{"id":8380,"date":"2023-08-15T16:13:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T20:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/?p=8380"},"modified":"2024-02-14T15:31:19","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T20:31:19","slug":"downtown-montreals-vitality-investments-are-bearing-fruit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/communiques-en\/downtown-montreals-vitality-investments-are-bearing-fruit\/","title":{"rendered":"Downtown Montr\u00e9al’s vitality: investments are bearing fruit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MONTR\u00c9AL, Aug. 15, 2023<\/strong> – Record attendance at festivals and events in the Quartier des spectacles, high satisfaction levels with the revitalization of Sainte-Catherine Street and Phillips Square, tourist traffic exceeding forecasts, a wave of new business openings: downtown Montreal stands out and bene ts from the investments made to boost its appeal to Montrealers, visitors, and investors.
\nThat’s the main conclusion to emerge from the data presented today by Montr\u00e9al centre-ville, the Quartier des spectacles Partnership, Tourism\u00a0Montr\u00e9al and The Hotel Association of Greater Montreal in the presence of Val\u00e9rie\u00a0Plante, Mayor of Montr\u00e9al and of Ville-Marie borough.<\/p>\n

New Sainte-Catherine West: Montrealers appreciate the project<\/h2>\n

A survey of users and businesses conducted by Montr\u00e9al centre-ville, as well as geolocation data, con\udbc0\udc01rm that the metamorphosis of Sainte-Catherine Street West and Phillips Square has enhanced the attractiveness of the area, as well as the experience of Montrealers and visitors.<\/p>\n

The transformation of this sector initiated by the City, combined with initiatives such as placemaking, a dedicated street cleaning team, and musical programming led by Montr\u00e9al centre-ville, in collaboration with the Quartier des spectacles Partnership, have achieved the following results:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • The vacancy rate is half as high in this sector.<\/li>\n
  • Across the area, there have been six times as many commercial openings as closures since spring.<\/li>\n
  • Over two thirds of users of Phillips Square are Montrealers and office workers. More and more Montrealers are using it since the revitalization of Sainte-Catherine Street initiated in 2019 by the City of Montreal.<\/li>\n
  • The majority of users describe Phillips Square as pleasant, beautiful, and clean.<\/li>\n
  • More users enjoy the area’s attractions and businesses after visiting Phillips Square than in 2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    As downtown Montr\u00e9al’s residential population continues to grow, with over 3,000\u00a0new residential units added since the beginning of the year, efforts to beautify the city’s core are also essential to its appeal to residents.<\/p>\n

    “We’re witnessing the emergence of a new living environment in the heart of downtown, appreciated by Montrealers and visitors alike. It’s very encouraging for the continued renewal of Sainte-Catherine Street.\u00a0Above all, we need a vibrant, clean, safe, and lively downtown for the hundreds of thousands of people who visit\u00a0 us every day.\u00a0That’s why Montr\u00e9al centre-ville focuses its efforts on placemaking, greenery, cleanliness, and programming of the area, including landmarks like Phillips and Dorchester squares\u2014priorities shared by visitors and residents alike,”\u00a0says Glenn\u00a0Castanheira, Executive Director of Montr\u00e9al centre-ville.<\/p>\n

    Towards a record summer for festivals and events in the Quartier des spectacles<\/h2>\n

    Since the start of summer, thousands of festival-goers have been taking part in the major events for which Montreal is world-renowned. Initial attendance figures, notably for Juste pour Rire Montr\u00e9al\/Just For Laughs, with 1.2 million visitors in the outdoor site, and for Festival TransAm\u00e9riques, with 92% attendance at its venues, exceed pre-event figures and point to future records. These figures confirm the growing appeal of downtown and the Quartier des spectacles as a must-see cultural destination for Montrealers and visitors.<\/p>\n

    “The festivals of the Quartier des spectacles are an essential driving force in the cultural life of our metropolis, and contribute magnificently to Montreal’s worldwide reputation. Every summer, they attract thousands of visitors and tourists, stimulating the local economy and strengthening the appeal of the downtown area. The first attendance figures released promise that records will be broken this year – there’s a lot to celebrate!” declared Monique Simard, chair of the board of directors, Quartier des Spectacles Partnership.<\/p>\n

    Vitality of downtown tourism<\/h2>\n

    With downtown Montr\u00e9al as Quebec’s tourism gateway, Tourism Montr\u00e9al’s forecast-beating tourism figures presented yesterday are encouraging for the vitality of the heart of the metropolis which\u00a0 welcomed 100% of the visitors who flocked during the same period in 2019.<\/p>\n

    “Together, we have come through challenging times, and our perseverance has paid off. The creativity and passion of the tourism ecosystem have been the driving forces behind this renewal. The lively streets of our central neighbourhoods encourage us to celebrate and to continue working to ensure an even brighter future for the metropolis,” says Yves Lalumi\u00e8re, President and CEO of Tourism Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

    In terms of hotel occupancy, the leisure tourism season generated vitality and dynamism unmatched since the pandemic. Indeed, downtown hotels posted occupancy rates of 79%in June and 80% in July, surpassing 2022 figures and approaching 2019 levels.<\/p>\n

    “Downtown hotels act as a backbone for the tourism industry, promoting the staging of major gatherings and collaborating to anchor Montreal’s offering in the long term. We are therefore delighted to see that visitors are returning to the heart of the Metropolis, generating an influx that is felt in all spheres of the downtown economy,” shares Jean-S\u00e9bastien Boudreault, President and CEO of the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal.<\/p>\n

    Sources and media information<\/h3>\n

    Ville de Montr\u00e9al – Office of the Mayor and Executive Committee
    \nCatherine Cadotte
    \n514 465-2591<\/p>\n

    Montr\u00e9al centre-ville
    \nEmmanuelle Allaire
    \n514 298-6298<\/p>\n

    Quartier des Spectacles Partnership
    \nM\u00e9lanie Mingotaud
    \nmelanie@mingo2.ca
    \n514 582-5272<\/p>\n

    Tourisme Montr\u00e9al
    \nAur\u00e9lie de Blois
    \n514 918-5290<\/p>\n

    The Hotel Association of Greater Montreal
    \nMe Jean-S\u00e9bastien Boudreault, PDG
    \n514 924-0229<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":32,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communiques-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montrealcentreville.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}