{"id":735172,"date":"2026-06-14T00:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T00:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/735172\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T00:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T00:12:12","slug":"world-cup-economic-impact-takes-shape-as-fans-flood-toronto-streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/735172\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup economic impact takes shape as fans flood Toronto streets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Cup was billed as a major economic opportunity for Toronto and Canada.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now, with the tournament underway, businesses are getting their first real look at whether those promises are translating into customers.<\/p>\n

Thousands of fans from around the world descended on Toronto this week for the city\u2019s first men\u2019s World Cup<\/a> matches, filling fan zones, patios and sports bars as excitement around the tournament spread across downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing energy in the city,\u201d Sara Anghel, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Hotel Association, in an interview with Global News.<\/p>\n

While crowds have been visible throughout the city\u2019s core, Toronto-area hotels are not yet seeing the surge<\/a> some may have expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen an uneven June. There are days where it\u2019s a little better and days where it\u2019s not as great.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Anghel said June occupancy is currently tracking below last year\u2019s levels, estimating that occupancy could finish the month at around 65 per cent.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJune is already a really busy month in Toronto,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them stayed away, so it\u2019s not the June we usually get when FIFA isn\u2019t here.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that when FIFA released additional tickets closer to the tournament, some hotel rooms that had been reserved were put back on the market.<\/p>\n

The CEO of Destination Toronto, Andrew Weir, previously told Global News that \u201ceven if June ends up a little bit lower than initial expectations \u2014 or even lower than a typical June would be \u2014 the rest of the summer likely will balance out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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Still, Anghel remains optimistic about the months ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay did well and we expect July and August will do very, very well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some businesses say they are already benefiting from the influx of visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lineup this morning and the game wasn\u2019t until 3,\u201d restaurant manager Callam Hald told Global News.<\/p>\n

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Anghel added that fans have brought a noticeable boost to restaurants, patios and hotel gathering spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday afternoon, everything from the convention centre all the way to Front Street was full of people at patios and lobbies like the Royal York,\u201d Anghel said.<\/p>\n

Mayor Olivia Chow said the tournament is putting Toronto on the global stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire world, they have their eyes on Toronto,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Whether the World Cup ultimately delivers the economic boost promised by organizers and governments remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

For now, the tournament has clearly brought energy, crowds and international attention, but the full financial impact may not be known until the final game whistle blows.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The World Cup was billed as a major economic opportunity for Toronto and Canada. Now, with the tournament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":735173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,94246,46,3274,82,3302,13009],"class_list":["post-735172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-soccer","tag-economy","tag-fifa","tag-sports","tag-toronto","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}