Go Figure: Will it be another record-breaking year for tourism in B.C.?

Credit: Hubert Kang

As B.C. heads into another peak tourist season after a record-breaking 2018, we look at how sightseers are helping power the provincial economy 

Visitors from abroad to B.C. in 2018: 

6.1 million

Non-U.S. international tourists:

2.2 million

?5.8% Asia

?6.6% Europe

?7% Africa

?56.8% South America

Total revenue from B.C. tourism in 2017:

$18.4 billion

Provincial tax revenue from B.C. tourism in 2017: 

$1.2 billion

10-year growth: 

?41.3%

Tourism businesses operating in B.C. in 2017: 

19,243

Tourism industry jobs: 

302,700

Job openings expected by 2028: 

106,000

Indigenous tourism businesses in B.C.:

401

?33% since 2014

7,400 direct full-time jobs

$705 million direct gross domestic output

Visitor nights in B.C., 2017:

84,961,000

Average summer rate for a room in a Vancouver hotel with three or more stars:

$324

2ND HIGHEST in Canada, after Banff

Average summer rate in Toronto:

$156

Value of sports tourism in B.C., 2017:

$1.35 billion

People who participated in sports tourism in the province that year: 

2,310,000

Pot-friendly B&Bs listed in B.C. on Airbnb competitor Budandbreakfast.com: 

15

Sources: BC Stats, Destination British Columbia, go2HR, Indigenous Tourism BC, Cheaphotels.org, Tourism Vancouver, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance, Budandbreakfast.com, CannaTours; Illustration: Kagan Mcleod