For the fourth consecutive year, Vancouver has set a record for how many tourists have visited our fair city. According to Tourism Vancouver's figures for overnight visitation in 2017, we welcomed 10,345,867 people to Metro Vancouver.
The 2017 figure represents a new all-time best record for Metro Vancouver.
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What's the draw? Conventions and cruises are two of the biggest draws for Vancouver. When it comes to the latter, in 2017 the Port of Vancouver welcomed 842,928 cruise passengers on 236 vessel visits--up 2% from 2016. Each cruise ship, says Tourism Vancouver, brings $3 million into Vancouver's economy.
One of the world's most popular spots for conventions, our meeting spaces are being booked up for large-scale gatherings as far ahead as for 2027. In the coming months and years Vancouver will host the 2019 Women Deliver Global Conference, 2019 Ecocity World Summit, and the 2020 Association for Molecular Pathology Annual Meeting, among many, many others.
Plus, we've got high profile sporting events, and are always being ranked up at the top of all sorts of lists appealing to visitors, like In 2017, Vancouver was recognized as one of the 20 "Best Cities in the World" by Conde Nast Traveler magazine. Forbes put Vancouver on their list of "Top 2017 Travel Destinations." Travel Weekly readers named Vancouver the "Best City in Canada."
Add a slew of new flight routes in and out of YVR (one of the Most Impressive Airports in the World, no less!), and there's a recipe for plenty of easy air travel to Vancouver.
Global visitors are hailing from Australia, Germany, Mexico, Japan, and South Korea, however our two largest international markets for tourism in Vancouver remain the United States (2,405,287 overnight visitors in 2017) and China (300,172 visitors in 2017).
Photo: Pixabay
Looking ahead for this year, Tourism Vancouver says it's likely going to be another high-level year for visitors. In fact, they're predicting 2018 will be an even stronger year, considering the many conventions, increased cruise ship bookings, and more big name sporting events on the books.
It is estimated that the tourism industry in Vancouver contributes approximately $4.8 billion to the Metro Vancouver economy annually and provides more than 70,000 full-time jobs.
