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Tourism is booming in Canada, especially from the U.S.

My my, Charlottetown was packed last weekend, with the downtown streets full of people eating Cows ice cream and cheering on the Pride Parade. The Confederation Centre in P.E.I.’s capital city played host to a large enthusiastic crowd who sang along with the feel-good Mamma Mia! musical show.

How can I resist you, indeed.

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[Jan Alexandra Smith, Eliza-Jane Scott, Nicola Dawn Brook star in Mamma Mia! at The 2016 Charlottetown Festival / Louise Vessey]

Despite its tiny size and a steep price of admission ($81 round-trip for the ferry from Nova Scotia or $46 for the Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick), the Island is enjoying a good year. Overnight stays, at their highest rate since 2005, are up 9.8 per cent since last year. Visits by Americans have increased 15.8 per cent and overnight stays by Quebec visitors have risen a whopping 28.7 per cent .

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For Canada’s smallest province, tourism is an important economic driver, adding over 7,700 direct jobs and $400-million in economic activity, according to data released by the province last week.

It isn’t just P.E.I. seeing a rise in tourism, either. All across Canada, there’s a tourism boom happening.

During the first four months of 2016, overnight arrivals from 11 top international markets rose 15.5 per cent (to 3.42 million visitors), according to Destination Canada. American visits in particular were up 17.1 per cent. Even though the Loonie has gained some ground compared to the U.S. dollar, its weakness has led to a significant increase in American visitors, and convinced Canadians to stay home. Canadians’ trips south of the border decreased by 14.2 per cent this year.

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[Confederation Bridge connects New Brunswick and P.E.I. / www.confederationbridge.com]

New Brusnwick

In New Brunswick, tourism has increased significantly, with border crossings up 21 per cent for the first five months of 2016 and a whopping 40 per cent increase in room nights sold to U.S. and other international guests. Tourism spokesperson Jason Hoyt says his province is expecting an increase in visitors thanks to the “low Canadian dollar.”

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[Vancouver at night / Vancouver Tourism]

British Columbia

In B.C, the story is much the same.

“We are experiencing one of our strongest years ever from the U.S. market – more than 800,000 visitors travelled to Vancouver in the first quarter of this year, a 15.5 per cent growth over this time last year,” says Sonu Purhar, Communications Manager for Tourism Vancouver.

In 2015, more than 9.3 million people visited Vancouver in 2015 – the highest overnight visitation in the city’s history, says Tourism Vancouver.

Tourism contributes approximately $6.1 billion to the Metro Vancouver economy annually and provides over 66,000 full time jobs. The province counts $14.6 billion in revenue from visitors, who come from other Canadian provinces, the U.S., China, United Kingdom and Australia (in order by volume).

Targeted sales and marketing have “increased air capacity and new direct routes between Vancouver and major U.S. cities have contributed significantly,” explained Purhar.

Kate Hoffard from Destination British Columbia says that anecdotally, two sectors that are doing well so far this year in B.C. are Aboriginal Tourism and Mountain Biking.

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[Niagara Falls / Niagara Falls Tourism]

Ontario

In Ontario, the U.S. border crossings have been busy, with same-day visits topping two million, up 12.6 per cent for the first five months of 2016. Overnight visits are up 11.9 per cent compared to 2015.

“Ontario is welcoming more visitors this year than ever before, with significant increases from the United States, United Kingdom and China, our largest source markets,” says Ronald Holgerson, President & CEO, Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation in an email.

Holgerson explained that along with the always-popular tourist destinations of Toronto, Ottawa and Niagara Falls, “Northern Ontario fishing lodges are reporting significant increases from the United States and the United Kingdom.”

Ontario saw increased entries from China (+25%), the Netherlands (+21%), South Korea (+15%), Brazil (+12%), and the UK (+9%) in May 2016 compared to May 2015.

The most recent figures show that in 2013, “tourism supported over 362,000 jobs and generated over $28.5 billion of economic activity in Ontario… with 141 million people visiting our province,” says Eleanor McMahon, Ontario’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

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[Banff National Park / @BanffNP via Twitter]

Alberta

Alberta has seen low occupancy rates so far this year, likely due to the economic recession’s affect on business travel, says Alberta Culture and Tourism. The one outlier is Edmonton, whose record high occupancy rates in May were due in part to Fort McMurray residents who took shelter there after fleeing the wildfires that forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people.

Alberta’s resorts are faring better, with a 3.4 per cent increase in May compared to the same month in 2015, and record attendance at Banff National Park. The average room rate also increased 7 per cent to $213.16. Visitor attendance at historic sites and museums is up over 5 per cent .

The weak dollar is helping to draw American tourists and encouraging staycations by domestic travellers, says the organization .