Photo: Kari Medig

British Columbia continues to be a big draw for tourists and business people from around the world.

New numbers from Statistics Canada show a three per cent uptick in visitor arrivals in December 2017 over the same month last year.

In total, over 5.7 million overnight visitors came to the province last year - an increase of 3.3 per cent, or 181,700 visitors, over 2016.

The government attributes the growth, in part, to increased access to B.C. from several key international markets, such as Australia, Germany, Mexico, China and France.

Increased air traffic to Vancouver contributes to the vitality of the tourism industry.

Destination BC, the government's tourism marketing agency, works with tourism stakeholders throughout B.C. to market British Columbia as a world-class tourist destination.

Increases for 2017 include:

• Australia - up 20.4 per cent
• Germany - up 15.4 per cent
• Mexico - up 12.9 per cent
• China - up 7.1 per cent
• United States (excluding same-day visitors) - up 1.9 per cent