Toronto may be the country’s most visited city, but it needs some upgrades if it’s going to attract a higher volume of tourists, according to a new report by non-profit Destination Toronto released Tuesday.
The report, called Toronto Destination Master Plan, lays out a 10-year strategy detailing what the city needs to improve so visitors aren’t put off by negatives such as a shortage of vibrant public spaces or traffic congestion — which made headline-grabbing news after professional hockey players had to walk to downtown games — just a couple of the problem-prone areas cited.
But how can the city’s tourism promoter fix problems the city hasn’t been able to?
“You need political alignment to make them happen,” said Wayne Smith, the director of the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at Toronto Metropolitan University. “You need resources. You need all levels of government to kind of support it to make them really happen in the long term.”
The plan, which took 15 months to put together, is the first time in decades that a tourism master plan has been done for the city.
Andrew Weir, president and CEO of Destination Toronto, said that tourism has never been a priority consideration when it comes to government decisions about land use, infrastructure or policy and programming, despite the fact that tourism in the city generated $9.1 billion in spending last year.
But the master plan, which has had input from the city and other levels of government, as well as private companies and cultural institutions, should change that thinking, said Weir.
“It’s about seeing a whole,” said Weir. “It’s about looking at things like Ontario Place, Exhibition Place, our aviation capacity — how those fit into a larger vision and not just evaluating each of them on their own, independent of the other considerations about what it will take to be an elite urban destination.”
The plan points out Toronto’s strengths, including its diversity, foodie scene, cultural attractions, and Pearson International Airport as pivotal roll as a global air traffic hub.
But it also acknowledges the city’s challenges, not only traffic congestion, but also a lack of way-finding and accessibility, as well as a need for more regional transit integration.
Big picture necessities, according to the plan, include increasing flights into Billy Bishop Airport from high potential destinations, as well as building another convention centre, which Smith said could bring in a lot more business travel because of the antipathy that many tourists are feeling towards the U.S.
“Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal are the next-best choices,” said Smith. “So they’re picking up a lot of convention-type travel that they wouldn’t have in the past.”
The report also calls for local improvements, such as identifying destination districts based on criteria such as visitation, and then providing those districts with more branding; making areas close to the Gardiner, which Weir said tourists have identified as feeling unsafe in, more hospitable with better lighting; creating more public outdoor seating with shade and plants, and identifying a year-round pedestrian corridor.
Toronto is already considering a plan to turn a stretch of Church St. into a car-free zone this summer.
The tourism plan also calls for less red tape when it comes to obtaining patio licenses; uniting the One Fare, which allows free transfers between GO and the TTC, so that it includes the UP Express to and from the airport; and creating more winter programming because the city sees a 40 per cent drop in visitors from January to March.
The master plan came together after “extensive consultation with more than 400 partner organizations and community stakeholders throughout 2025 and early 2026,” according to the report.
Numerous groups were members of the steering committee including representatives of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, the city’s economic and culture department, Mirvish Productions, PRIDE, TIFF, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the zoo, Waterfront Toronto and Oxford Properties.
Weir said the public can follow the plan’s progress on Destination Toronto’s website.
