VANCOUVER — Destination Canada’s (DC) latest Tourism Snapshot indicates continued tourism growth through February 2018. During the month, Canada welcomed approximately one-million visitors (up nine per cent year-over-year).
Following a slow start in January, arrivals from DC’s international markets increased 8.1 per cent year-over-year, lead by double-digit growth in arrivals from six if these markets, including China (up 46.2 per cent), India (up 25.8 per cent), Mexico (up 21.2 per cent), Germany (up 17.9 per cent); France (up 13 per cent) and Australia (up 10.2 per cent).
The U.S. market started the year on solid footing, with nearly 660,000 overnight arrivals to Canada in February (up 6.5 per cent). Despite the weaker U.S. dollar, at the start of 2018, U.S. tourists visited Canada in the highest numbers since 2005, with 1.2-million arrivals year-to-date (up 4.4 per cent year-over-year).
Japan and the U.K. were the only DC markets whose arrivals decreased in February 2018, contracting 10.3 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively. Consumer confidence in both markets remained generally negative at the time, with the economic situation being a continued concern in the U.K. and poor job prospects weighing on consumer expenditures in Japan.
Year-over-year comparison of national hotel indicators also reveals a positive trend. Occupancy for the month increased by 0.8 percentage points, while RevPAR and ADR grew by 4.2 per cent and 5.7 per cent respectively.
The complete report is available here.
