Travelsmart
What a year! 2015 stats confirm strong growth for BC Tourism
You’ve heard the news stories–now read the year-end figures. Yes, 2015 really was an outstanding year for BC tourism. The 2015 international visitor numbers are up 7.9% over 2014. This means an additional 359,750 visitors from international markets came to British Columbia in 2015. Good neighbours make great visitors, as year-end US visitation was up 9.6% over 2014–a figure surpassing the growth rate of visitation to Canada overall (8.3%). The strong growth in the tourism sector can be linked to a number of factors, including the marketing efforts of Destination BC and our industry partners, increased number of direct flights and a lower Canadian dollar. Learn More
2014 report confirms major economic impact of tourism
Destination BC has just released the Value of Tourism 2014: A Snapshot of Tourism in BC, which summarizes the economic contribution of the tourism industry including tourism generated GDP, revenue, employment, wages and salaries as well as tourism tax revenue–and the news is good. Among the key findings, in 2014, tourism GDP grew more rapidly than that of the BC economy as a whole. Tourism generated $14.6 billion in revenue, a 5.1% increase over 2013. Tourism contributed $7.1 billion GDP to the provincial economy, 4.5% growth over 2013. A study of 10 years of data allows a longer view perspective on the tourism industry –and the numbers are even more dramatic. The 2014 figures show 127,500 people were employed in tourism, a 2.2% increase over 2013, and a whopping 18.4% increase since 2004. The tourism industry paid $4.3 billion in wages and salaries, up 4.5% over 2013. Find more information on preliminary findings from the Value of Tourism 2014: A Snapshot of Tourism in BC here.
For details about BC Stats tourism sector indicators and the methodology used to generate them click here.
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