Tourism Toronto is already reporting a strong year for visitors, likely helped by the weaker Canadian dollar. As fears grow about the Zika virus spreading in south Florida and increasing acts of terrorism overseas, Canada could benefit as a popular alternate destination for U.S. tourists. July hotel numbers show total number of room nights sold was up 5 per cent this year from last summer. The number of U.S. visitors coming by air was up 15.6 per cent for the first six months of the year, compared to the same time a year ago. Spokeswoman Allison Wallace said she couldn’t speculate on whether the drop in Florida bookings is directly related to the Zika virus, but given U.S. bookings overall are up, it would remove the low dollar as the reason.

Source: thestar August 24, 2016 16:52 UTC