B.C. posted its seventh straight month of gains in international overnight visitors, including a jump of 6.2% in people arriving from the U.S.
Statistics Canada figures released on Thursday show a 6.6% increase of overnight visitors entering B.C. last December compared with the same month in 2009.
That compares to a 2.4% increase in overnight visitors nationally in that month.
There were 4% more overnight visitors to B.C. in 2010 compared with 2009.
Canada reported a 2.3% increase in the number of visitors last year.
There were to 4,271,422 overnight visitors to B.C. in 2010.
Increases in overnight visitors to B.C. in December included a 33% increase in the number of Australian visitors, a 19.1% increase in South Korean visitors and an11.8% increase in visitors from New Zealand.
While visitors from Europe rose for the year, there were 6.2% fewer visitors from Europe in December.
B.C.’s Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Investment said in a release said that that the drop likely reflects the impact of one of the worst winter storms in Europe in decades, which paralyzed airports in numerous countries.
"Despite our high Canadian dollar, we’ve seen a resurgence in overnight visitors from the U.S., our largest single tourist market by far, over the past three months," said Tourism, Trade and Investment minister Margaret MacDiarmid in the release.