A record year for tourism in Canada

Archival Photo Daniel Mallard

QMI agency

Tuesday, February 20, 2018 18:19

UPDATE
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 18:20

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OTTAWA – A record number of tourists visited Canada in 2017, the year of the 150th anniversary of confederation.

Most of 20,85 million foreign visitors came to Canada last year, according to a report released Tuesday by Destination Canada, the Crown corporation responsible for promoting tourism in the country.

This number smashes the previous record, set in 2002, when Canada hosted 20,06 million tourists.

It is also a 4.4% increase compared to 2016.

The minister for Heritage, Mélanie Joly, has attributed these recent data in the festivities surrounding the 150th anniversary of confederation. “Wow! Figures bear witness to the success of the celebrations of #Canada150!” she wrote on Twitter.

Wow! Figures bear witness to the success of the celebrations of #Canada150! I am very happy to have met so many people to celebrate across the country! Now, let us turn to the next 150 years! #polcan https://t.co/O4Nzfi0C2Q

— Melanie Joly (@melaniejoly) February 20, 2018

Source by region

Destination Canada target mainly eleven countries for the promotion of tourism.

Among them, the United States still account for the majority of foreign visitors. They are 14,33 million have crossed north of the border, a figure 3.1% increase compared to 2016.

Outside of the United States, what are the markets of the Asia-Pacific (Australia, India, China, Japan and South Korea) and Europe (France, Germany, the United Kingdom) that dominate the ranking, with respectively 1.9 and 1.76 million arrivals.

South America (Brazil and Mexico) account for 500 000 visitors. It is this market that has experienced the fastest expansion in 2017, growing more than 39 %.