Tourists visit B.C. in record numbers

Whistler Village in summer

More than a million international visitors flocked to B.C. between January and April 2016

In the first part of 2016, international overnight visitors and total U.S. visitors each topped the one-million mark, according to the latest statistics from Destination B.C. Overnight international visitors totalled 1,172,637, an 18.2 per cent increase over the same period in 2015. U.S. visitors were a combination of 789,622 who stayed overnight and 530,001 who returned the same day.

In the month of April alone, 328,006 visitors travelled to B.C., a 21 per cent increase over April 2015 and the highest number of visitors to the province for any April in the past 10 years. Growth in visitors from China, South Korea and Mexico is attributed partly to increased air access or additional flights to Vancouver from those countries. A Conference Board of Canada report on June 15 also predicts increased tourism to Vancouver thanks to increased capacity at YVR.

Top 10 sources of international visitors year-to-date:
U.S.: (same day + overnight): 1,391,623 (up 17.1%)
China: 66,683 (up 14.3%)
U.K.: 41,377 (up 1.3%)
Australia: 38,390 (up 9.3%)
Japan: 36,5589 (up 14.7%)
Mexico: 32,065 (up 41.1%)
South Korea: 24,788 (up 17.6%)
Hong Kong: 21,216 (down 3%)
South East Asia: 16,429 (down 4.5%)
India: 15,047 (up 4%)

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