標題: Whatcom County sees big increase in Canadian visits in 2010 [打印本頁] 作者: tiffiant 時間: 2011-2-19 00:25 標題: Whatcom County sees big increase in Canadian visits in 2010
Whatcom County sees big increase in Canadian visits in 2010
Millions more Canadians took the trip south of the border to Whatcom County in 2010
Sheila Scott Feb 18, 2011 19:13:15 PM
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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - The number of Canadians traveling south into Whatcom County went up significantly last year, which saw the most Canadian visits since 2001.
Ken Oplinger with the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce says according to new numbers from Western Washington University, there was an 8.3 per cent increase in Canadian visits last year over 2009. That is 11.8 million people making the trip south.
He says you can chalk it up to the high Canadian dollar, the HST, and Bellingham's Airport. "[There was] a tremendous increase in the number of Canadians. We had 400,000 people fly out of [Bellingham] Airport in 2010; our estimation is 70 per cent of those were from the Lower Mainland."
He expects to see even more visits this year, but not such a huge year-over-year increase.
Oplinger notes we're still a long way off from numbers of visitors the county saw before 9-11, when numbers peaked at 27.9 million.
