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About Tourism Kingston

The impact of tourism in Kingston

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 US
  • 3% international

Domestic Visitor Profile: 2024

  • 54% hold white collar jobs
  • 55% hold a college/university degree or diploma or higher
  • 44% 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 average length of stay
  • 410 km average distance travelled
  • 46% are repeat visitors

Detailed reports

"No other census metropolitan area in Canada attracts more domestic visitors than Kingston, relative to population size."

Economic Impact

  • 2024 economic impact $775 million economic impact $512 million visitor spending 2.6 million visitors 681,260 room nights 53% day visitors 47% overnight visitors
  • 2023 economic impact $743 million economic impact $490 million visitor spending 2.5 million visitors 628,300 room nights 53% day visitors 47% overnight visitors
  • 2019 economic impact $625 million economic impact $415 million visitor spending 2.8 million visitors 695,731 room nights 55% day visitors 45% overnight visitors