The Dominican Republic was among the 15 most visited sites by Canadians in 1997. According to Statistics Canada, travel to the so-called sun spots in the United States and overseas saw greater numbers of Canadians last year, despite Europe still being the preferred destination for Canadians (apart from the United States). Statistics Canada reports results of the International Travel Survey that despite a slight drop (-1.1%) in Canadians’ overnight trips to the United States, their number of overnight visits to Florida was up 9.6% to 2.1 million. Last year, Canadians made 1.0 million visits to California, an increase of 7.4%. Canadians visited sun spots in Central America and the Caribbean more often in 1997. And visits to Mexico jumped 29% to 567,000, second in overseas destinations after the United Kingdom. Travel to the DR was up 23% in 1997, to 138,000. The Dominican Republic is Canadians preferred destination in the Caribbean. Top ranked Canadian destinations per visitors: United States: New York 2,399,000 Florida 2,098,000 Washington, D.C. 1,900 ,000 Michigan 1,326,000 California 1,000,000 Europe: United Kingdom 700,000 France 404,000 Italy 163,000 Netherlands 145,000 Switzerland 123,000 Other: Mexico 567,000 Hong Kong 139,000 Dominican Republic 183,000
