VANCOUVER - Overnight trips from China to Canada grew 25.9 percent to nearly 60,000 in the first four months of this year, Canadian travel officials have said.

The Canadian Tourism Commission reported earlier that the number of overnight trips from emerging and transition markets grew 13.9 percent year to date April, largely driven by increases in visitors from the Chinese mainland, Japan, India and Mexico.

The number of visitors from China increased 25.8 percent in April to 15,997, the 27th consecutive monthly increase since January 2010, the CTC said.

In contrast, overnight arrivals from the CTC's core markets, including Britain, France, Germany, and Australia, contracted 5.3 percent in April.

Besides, the Chinese mainland visitors recorded the largest increase in overnight travel spending in the last quarter of 2011 at 36.3 percent, followed by India at 18.9 percent.