2015 a record year for Vancouver tourism for second year in a row

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s the second year in a row the City of Vancouver has seen record tourism numbers, with over 9 million visitors in 2015.

It’s not just the low-flying loonie bringing more and more people to the area; marketing initiatives, tournaments and the addition of a number of direct flights from countries around the world are bringing more people to Vancouver.

Amber Sessions with Tourism Vancouver says people don’t realize the importance of air access.

“It’s been a really good year for YVR securing new flights. There’s a new Qantas flight between Sydney and Vancouver, a new China Eastern Airlines flight bringing people in from inland China [and] a new flight from Japan coming. Those flights really help to bring in more volume into the city.”

It’s also been a strong year for conventions in Vancouver and Sessions says these events can bring up to 8,000 people in.

Sessions says it was a good year for the cruise ship industry as well, and it lasted quite awhile. But there was one event that was particularly impressive:

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup, which brought a lot of visitors into the city in the early summer. In fact, the day of the final FIFA Women’s World Cup game, we actually had 99 per cent occupancy in hotels across the city.”

Tourism Vancouver says this year, the city was recognized by Condé Nast Traveler magazine as one of the “World’s Best Food Cities” and Mercer once again named Vancouver “North America’s Most Livable City.”

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