We've devoted a lot of energy to improving our digital tools, given that Canadians primarily find their information through the Internet. We use social media like Facebook, Twitter, and a variety of other tools. In 2016 we had 14.2 million visits to our page, travel.gc.ca, which is where we have all of our travel information and advice. This was an increase of 14% compared with the previous year, and we've seen a steady increase in trends of Canadians looking to this for information and the latest news. As advice changes, information is also pushed out to people who are registered for particular countries or regions.
We use our registration of Canadians abroad locally and from headquarters to push out information about changes to the local security context or other emerging environmental threats, such as approaching hurricanes, etc. For example, our Facebook page has 264,000 followers. We have a new Travel Smart app that can be downloaded in mobile form. People can stay abreast of information. We also have a wide range of print and digital publications.
Registration is voluntary, as I noted, so in almost all cases, the number of Canadians that we have registered is a smaller subset of those who we know are actually in a given country. The number tends to be higher in places where people perceive real levels of risk, and lower in places where the environment is perceived as safe. In the most recent storms that passed through the Caribbean, we found, for example, that significant communities of Canadians on very remote islands had not registered. We did not know they were present, and the number of people was sometimes in an order of much greater magnitude.
Re-registration is something we promote at every opportunity. You will have heard us, in our technical briefings and other interactions, really promoting the registration of Canadians, because it is one of the tools we have. We have to use all the tools at our disposal, and they include, in cases of emergency, working with local radio stations and other CB and hand radio operators, and using all manner of forums to try to push out the advice that we have.