More Americans paid a visit to Canada last year.
According to Statistics Canada, U.S. residents made 24.3 million same-day and overnight trips to Canada in 2017, up 1.8% from 2016. It's the third consecutive year of growth.
But trips to Canada by car by US residents dipped slightly to 16.2 million following two years of growth.
CEO of Tourism Windsor-Essex-Pelee Island, Gord Orr, is encouraged by the numbers, saying it reflects the trends they're seeing in this area. "Trips by car had dropped slightly but certainly flights into the destinations have increased. And we are also seeing that we are kind of mirroring that."
Orr credits the improved economy and the strong American dollar. He says these stats fall in line with what they've noticed over the past year. "Over the last few years we've seen more interest in the destination, more people coming over, more people staying overnight and more people visiting attractions. So it's modest growth but its growth."
Stats Canada also reports that international tourists made 20.8 million trips of one or more nights to Canada, up 4.4% from 2016, surpassing the previous record of 20.1 million set in 2002.