Canada is Crushing it in the Hospitality Sector

Canada's total hotel construction pipeline for the close of Q3 soared to a record breaking high with 289 properties and 38,453 rooms underway. per Lodging Econometrics. The construction pipeline for hotels is up 17% and rooms are up 28% year over year. Projects schedule to start construction int he next 12 months have experienced a 47% increase in both hotels and rooms. hotels in early planning stages are up 46% year over year with no foreseeable slowing. Currently the most active area of Canada is Ontario followed by British Columbia and Alberta. The top franchise companies in Canada's pipeline are currently Hilton with 58 hotels, Marriott International with 55 hotels, and IHG with 50 hotels. These three franchises make up 56% of the total hotels in the pipeline. However Don't discount Hyatt Place with 18 hotels in the pipeline and Best Western with nine. So what is driving the major franchises to expand into Canada with such aggression? Per Hilton, Canada has seen an impressive upswing in tourism in 2019. The tourism economy grew nearly 4% in the first quarter of 2019, in one year the country experienced an 8% increase in tourism growth, with overnight arrivals from the U.S. increasing 5% in the first five months of 2019.