The Town of Qualicum Beach was included in an Expedia Canada list of the top cities to visit in 2018. included in the list was other Canadian cities along with international cities. —Lauren Collins photo

People hear all the time that Qualicum Beach is one of the world’s best places to visit, and it seems Canadians surveyed by Expedia Canada would have to agree.

Qualicum Beach was chosen as one of the top places to visit in 2018 for Expedia Canada’s travel blog.

The Expedia Canada travel blog team recently surveyed 1,000 Canadians and asked them which city they would recommend their fellow travellers visit in the new year.

According to the blog, British Columbia was one of the most recommended places to visit in 2018. The travel blog states it narrowed it down to a town that might be able to fill some other likely 2018 visitor goals: exercise, adventure and thrills.

The blog lists Horne Lake Caves, Skydive Vancouver Island and Seedy Saturday as some of the top things to do in 2018.

Parksville Qualicum Beach Tourism Association executive director Blain Sepos said it’s always great to be recognized by such a top influencer as Expedia.

“Especially because Horne Lake Caves was one of the features of it, and that’s important for our area because Horne Lake Caves is one of the few attractions and activities in our region that has year-round operations,” Sepos said.

Anne Dodson, CEO of the Qualicum Beach Chamber of Commerce, said being included on this list will hopefully increase tourism to Qualicum Beach. Dodson said tourism was strong again in 2017 and has been on the increase since 2014.

Jessica Estrada, communications specialist with the travel blog team, said some of the responses were specific to certain cities, while other responses recommended provinces as a whole. Using those answers as a baseline, she said, the travel blog team came up with the “18 cities you need to visit in 2018, as chosen by real Canadians.

Sepos said what made it so great to be included in such a list is that it was done by Canadians who pointed to these locations, even if the blog team aggregated the results.

“It was really the result of our destination being popular with actual visitors. That’s even better,” Sepos said.

Dodson agreed the recognition means more since the list was created with the help of Canadian travellers.

“It speaks to all the amazing things there are to do in this area, and to our values as Canadians. We enjoy the outdoors and activities, and finding those maybe off-the-beaten track places to spend our time,” Dodson said.

The 18-city blog post also included Lahaina, Hawaii; Tokyo, Japan; Manchester, Tennessee.; Negril, Jamaica; Deadwood, South Dakota; Gulf Shores, Alabama; Vanouver, Wash. and Porto, Portugal.