According to a recent Survey, the City of Vancouver has the highest quality of living in North America.
In addition, Tourism Vancouver reports that Metro Vancouver broke its tourism record in 2017 with an astounding 10.3 million people visiting the area.
Not only did it receive a record number of visitors, but it also garnered a litany of accolades. Conde Nast Traveler magazine named it one of the best cities in the world, and Travel Weekly readers named Vancouver the “Best City in Canada”.
Also, the Port of Vancouver welcomed 842,928 cruise passengers on 236 vessel visits in 2017. This reflects a 2% growth since 2016. Each ship brings an average of $3 million to the local economy.
What’s more, cruise ship arrivals are projected to increase in 2018 by 6% to nearly 900,000 passengers.
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Tourism Record Smashed in 2017
Australia had the highest tourism growth in the city in 2017. Australian visitation to Vancouver increased 20.4% in 2017 to 238,823 visitors. China came in second, with 300,172 visitors in 2017 – a 7.1% increase over 2016.
The United States is still Vancouver’s largest international travel market. It saw an incredible 2,405,287 overnight visitors in 2017 alone.
Many factors contributed to Metro Vancouver’s dramatic tourism increase; however, some of the largest were strategic marketing initiatives in 11 countries worldwide.
Vancouver’s tourism industry contributes approximately $4.8 billion the regional economy annually and over more than 70,000 full-time jobs.