Hotel bookings during World Cup down from last year, but B.C. minister sees positives

British Columbia’s jobs minister isn’t disputing hotel data that suggests Vancouver hotel vacancies on World Cup game days are down sharply compared to the same dates last year.

But Ravi Kahlon takes a positive view of analytics provided by U.S. hotel data firm CoStar, showing that as of June 1, occupancy for Vancouver’s first match on Saturday between Australia and Turkey is 57.4 per cent, down from 71.6 per cent on the same date a year ago.

Kahlon says the CoStar data shows Vancouver’s occupancy rates are the highest among the 14 host cities in the survey.

He says the vacancies are not unusual and he expects a “whirlwind of activity,” based on B.C.’s experience of hosting other major event.

The CoStar data that looks at bookings in host cities in Mexico, the United States and Canada does suggest that occupancy is picking up in most places as game days approach.

But it also shows that bookings are down compared to last year in both Toronto and Vancouver, where the shortfalls are greater.

For instance, occupancy in Vancouver for June 18, the day of the Canada-Qatar match, is 50.3 per cent, down by about a third from 73.8 per cent last year.

Travel websites still show four-star hotel rooms available in downtown Vancouver from about $350 on Saturday.

Kahlon, speaking at an unrelated event in Vancouver, says the government has seen a week-over-week increase in the hotel bookings based on data from its partners in the hotel industry and Destination Vancouver.

He says vacancies for the two knockout matches in Vancouver on July 2 and on July 7 are understandable, because nobody knows yet which teams will play. 

“Many soccer fans are projecting possibly Portugal to be here,” he says. “We know the Portuguese fans are going to follow this team to wherever they are going to go.” 

The government has suggested the World Cup will bring about $1 billion in GDP growth over the next five years.

But the British Columbia Hotel Association last month blamed flawed “messaging” for vacancies heading into the tournament, that had left tourists with the false impression no rooms were available.

It said June hotel occupancy rates in downtown Vancouver were pacing about 15 per cent behind the same period last year.

CoStar’s data shows hotel occupancy rates as of June 1 for five out of the seven games days in Vancouver are below 50 per cent, while four of six game days in Toronto are below 50 per cent. 

The occupancy rate in Toronto on Friday, when Canada plays its first group-stage match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, is 55.5 per cent, down from 67.9 per cent on June 12 last year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2026.

By Wolfgang Depner | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.