In the third quarter of 2020, tourism spending in Canada increased 56.4%, but in the fourth quarter, Statistics Canada said, it stayed below half its level.

In the first and second half, the 56.4 percent rise partly balances the major declines, which respectively dropped 14 and 65 percent because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gross domestic tourism product (GDP) and tourism employment have also increased since the first quarter but have remained well under the pre-pandemic stage.

The double-digit growth of the historical low in the second quarter was seen in every segment of tourism expenditure.

Although the category of passenger air transport has more than doubled, its levels remained 89.9 percent below the level of hit expenses for the fourth quarter of 2019.

In the third quarter following record declines in the first two years, tourism GDP increased 62.6 percent.

However, the tourism GDP was still 51.5% lower than the fourth quarter 2019, despite these increases.

Tourism-driven jobs in the first two quarters increased by 27.1% in the third trimester after significant decreases.

In the second quarter, the rise was mainly caused by more employment in the services for food and beverages, the hospitality, and the non-tourism industry.

Canadians' tourism expenses grew by 56.9% in the third quarter, a drop of 56.8% over the previous quarter. Domestic tourism spending has declined by 40.6 percent relative to the fourth quarter of 2019.

Foreign tourists' tourism spending increased by 28.2% in the third quarter and declined by 97.1% in the second quarter because of travel restrictions. Despite the large growth in the fourth quarter of 2019, the expenditure dropped by 97%.