CTC: December 2014: travel to Canada closes year on upbeat note.

The early 2014 tourism report card for Canada has been filed: it was a good year, with 17.1 million international visitors coming to Canada, a 3% rise on the previous year. That positive news is tempered slightly by the knowledge that Canada has not reached its full potential: our tourism growth is below the global average of 5% recorded by UNWTO, says the latest Tourism Snapshot from the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)'s Research department.

Browse these vital tourism statistics:

• CTC's overseas markets were the trailblazers in 2014, clocking an overall 11% year-on-year surge in arrivals to Canada, including 9% growth in December 2014.
• Canada was the place to be in December 2014 for more than 1.1 million global travellers-a 6% rise on the previous year-which was the highest visitor total ever recorded for that month.
• Rises in air travel (7%) and automobile trips (4%) meant that the overall total for US overnight visitors in December 2014 was higher than 783,000, up 5% on December 2013.
• Looking at 2014 as a whole, Americans made 12 million overnighters to Canada, a slight 1% improvement on 2013.
• The Australia market was a big mover and shaker in December 2014, with 14% more Aussies than the previous year taking a Canadian vacation.
• In CTC's Asian markets, the year closed with four tales of success, as visitor numbers rose in December from China (20%), India (13%), Japan (16%) and South Korea (9%).
• The Mexico market had a strong finish to 2014, with a 12% boost in travellers to Canada.
• More than 482,000 French travellers crossed the Atlantic to Canada in 2014, the highest yearly total on record for that market.
• France was one of five CTC markets-Australia, Brazil, China and India were the other four-to enjoy a record-breaking 2014 in terms of visitor numbers.
• CTC's secondary markets had highs and lows in December 2014: although visitors to Canada soared from Taiwan (45%), Hong Kong (20%), Italy (14%) and Spain (7%), they dipped from the Netherlands (-0.1%) and Switzerland (-4%).
• Hearth and home appealed to Canadians in the first month of winter, as outbound travel dipped 1% in December to 2.3 million trips.
• Canadians took 33.5 million outbound trips in 2014, up 2% on the previous year.
• The year ended with renewed optimism for Canadians. The Index of Consumer Confidence, released by The Conference Board of Canada, rose 6.3 points in December to end 2014 at 88.9.
• Americans felt more certain of the futures in December 2014. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index climbed 2.1 points to 93.1.