CTC: June 2014: data mining the visitor numbers to Canada.

As the year reached its halfway stage, the good news continued to roll in for the Canadian tourism industry. Just over 2.1 million international travellers made Canada their port of call, a 2% year-on-year increase, says the latest Tourism Snapshot from the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)'s Research department.

Here is more big data:

• CTC's overseas markets were the engine of growth in June 2014, delivering 10% more visitors than the previous year.
• Year-to-date June 2014, just under seven million travellers have come to our country, a 2% year-on-year rise.
• Despite a 10% lift in air travel from the US market, declines in auto trips (-4%) and other modes of transport ((-12%) mean that the American visitor total dipped 1% in June 2014.
• Newfoundland and Labrador was popular with American tourists in June 2014, posting a whopping 68% surge in visitors.
• CTC's European markets were all smiles in June 2014, with France (11%), the UK (3%) and Germany (2%) all witnessing more travellers cross the Atlantic to Canada.
• They come from a land Down Under in increasing numbers: the Australia market maintained its impressive 2014 growth with another 9% rise in travellers to Canada in June.
• The improved visa facilitation process in Mexico is greasing the travel wheels nicely, as this market climbed 13% over June 2013.
• The China market powered ahead in June 2014, this time clocking up a (modest by its standards) 27% surge in visitors to Canada.
• Elsewhere in Asia, the India (19%), Japan (14%) and South Korea (6%) markets all had rosy Canadian outlooks.
• The news was largely positive, too, from CTC's secondarymarkets: visitor numbers to Canada rose from Spain (26%), Italy (17%), Taiwan (16%), Hong Kong (9%) and Switzerland (6%), with the Netherlands (-2%) the only blip on the horizon.
• The tourism bug bit Canadians strongly in June 2014: outbound travel rose 5% over June 2013 to reach 2.4 million trips.
• Year-to-date June 2014, Canadians have taken 16.7 million trips away from the motherland, up 2% on the previous year.
• Canadian confidence stayed on a relatively keel in June 2014. The Index of Consumer Confidence, released by The Conference Board of Canada, slipped a slight 0.4 points to 86.9.
• South of the border, Americans continued to be optimistic over future prospects. The Conference BoardConsumer Confidence Index climbed three points to 85.2.