Tourists flocking to B.C. according to newest statistics

Tourism officials in B.C. say the latest visitors numbers show the province is leading the way in Canada for drawing tourists.

The provincial government says the latest overnight custom entries from Statistics Canada show that the number of visitors are up by 238,000 people for the first eight months of this year. That is a 7.1 per cent increase compared to the same time last year.

In September the province also touted an increase in visitors to B.C. based on July numbers for this year compared to 2014.

"Visitors want to enjoy a world-class tourism experience and that's what B.C. offers," said Shirley Bond, minister of jobs, tourism and skills training, in a release.

"The growth we are seeing in key markets in Asia and the United States proves what a remarkable summer tourist season we've had."

Japan leads

Leading the way were visitors from Japan with an increase of 15.8 per cent over last August. Visitors from India are up 13.2 per cent and visitors from Australia are up 5.8 per cent.

There were also slightly more visitors from the United States to B.C. this past August than in 2014.

The province says it invests more than $90 million annually into the tourism sector.

"I am delighted to see the impact we are making, together, to bring visitors to our province," said Marsha Walden, who speaks for Destination British Columbia.

Walden says she expects more that 19 million trips in 2015 within or to B.C.

"That's an increase of more than three per cent over last year, and is setting the pace for Canada," she said in the release. "It truly is an exciting time for tourism in B.C."

Tourism economic driver

There are more than 19,200 tourism-related businesses in B.C.

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 and accounted for four per cent of the province's total GDP.

As part of the government's release, it is promoting "staycations" as a way to keep tourism money circulating in the province.