Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport
The latest international visitor arrival numbers show an increase for British Columbia’s tourism sector.
The August numbers from Statistics Canada indicate a 2.3% increase over the same month in 2016, resulting in 18,499 more visitors arriving in B.C. Total year-to-date international overnight custom entries to B.C. are up 2.8%, resulting in 113,473 more visitors.
The Province’s lead marketing organization, Destination BC has been instrumental in marketing the province globally to ensure travellers are making plans to visit B.C.
Notable increases for August (over August 2016) include:
- Mexico up 18.3%
- Germany up 12.0%
- Australia up 9.8%
- France up 4.5%
- United States up 2.8%
- China up 2.6%
- South Korea up 2.0%
- Japan up 0.6%
- Asia/Pacific up 2.0%
Notable increases for year-to-date arrivals include:
- Mexico up 25.4%
- Australia up 23.0%
- Germany up 14.2%
- China up 6.9%
- Japan up 4.3%
- United Kingdom up 2.9%
- India up 1.8%
- France up 1.6%
- United States up 0.8%
- South Korea up 0.7%
- Asia/Pacific up 6.8%
- Europe up 3.5%
Destination BC is an industry-led Crown corporation that works collaboratively with tourism stakeholders throughout the province to co-ordinate tourism marketing at the international, provincial, regional and local levels, and to support regions communities and Aboriginal people in developing or expanding tourism experiences, businesses and jobs.
British Columbians, as well as neighbours in Alberta and Washington, are being encouraged to #exploreBC by traveling this fall to support festivals, events and local tourism operators throughout the province.
Quick Facts:
In 2015, the tourism sector:
- Employed 127,000 British Columbians;
- Paid $4.5 billion in wages and salaries;
- Supported nearly 19,000 tourism-related businesses in B.C.; and
- Contributed $7.4 billion toward the province’s GDP.
Learn More:
International Visitor Arrivals publication summarizes customs entries data to BC and Canada from select markets of origin. The data is posted monthly, by Destination BC, once it is released by Statistics Canada: http://www.destinationbc.ca/Research/Industry-Performance/International-Visitor-Arrivals.aspx
