The summer of 2025 was a record-setting season for tourism in Ottawa, thanks to an influx of Royal watchers, IronMan athletes and roadtrippers from Quebec. Read MoreThe season had plenty of celebrities in town, but one federal policy added fuel to the surge.
The season had plenty of celebrities in town, but one federal policy added fuel to the surge.
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The summer of 2025 was a record-setting season for tourism in Ottawa, thanks to an influx of Royal watchers, IronMan athletes and roadtrippers from Quebec.
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New numbers from Ottawa Tourism showed the demand for hotel rooms in the Ottawa area between May and August was up about five per cent compared to the same period in 2024, a jump that demonstrated the sector’s ongoing recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Driving the spike was the region’s usual back-to-back schedule of annual festivals, from the Canadian Tulip Festival in May to the Gatineau Hot-Air Balloon Festival on Labour Day weekend, along with a host of new and one-off events, said Catherine Callary, vice-president of destination development at Ottawa Tourism.
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The Evening Citizen
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What were the big summer of ’25 attractions in Ottawa?
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The visit by King Charles III in May was a popular one-off attraction, for example, while the long weekend in August featured three major sporting events in the area, including the city’s first IronMan Canada, plus the Canadian Track and Field Championships and a Canada-U.S. women’s rugby game at TD Place.
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Many of the visitors this summer were Canadian and arrived by car, often making arrangements at the last minute. For those in the Montreal-Toronto corridor, the nation’s capital is a popular destination.
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“(Ottawa) has a really strong drive market, and visitors are getting to know that in the summertime there’s always an event happening in Ottawa,” Callary said.
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Festivals are a big draw for Ottawa, and Bluesfest had a stellar year, with shows by Green Day, Lainey Wilson and Hozier attracting up to 30,000 fans each and total attendance surpassing 250,000.
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The thing about festivals, Callary noted, is that they compel folks to visit on a certain day if they want to see a particular artist. “Festivals and events create time-bound reasons for people to come,” she said.
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Although fewer visitors were driving to Ottawa from the United States, the number of Canadians “more than made up for it,” Callary added, with many of them coming from Quebec. The number of Americans arriving by air was about the same as it was last year.
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Did the Canada Strong pass help tourism in Ottawa?
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Of course, the political situation south of the border is a factor in Canadians deciding to vacation at home in 2025. To further encourage them, the federal government launched Canada Strong pass, which gave summer discounts on national park and museum fees and train fare.