As America churned through its most tumultuous presidential election in recent history last year, Canada quietly enjoyed its status as a media darling. But while most of the promises by Hollywood elite, who pledged to move to Canada if the election didn’t go their way, never actually came to pass, plenty of Americans did head to Canada for a much-needed vacation.

Tourism arrivals from the United States grew by healthy 10 per cent last year. And it wasn’t just people fleeing the madness for a quick cross-border road trip. The number of Americans travelling by air to Canada last year grew by 17 per cent over 2015, a new record for Canadian tourism.

Read more: Canadian airlines experience strongest year on record.

It’s not just Americans who are in love with Canada, either. In total, Canada welcomed 19,979,334 travellers, the highest number of inbound travellers since 2002 and the second-biggest year for tourism ever. From Canada’s top overseas markets, tourism grew a healthy 16 per cent.

"This is great news," said David F. Goldstein, Destination Canada's CEO and President "Canada is open, welcoming, and has something for everyone—and people are seeing that. Together with our industry partners, we are encouraging travellers to explore Canada and experience a life less ordinary. I couldn't think of a better time to visit than right now."

The top growing markets for Canada were South Korea, (+30 per cent), China (+24 per cent), Australia (+16 per cent), India (+13 per cent), France (+9 per cent) and Brazil (+2 per cent.)