In Quebec, which saw more UFO sightings than any other province, three four-foot humanoids, with heads too large for their frail bodies visited a Sainte-Brigitte de Laval resident. The guests had big black slanted eyes, no eyelids, and emitted a yellow red light. The last thing their host remembers is a high-pitched hum and then it was morning. These outer galactic tourists may have been on a cross Canada tour that also featured a stop in Keremeos B.C. A resident there described his four guests as short aliens who appeared in the room in an atmosphere of orange light. They surrounded the bed, there was a high-pitched noise and the next thing the person was aware of it was morning and the snow in the yard had been reduced by one foot.

With UFO tourism bringing in visitors to New Mexico, Nevada, and even Wisconsin, where the community of Elmwood, population 800, is the state’s UFO capitol, North Bay Mayor Al McDonald told northbaynipissing.com that the city is still debating the extra-terrestrial tourism market.

“We are not currently looking to attract the reported increased likelihood of alien tourists or focusing on alien tourism,” he said, “but if they are friendly and have money, we would welcome them to visit our city.”

McDonald added that “at this time, we do not have any money in our capital budget to build alien aircraft landing facilities, nor do we have the infrastructure or fuel needed for these types of advanced transportation vehicles.” However, he did say that the city would be interested in working with community partners such as the chamber of commerce, “should there be a business case that is viable.

“While North Bay is focusing on the space industry, as of today, I have not received any communication from mayors of other galaxies,” McDonald said, adding that “as a cost-saving measure, we cut inter-galaxy travel related expenses from our budget last year.”

The multi-page UFO report is compiled annual by Ufology Research in Winnipeg drawing on reports received from about 20 varied sources including Transportation Canada, Canadian National Defence and YouTube.

This year’s sightings are the second highest since the report was first issued in 1989 with the goal of providing data for use by researchers trying to understand this controversial phenomenon.

Ufology researchers suggest there are several theories for the high number of UFO incidence reports, not the least of which is the increasing number of observable objects in the sky, some as a result of “more secret or classified military exercises and overflights occurring over populated areas.”

The report says that more people are taking the time to observe their surrounding and are able to report their sightings with easier access to the internet and portable technology.

Despite the increasing number of sightings, only 12 per cent on this year’s list are classified as unexplained.

Editor of the study, Chris Rutkowski, said the data collection is an attempt to show what people are seeing in the skies, when they are seeing them, and where they are seeing them. But when it comes to determining why we see them, “we can only speculate,” he said.