The St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market had a record 1.6 million visitors last year, about 30 per cent more than the year before.
Michele Saran, the chief executive officer of Explore Waterloo Region, said tourism to the Waterloo Region was up as many Canadians boycotted the United States because they don’t like U.S. President Donald Trump and the tariffs he imposed on Canadian exporters.
She said final numbers are not yet confirmed, but the region saw an increase in tourists from the year before with a vast majority of people coming from the Toronto area as well as southern and southwestern Ontario
.She said in 2024, there were about five million visitors to the region who spent about $829 million. She said last year’s final tallies from the organization’s 500 members are not yet in, but there were significant increases for the first three quarters of the year.
Joanna Loebach, the general manager of the St. Jacobs Market District, said "it was a crazy year for us for sure. Our best year on record. Our attendance for the year was at 1.6 million. For us, that represents a 30 per cent growth over 2024."
Saran and Loebach made their comments on CBC Radio in Kitchener.
