Tourism in Kingston
Kingston is centrally positioned in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montréal corridor and part of the world famous Thousand Islands. More than 14.5 million Canadians – or a third of the country’s population – live within a three-hour drive of Kingston and thousands of US residents live just across the border.
This geographic proximity combined with Kingston’s history and heritage, lakeside location, lively arts and culture scene, several anchor tourism attractions, and 40+ accommodation properties, sees tourism contribute substantially to the city’s economy.
Tourism jobs represent 6% of Kingston’s workforce, and nearly 10% when food service jobs are considered.
Visitor origin: 2024
- 82% from Ontario
- 10% from the rest of Canada
- 5% from the United States
- 3% international
Visitor profile: 2024 domestic visitors
- 54% hold white collar jobs
- 55% hold a college/university degree or diploma or higher
- 54% have a household income of $60,000 or higher
- 80% have taken two or more vacations in the past three year
- 52% spent $1,000 or more on their last vacation
Visitor metrics: 2024
- 47% of visitors stay overnight
- 26.5 hours, average length of stay
- 410 KM, average distance travelled
- 46% are repeat visitors
Detailed reports
Pre-pandemic baseline.
