[Bcma-l] CMA Clip Serv: Canada's most visited tourist attractions?
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
bcma-l@museumsassn.bc.ca
Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:28:35 -0700
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<b>What are Canada's most visited tourist
attractions?</b></span></font>
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Rob Baedeker, Forbestraveler.com, Saturday, June 27, 2009</span></font>
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The global recession may have lowered tourism numbers in many
vacation spots, but at <b>Grouse Mountain </b>resort in North Vancouver,
British Columbia, things are looking up, both literally and
figuratively.</span></font>
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Attendance at the 82-year-old ski and recreation destination has
remained lofty, increasing to 1.2 million in 2008 compared with 1.1
million the previous year, according to William Mbaho, the resort's
public relations and communications manager. "Snow enthusiasm is
not waning," he says, adding that so far in 2009 there has also been an
increase in the number of students at the resort's ski and
snowboarding schools.</span></font>
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But visitation isn't the only thing on the rise at Grouse Mountain. The
SkyRide, North America's largest aerial tram system, "takes visitors a
mile up the mountain to our alpine station, 3,700 feet above sea
level," says Mbaho. "From there you have breathtaking panoramic
views of the city, sea, and surrounding mountains."</span></font>
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The peaks and valleys of attendance at Canada's other big tourist
draws were somewhat less dramatic than the view from Grouse's
summit. The '09 update to the list of most-visited Canadian tourist </span></font>
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attractions shows modest increases or decreases at destinations where
new figures were available. Visitation to Ottawa's <b>Canadian</b></span></font>
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<b>Museum of Civilization </b>and the <b>Toronto Zoo </b>jumped to 1.3 million
last year at both venues, for example, up from approximately 1.2
million for both the previous year. But at the <b>Ontario Science
Center</b>, attendance fell from 1.2 million to about 990,000 -- still
enough to squeeze onto the low end of our list, though.</span></font>
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As our list reveals, the tourism hot-spots in Canada include the quaint
(the narrow, restaurant-lined streets of <b>Quebec City</b>'s fortified old
town, for example), but they also encompass the exotic and awe-
inspiring (the thundering falls of <b>Niagara </b>or the stratospheric heights
of Toronto's <b>CN Tower</b>).</span></font>
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Not surprisingly, for a country renowned for its natural beauty,
outdoor destinations figure heavily on the list.</span></font>
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Canada's national parks draw approximately 13 million visitors
annually. The system's crown jewel, <b>Banff National Park</b>, in the
Canadian Rockies (in the province of Alberta) attracts scores of
adventure-seekers and nature lovers.</span></font>
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Ellen Sellers, a representative of Carlson Wagonlit/Encore Travel in
Bolingbrook, Ill., describes Banff as "the Switzerland of this
hemisphere." She says U.S. travelers are often surprised to find the
area "much different than a park like Yellowstone. Banff is glacial,
very green in the summertime. It's fresh and cool."</span></font>
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The <b>Bay of Fundy</b>, another Canadian natural wonder, straddling the
eastern provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, is also a major
tourist draw. Approximately 1.2 million visitors a year come to
marvel at the world's highest tide (the sea rises 50 feet in about six
hours) and to take in the myriad natural phenomena, including</span></font>
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several species of rare and endangered whales.</span></font>
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"Thirty percent of visitors to Fundy come from the U.S.," says Bay of
Fundy Tourism Partnership manager Terri McCulloch. "Likely this is
due, in part, to the excellent high speed catamaran car ferry, 'The Cat,'
that traverses the coast from Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine, to the
town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy."</span></font>
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Americans account for the lion's share of visitors at many of the
Canada's top attractions. Travelers from the U.S. account for more
than 76 percent of the 17.8 million foreign overnight visitors to
Canada, according to the CTC's latest annual report (2007).</span></font>
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As Canada's largest city, Toronto is home to many of its most-visited
tourist attractions. <b>Harbourfront Centre</b>, a 10-acre site on the
waterfront, includes shops, restaurants, green space, art performance
venues, an ice skating rink and an extensive boardwalk. It draws
approximately 12 million visitors annually, and this year (2009), its</span></font>
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summer arts festivals -- including the largest Indigenous art festival in
the world, "Planet IndigenUs" -- are expected to draw two million
alone.</span></font>
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"Toronto is known as one of the world's most ethnically varied
cities," the CTC's Carol Horne explains. Some 110 languages and
dialects are spoken among the population of 2.5 million.</span></font>
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Looking out from her window in the CTC's Vancouver office, Horne
offers another example of Canada's thrilling diversity: "I'm looking up
at the mountains, and <b>Stanley Park </b>(the forested oasis in the middle
of the city) is just down the street. And all this is side by side with
some incredible local culinary experiences. You can ski and dine
[downtown] all in one day."</span></font>
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Vancouver is a prime example of what Horne calls Canada's "vibrant
cities on the edge of nature." In addition to Stanley Park and Grouse
Mountain, Vancouver's <b>Granville Island </b>-- an enclave of theaters,
restaurants, shops and artists' studios alongside a renowned public
market -- makes our list, with an estimated 10.5 million visitors</span></font>
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annually.</span></font>
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Before we take a closer look at those sites of urban vibrancy and
natural splendor that constitute Canada's mostvisited tourist sites, a
word about methodology. </span></font>
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We defined tourist attractions in Canada as discrete sites of historical
or cultural interest; natural phenomena and landmarks; and delimited
(or officially designated) spaces of entertainment and recreation.
While some sites are included that have strong commercial
components, standalone shopping malls and casinos have been
excluded. Otherwise, Toronto's Eaton Centre, which claims one
million visitors a week, would top our list.</span></font>
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We've used the most up-to-date available numbers from the tourist
attractions themselves along with data from reputable media sources,
government agencies, and tourism industry newsletters.</span></font>
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For the complete list, in a slideshow, visit </span></font>
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<a href="http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/canadas-popular-attractions-">
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<u>http://www.forbestraveler.com/best-lists/canadas-popular-attractions-</u>
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