There is still a month to go before the end of 2017, but tourism leaders in Canada have already touted big tourism growth thanks to Canada 150.
The year-long 150 anniversary celebrations generated ‘double digit increases in every part of the country,’ according to Gary Howard of the Canadian Automobile Association.
"It’s not just international travelers, primarily it was a lot of Canadians who wanted to see more of their country that they hadn’t seen before."
"Cruise lines had larger ships, there was an increase in rail capacity, and tour operators created more Canadian-ized packages," he said.
That is backed up by Destination Canada which reported a 16% increase in the number of Canadian millennials taking domestic vacations during 2017.
Jantine Van Kregten, director of communications for Ottawa Tourism said the low loony and the wide variety of special birthday events throughout the year added up to the perfect storm for the tourism industry.
"I think it did lead people to make the decision, out of any year to visit Canada, this is going to be the year. Canada has always been one of those dream destinations for a lot of overseas visitors," Van Kregten said.
Van Kregten also cited Lonely Planet and the New York Times designating Canada as the No. 1 place to visit in 2017.
