{"id":350590,"date":"2026-06-14T07:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T02:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=350590"},"modified":"2026-06-14T07:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T02:02:41","slug":"world-cup-economic-impact-takes-shape-as-fans-flood-toronto-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/14\/world-cup-economic-impact-takes-shape-as-fans-flood-toronto-streets\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup economic impact takes shape as fans flood Toronto streets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>The World Cup was billed as a serious economic opportunity for Toronto and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>Now, with the tournament underway, businesses are getting their first real have a look at whether those guarantees are translating into customers.<\/p>\n<p>1000&#8217;s of fans from all over the world descended on Toronto this week for town\u2019s first men\u2019s World Cup matches, filling fan zones, patios and sports bars as excitement across the tournament spread across downtown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing energy in town,\u201d Sara Anghel, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, in an interview with Global News.<\/p>\n<p>While crowds have been visible throughout town\u2019s core, Toronto-area hotels are usually not yet seeing the surge some can have expected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve seen an uneven June. There are days where it\u2019s a bit higher and days where it\u2019s not as great.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Anghel said June occupancy is currently tracking below last 12 months\u2019s levels, estimating that occupancy could finish the month at around 65 per cent.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/national.jpg\" alt=\"Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories.\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h2 class=\"c-inlineSignup__title\">Get every day National news<\/h2>\n<p>Get every day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you may never miss the day&#8217;s top stories.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cJune is already a extremely busy month in Toronto,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA whole lot of them stayed away, so it\u2019s not the June we often get when FIFA isn\u2019t here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She noted that when FIFA released additional tickets closer to the tournament, some hotel rooms that had been reserved were put back in the marketplace.<\/p>\n<p>The CEO of Destination Toronto, Andrew Weir, previously told Global News that \u201ceven when June finally ends up a bit bit lower than initial expectations \u2014 and even lower than a typical June can be \u2014 the remainder of the summer likely will balance out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Between June 12 and July 2, Toronto is hosting five group stage matches and one knockout game for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Economy<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Still, Anghel stays optimistic in regards to the months ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMay did well and we expect July and August will do very, thoroughly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Some businesses say they&#8217;re already benefiting from the influx of holiday makers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a lineup this morning and the sport wasn\u2019t until 3,\u201d restaurant manager Callam Hald told Global News.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Anghel added that fans have brought a noticeable boost to restaurants, patios and hotel gathering spaces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYesterday afternoon, all the things from the convention centre all of the solution to Front Street was stuffed with people at patios and lobbies just like the Royal York,\u201d Anghel said.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Olivia Chow said the tournament is putting Toronto on the worldwide stage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe complete world, they&#8217;ve their eyes on Toronto,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the World Cup ultimately delivers the economic boost promised by organizers and governments stays to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the tournament has clearly brought energy, crowds and international attention, but the total financial impact is probably not known until the ultimate game whistle blows.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&#038;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The World Cup was billed as a serious economic opportunity for Toronto and Canada. Now, with the tournament underway, businesses are getting their first real have a look at whether those guarantees are translating into customers. 1000&#8217;s of fans from all over the world descended on Toronto this week for town\u2019s first men\u2019s World Cup [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":350591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[1060,8893,815,4485,800,7556,25131,843,7917,813],"class_list":["post-350590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-cup","tag-economic","tag-fans","tag-flood","tag-impact","tag-shape","tag-streets","tag-takes","tag-toronto","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350590"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350593,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350590\/revisions\/350593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}