Victoria – The latest overnight custom entries from Statistics Canada show a strong summer tourism season in British Columbia. Visitor numbers are up by 238,000 people for the first eight months of 2015 – representing a 7.1% increase compared to the same period last year.
The Province invests more than $90 million annually in the tourism sector across every region to grow and market the sector. International overnight visitors are an important indicator of that growth.
There were increases in a number of key markets this August. Leading the way were visitors from Japan with an increase of 15.8% over last August. Visitors from India are up 13.2% and visitors from Australia are up 5.8%. The entire Asia/Pacific also saw an increase of 2.9% over August last year.
Growth from the United States, B.C.’s largest international market, was up 0.7%, with an additional 3,484 visitors coming to B.C. this August compared to August 2014.
As a key sector in the BC Jobs Plan, tourism is a key economic driver in the province. B.C.’s tourism sector is strong and growing – which is good news in light of fierce global competition for tourists. There are more than 19,200 tourism-related businesses in B.C., and over 17,000 (almost 93%) are small businesses. In 2013, the tourism industry generated $13.9 billion in revenue with a direct contribution to B.C.’s gross domestic product of $7.3 billion. Tourism accounted for 4% of the province’s total GDP.
Learn More:
Destination British Columbia’s International Visitor Arrivals publications: http://ow.ly/PUrQH
For tourism information and to plan your visit to Super, Natural British Columbia®, visit: www.hellobc.com/
To view Destination British Columbia’s award-winning video, The Wild Within, visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFrZNjs2ng&feature=youtu.be
B.C. Provincial Tourism Strategy “Gaining the Edge”: http://ow.ly/PfZvA
To find out more about the BC Jobs Plan, visit: www.engage.gov.bc.ca/bcjobsplan/
