Vancouver gets approximately 230 cruise ship calls annually. Photograph By TOURISM VANCOUVER/BARBERSHOP FILMS
2014 was a banner year for tourism in Vancouver.
2015 was even better.
2016 pushed the bar even higher with 10 million visitors.
And now it looks like 2017 will be Vancouver's fourth consequetive record-breaker when it comes to how many people visited the city.
Although the final numbers won’t be tallied until March, Tourism Vancouver expects to be able to boast of 10.3 million visitors last year.
There was strong growth from Australia, China, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom, says Amber Sessions, the tourism agency’s communications manager.
The fundamentals for a strong 2018 are also there, she says.
• air capacity from Asia/Pacific is expected to grow with increased seat capacity from Australia, China, Mexico. There are modest increases from Canada, Europe and the United States;
• cruise demand and the number of ships visiting our city is also expected to increase. Vancouver gets approximately 230 cruise ship calls annually. Each ship stimulates more than $2 million in economic activity;
• 33 city-wide conventions and events are planned, making it the “busiest year ever”; and
• 2018 is the Canada-China Year of Tourism.
