Canada’s Travel Industry Lures More Foreign Tourists

Around 18 million foreign visitors came to Canada in 2015. It was the largest tourist destination in the last nine years according to a report by Statistique Canada.

The tourism industry of Canada also did a good job, attracting some 20 million international tourists in 2002, its best performance since 1946.

Canada is also becoming more and more popular with Asian tourists. In 2015, Asians comprised around 33.2% foreign tourists from a country besides the US. However, lesser percentage of Europeans visited Canada. Regarding the maximum number of tourists visiting Canada, the Americans still occupied the top spot.

Some 12 million Americans visited Canada in 2015. With its most recent performance, Canada is not likely to reach the top 10 most popular destinations in the world, according to Michel Archambault, professor emeritus at The University of Quebec at Montreal’s department of urban and tourism studies. According to the UNWTO data in 2014, France is at the top with 83.7 million visitors, followed by the US with 74.8 million.