A concert featuring Avril Lavigne, the Barenaked Ladies, the Tragically Hip and others may be just what the doctor ordered for Toronto, as the city battles to keep its tourists amid a second wave of SARS cases.

The six-hour concert will be jam-packed with some of the biggest names in Canadian music, the Ontario government announced Wednesday.

"We want summer to start with a real bang, something that's going to bring a lot of livelihood, rockin' and poppin' and all that," said Brian Coburn, Ontario's minister of tourism.

The star-studded concert will also feature:

• Sarah McLachlan,
• Remy Shand,
• Glenn Lewis,
• Swollen Members,
• Sum 41
• and Our Lady Peace.

More acts are expected in the coming weeks, with Neil Young and Shania Twain among the rumoured names.

Of course, you can't fit all those stars on one stage at the same time. The June 21 concert will be held simultaneously at two venues -- SkyDome and the Air Canada Centre -- in order to accommodate 70,000 people.

Those at one venue upset about missing an act at another won't be disappointed. The two venues will be linked by video feed so fans at one place can watch performances at the other. Performers will be spread out so no one is on the stage at the same time.

Tickets will cost $19.50 and $29.50 and go on sale Thursday.

The government joined forces with Roots Canada and ClearChannel Entertainment to put on the concert. Roots plans to sell shirts promoting Toronto, with proceeds going to SARS relief.

With Toronto struggling to bring back tourists scared off by SARS, Liberal MP Dennis Mills had been working on a deal to bring The Rolling Stones to the city for a free concert. Mills had said private sector backers were ready with half of the $10-million cost to stage the event, while government support was needed for the rest.

Coburn said the show announced Wednesday is not the same project.

"There's ongoing discussions (for the Stones show),'' he said. "If something like that happens it's one more big plus for us.''

On Wednesday, Statistics Canada announced a $585 million dollar international travel deficit -- the difference between what Canadians spend abroad and what visitors spend here -- over the first three months of 2003.

StatsCan says the 5.3 per cent drop in spending by foreign visitors is a combined effect of the war in Iraq, U.S. terror alerts and the SARS outbreak, which began in March.

Visits by foreigners to Canada also dropped 6.9 per cent from the fourth quarter of last year, with 10.7 million same-day and overnight trips.

With a report from The Canadian Press