather, Montreal has welcomed as many visitors halfway through the summer as it did during the same period in 2019 — the last year before the COVID-19 pandemic hammered the tourism industry. 

Tourisme Montréal says hotels are at 80 per cent occupancy, even with an increase in the number of rooms available.

Yves Lalumière, CEO of Tourisme Montréal, says restaurant occupancy reached 95 per cent over the weekend — one of the busiest of the year. 

"This makes up for the extremely difficult years we've had," Lalumière said in an interview.

Tourisme Montréal says people from the U.S. and France make up most of the visitors to the city. There has also been a noticeable increase in people visiting from other countries, most notably the U.K., Mexico and Brazil. 

The agency attributes much of the success to the various summer festivals and events in Montreal this year, several of which saw record crowds, including the Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal Pride, Osheaga and Just for Laughs. 

Over the weekend, Metallica played two shows at the Olympic Stadium on Friday and Sunday, filling 63,750 seats each night, according to Evenko. 

Since the start of the summer, the city has hosted more than 80 business and sporting events — figures similar to those for the same period last year.

Lalumière says his organization has invested heavily in "leisure" clientele in recent years, because "business" clientele are not back, and may never return to the levels achieved in 2019.

Tourisme Montréal has an optimistic outlook for the rest of the tourist season, projecting a six per cent increase in the volume of visitors until October.

But while the upsurge in tourism is exceeding expectations in Montreal, that's not the case in all regions of Quebec. Some, such as the Gaspé peninsula, the Magdalen Islands and the Charlevoix region, are experiencing lower-than-expected traffic this summer.

"Overall, it's Toronto and Montreal that have recovered the most, because they were really the ones most affected by the pandemic," Lalumière said. "Urban tourism is coming back to life."