ByWard Market visits on the rise, still short of pre-pandemic levels: report

The number of annual visitors to the ByWard Market continues to gradually creep upward but still remains short of pre-pandemic levels, new data shows.

Last year saw approximately 18.6 million individual visits to the downtown Ottawa tourism and nightlife hotspot, according to the annual report from the ByWard Market District Market Authority.

While that's far short of the roughly 25.6 million visits made in 2019 — the last year before the arrival of COVID-19 — it's also higher than any year since, the report shows.

"We are building back," said Zachary Dayler, the authority's executive director, in a presentation Tuesday to Ottawa city council.

"But obviously, we're seeing a few changes in terms of people's behaviour."

Tuesday's annual report was the first issued by the authority, which was formed in 2023 following the dissolution of both the ByWard Market BIA and Ottawa Markets, the previous municipal corporation that oversaw the area.

Dayler told council one of the authority's goals is to more than double the number of days when some sort of public event takes place in the market area, from 60 days in 2023 to eventually closer to 150.

"The idea here is that there should always be something happening in the public market," he said.

Police operations centre launches

The report came one day ahead of the official launch of the Ottawa Police Service's new neighbourhood operations centre in Rideau Centre — and its promises of a safer, more secure market area.

"We did a lot of research, but this particular area here is problematic," said police Chief Eric Stubbs at Wednesday's ribbon-cutting.

"Like right on Rideau there, there's a lot of problems."

The "safety and security perception" is one of the big obstacles to getting foot traffic in the ByWard Market back to pre-COVID levels, Dayler said.

And while those issues remain among the top concerns of local business owners, Dayler said Ottawa police will have to show that the centre is a net benefit for the community.

"I think the opening of the neighbourhood operations centre is but one component for making people feel safe," he said.

"I think it's positive, but I do think it's something that will have to continue to provide community feedback and make sure that they're providing a service — the same way that the district authority has to provide a service."