VANCOUVER, Canada – Tourism usually brings in 3.6 billion dollars a year to Vancouver, and 2014 could be even better.

Vancouver has already seen 5.5 percent more people visit, with hotel stays up more than 8 percent as well.

Tourism Vancouver’s Paul Vallee says it’s not just visitors from across Canada and the States driving growth.

“One market in particular which continues to show really strong growth year over year in the last number of years is China. You know, this year we have seen an increase of 25 percent from China.”

He says the number of Chinese tourists are up more than a quarter compared to last year, as the Asian country overtook the UK as Vancouver’s largest overseas travel market.

The number of conventions in town, like TED Talks and Rendez-vous Canada, also helped the numbers.

“This year has been a very good year for conventions, we have had a number of conventions spread throughout the year since January but also we are seeing some recovery of key markets,” Vallee explains.

Tourism accounts for some 68,900 jobs in Vancouver.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:

“This year has been a very good year for conventions, we have had a number of conventions spread throughout the year since January but also we are seeing some recovery of key markets,” Vallee explains.
He says the number of Chinese tourists are up more than a quarter compared to last year, as the Asian country overtook the UK as Vancouver's largest overseas travel market.
“One market in particular which continues to show really strong growth year over year in the last number of years is China.