Statscan - Tourism industries accounted for 1.7 million jobs in 2007, about 10% of the 17.1 million jobs in the economy that year.

Among the five tourism industry groups (transportation, accommodation, food and beverage services, recreation and entertainment, and travel services), food and beverage services was the largest employer, accounting for over half of all jobs in tourism.

About 525,000 jobs in the sector could be directly attributed to tourism demand. The remaining 1.1 million jobs were attributed to non-tourism demand, such as local spending on taxis, in restaurants, hotels and casinos.

The number of jobs in tourism industries increased 3.4% in 2007, outpacing the economy-wide job gains (+2.1%). Food and beverages services added 23,000 jobs, while recreation and entertainment and other transportation each added another 10,000.

Workers in tourism industries put in an average 29.8 hours per week in 2007, less than the Canadian average of 33.3 hours, reflecting the high proportion of part-time jobs in tourism. Hourly compensation in tourism in 2007 averaged $18.33 per hour, up 5.1% from 2006. This was slightly faster than the pace set economy-wide (+4.0%).

Three occupation groups dominated the sector, accounting for almost 40% of employee jobs. These were food counter attendants and kitchen helpers, food and beverage servers, and cooks.

Youth aged 15 to 24 held nearly 40% of all employee jobs in the tourism industries in 2007, twice their share in the economy overall, while women held 56%.

Immigrants were a significant source of labour for the sector, accounting for 22% of tourism employee jobs in 2007.

Note: This update of the human resource module includes revised data for 1997 to 2006 and new data for reference year 2007. It provides the annual total employment in the tourism industries, which includes jobs that are attributable to demand from both tourists and non-tourists. This is different from the estimate of tourism employment in the National Tourism Indicators and the Tourism Satellite Account, which include only those jobs that are directly attributable to demand from tourists.

The human resources module is funded jointly by the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Statistics Canada.