The number of international visitors who stayed overnight in B.C. rose 14% in the first five months of 2016 to 1,650,703, according to numbers from tourism marketer Destination British Columbia.
American visitors were largely responsible for the increase, given that U.S. overnight visitors comprised 66% (1,094,290) of the total tally. U.S. visitation was up 15.8% in the first five months of the year compared with the same period in 2015.
May visitation saw a lower increase than previous months this year. There were 478,066 international visitors who stayed overnight in May, 4.8% more than the previous year. Once again it was Americans who led the way with 63.7% (304,668) of those visitors, 4.9% more than the previous May.
B.C. underperformed the rest of the country which attracted 5.25% more international visitors in May. However, year to date, B.C.’s visitor-growth rate outperformed the rest of Canada 14% to 11.7%.
Countries with the largest percentage increases for visitation to B.C. in May were:
- Switzerland (up 71.3%);
- Taiwan (up 41.7%)
- Mexico (up 29%);
- Netherlands (up 15.7); and
- India (up 11.7%).
Switzerland and Taiwan were also the two countries with the highest visitation-growth rate in the first five months of the year. Year to date, visitation from Taiwan was up 41.4% to 18,345 while visitation from Switzerland was up 37.8% to 8,301.
