Canada’s Mexico visa requirements limit country’s tourism potential, says tour operator

Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-09-23 13:11:18.0
Tags: [National, Tourism, Immigration, Trade]

Federal Tourism Minister Rechie Valdez attended a Destination Canada business-to-business event in Mexico City, where tour operators like Jesus Martinez of Dream Destinations Mexico and Darlene Fedoroshyn of Travel Alberta noted that Canada's visa requirements—reimposed by the federal government in the winter of 2024—continue to limit Canada's full tourism potential. Despite these visa constraints, the Canadian government projects Mexican visitor numbers to rise by 40 percent over the next four years to nearly half a million visitors spending approximately $1 billion annually by 2030. While provincial marketing agencies like Travel Alberta advocate for simplified entry barriers to capture a potential market of one million annual visitors from Mexico, Minister Valdez declined to state whether the federal government would rescind the visa requirement.