New data show the number of visitors to B.C. rising despite a steep drop in the number of Mexican visitors.
The province was the entry point in Canada for 267,448 non-Canadians in November, up 3.5 per cent from the same month in 2023, according to Destination British Columbia.
That growth, however, pales in comparison to Canada as a whole. Canada-wide there were 1,134,550 international visitors in November, up 11.9 per cent compared with the same month in 2023.
Despite seeing an overall increase in the number of visitors, travel from Mexico plummeted across Canada.
Only 8,191 Mexican citizens entered Canada through B.C. in November. That is down 21.2 per cent from the same month in 2023, according to Destination BC.
Back in November 2023, when 10,391 Mexicans entered Canada through B.C. entry points, Mexico was a fast-growing source for visitors to B.C., as the number was up 26.5 per cent over November 2022.
The huge drop-off in travel from Mexicans is almost certainly because Canada reinstated visa requirements starting Feb. 29.
That was a move that disappointed many B.C. tourism-industry operators and many Mexicans.
Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller on Feb. 28 made the surprising sudden announcement that the following day Mexicans would need visas to enter Canada. That threw a wrench into the works for many Mexicans who had already booked trips to come to Canada. Miller's rationale was that it was a way to curb the number of asylum claims in Canada.
Quebec Premier François Legault had been urging Ottawa to reinstate the visas.
Before Miller's one-day notice of the change, Mexicans had only been required to have electronic travel authorizations in order to visit Canada. Miller's announcement came with a ministry statement that "most existing electronic travel authorizations for Mexican passport holders are being cancelled."
The only exemptions that allowed Mexicans to come to Canada without a visa were for those who either held a Canadian visitor visa in the last 10 years or who currently held a valid U.S. non-immigrant visa.
On a year-to-date basis up to the end of November, overall visits to B.C. were up 6.6 per cent compared with the same time period in 2023. That also lagged the Canadian average of an 8.9-per-cent increase in those same two time periods.
The drops in Mexican visitors in the first 11 months of 2024 were also the largest in percentage terms in B.C. and Canada-wide, compared to that time period in 2023: down 18.8 per cent in B.C. and down 25.9 per cent Canada-wide.
Americans are responsible for B.C.'s rising international visitor count
Relations between Canada and the U.S. were much stronger in November than they are today.
U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened 25-per-cent tariffs on Canada spurred countless first ministers' meetings, an announcement of retaliatory tariffs and sports fans in several Canadian cities booing the U.S. national anthem at games.
Back in November, however, there was a total of 340,365 Americans who visited Canada for at least part of a day, up 10.9 per cent from the same month in 2023. Of those, 57.2 per cent were by Americans who stayed overnight.
The 194,531 overnight visits by Americans was up 7.2 per cent from November 2023, while the 145,834 same-day visits by Americans were up 16.3 per cent from November 2023.
Visits from Indians dive the most, after Mexicans
India was the country with the second steepest drop in visits to Canada through B.C. entry points in November, versus November 2023. Those visits were 18.7 per cent down.
November was a time when Canada-India relations were at what may have been the lowest point in decades.
Canada on Oct.14 announced that it was expelling six Indian diplomats and consular officials because they were involved in a targeted campaign against Canadians. India retaliated by expelling six Canadian diplomats.
Talks for a Canada-India free-trade agreement were on hold, and Indian entrepreneurs in Vancouver told BIV that the diplomatic fued between India and Canada was an emotional gut-punch.
Relations between Canada and India were not that strong in November 2023 either, however. In September 2023, India temporarily suspended visa services for Canadians. That followed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau telling Parliament that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the June 2023 killing of Sikh independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey.
The change to require Mexicans to have visas to enter Canada reverts to what was the case more than eight years ago
While there have been calls for the B.C. and Canadian governments to diversify trade and strengthen relationships with countries outside the U.S., the Canadian government's decision to reimpose visas on Mexicans last year is an example of a move that runs counter to that objective.
Trudeau in 2016 acted on his long-term pledge to allow Mexicans to enter Canada without needing visas. That policy officially took effect Dec. 1, 2016. Trudeau made his announcement in June of that year, during Mexico's then-president Enrique Peña Nieto’s two-day state visit to Canada, which also saw Mexico agree to lift restrictions on Canadian beef.
Airlines loved the news.
Aeromexico upped its weekly flight frequencies to Mexico City out of Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to 10 from seven, and started using bigger planes starting as soon as the visa restrictions were dropped.
Within a year, Interjet became the seventh airline to fly non-stop flights between YVR and Mexican destinations.
Mexican visits to Canada through B.C. entry points soared in 2017.
Much of the reason for that was visa-free access, although this was also the first year in U.S. President Donald Trump's first term. His disparaging comments about Mexicans may have prompted some Mexicans that year to avoid the U.S. and come to Canada instead.
