Thunder Bay Tourism is looking forward to a strong year in 2022.

Paul Pepe, the city’s Manager of Tourism, will make his annual presentation to council Monday night which will also look back at 2021.

“We saw some new restaurants pop up (in 2021) as well as some new visitor experiences develop, despite the travel challenges related to (the pandemic). Our hotel industry lead the country in COVID-19 recovery as well,” Pepe told Acadia News.

Thunder Bay ended up with 59 per cent occupancy versus the Canadian Average of 41.9%, which is still well below the normal pre pandemic pace of approximately 71 per cent in 2019.

The average daily rate per hotel room also went up about 6 per cent over 2020, which Pepe stressed is more money into the businesses and more money generated for the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) fund.

July and August numbers were 89 and 85 per cent respectfully, which is close to a normal summer year of between 85 and 91 per cent.

“Reopening of international travel is anticipated to begin this year,” noted Pepe, when looking ahead to 2022. “I think we’re going to start to see a bit more confidence from sports event, meeting and convention planners to bring their events back to Thunder Bay over the next couple of years.”