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Tourism
Travel to Canada from the United States hit a record low in January, bringing down overall travel to its lowest level on record.
Statscan - In total, travellers made an estimated 2,375,000 trips to Canada in January, a 1.4% decline from December and a record low since record-keeping began in 1972. (Unless otherwise specified, monthly data are seasonally adjusted.)
This decline occurred even though overnight travel to Canada from overseas countries reached a record high of 391,000 trips, up 0.7% compared with December. Slower travel from the United States more than offset this increase.
The number of trips to Canada from the United States failed to reach the 2-million mark for the first time on record. US residents took an estimated 1.97 million trips to Canada in January, down 1.7% from December 2007.
Same-day car travel from the United States hit a record low estimated at 794,000 trips, down 1.2% from December. This was the first time ever that same-day car travel failed to reach the 800,000 mark. In addition, overnight trips to Canada from the United States fell 1.8%.
Even though overnight travel to Canada from overseas countries reached a record high, only 5 of Canada's top 12 overseas markets recorded increases from December. Among these markets, travel from Mexico recorded the largest increase (+9.3%), while travel from Japan posted the largest decline (-7.0%).
On an outbound basis, Canadian residents took 4.4 million trips outside the country in January, down 0.2% from December.
Of these, an estimated 653,000 were to overseas countries, down 0.5% from December 2007. December was a record month for travel to overseas destinations.
Canadian residents took an estimated 3.8 million trips to the United States in January, down 0.2% from December. Same-day car travel to the United States edged down 0.2% to 2.1 million trips, while overnight travel south of the border also slipped 0.2% and overnight travel by car fell 1.1%.
However, Canadians made an estimated 525,000 overnight trips by plane to the United States, a 3.2% increase and a new record high.
The average monthly value of the Canadian dollar in January was 98.9 US cents, down 0.8% from December. The dollar also dropped against the euro and the yen in January from December, but gained against the British pound.
| Travel between Canada and other countries |
| |
December 2007r |
January 2008p |
December 2007 to January 2008 |
January 2008p |
January 2007 to January 2008 |
| |
Seasonally adjusted |
Unadjusted |
| |
thousands |
% change1 |
thousands |
% change1 |
| Canadian trips abroad2 |
4,440 |
4,430 |
-0.2 |
4,113 |
9.8 |
| to the United States |
3,784 |
3,777 |
-0.2 |
3,178 |
10.5 |
| to other countries |
656 |
653 |
-0.5 |
935 |
7.8 |
| Same-day car trips to the United States |
2,121 |
2,117 |
-0.2 |
1,795 |
9.6 |
| Total trips, one or more nights |
2,266 |
2,261 |
-0.2 |
2,249 |
10.8 |
| United States3 |
1,610 |
1,608 |
-0.2 |
1,314 |
13.1 |
| Car |
987 |
976 |
-1.1 |
654 |
17.5 |
| Plane |
509 |
525 |
3.2 |
612 |
8.8 |
| Other modes of transportation |
115 |
107 |
-7.0 |
48 |
12.6 |
| Other countries4 |
656 |
653 |
-0.5 |
935 |
7.8 |
| Travel to Canada2 |
2,407 |
2,375 |
-1.4 |
1,383 |
-11.4 |
| from the United States |
2,007 |
1,974 |
-1.7 |
1,165 |
-14.0 |
| from other countries |
400 |
401 |
0.2 |
218 |
5.5 |
| Same-day car trips from the United States |
804 |
794 |
-1.2 |
624 |
-20.4 |
| Total trips, one or more nights |
1,499 |
1,482 |
-1.2 |
718 |
-1.9 |
| United States3 |
1,111 |
1,091 |
-1.8 |
503 |
-4.6 |
| Car |
664 |
652 |
-1.9 |
282 |
-5.3 |
| Plane |
306 |
303 |
-0.9 |
186 |
-5.7 |
| Other modes of transportation |
141 |
136 |
-3.4 |
36 |
7.6 |
| Other countries4 |
388 |
391 |
0.7 |
215 |
5.3 |
| Travel to Canada: Top overseas markets, by country of origin5 |
|
|
|
|
|
| United Kingdom |
77 |
77 |
-0.5 |
40 |
1.4 |
| France |
33 |
33 |
1.9 |
19 |
4.9 |
| Germany |
26 |
26 |
-0.9 |
11 |
-5.2 |
| Japan |
27 |
25 |
-7.0 |
11 |
-20.4 |
| Mexico |
23 |
25 |
9.3 |
14 |
23.4 |
| Australia |
21 |
20 |
-1.0 |
17 |
20.4 |
| South Korea |
19 |
18 |
-3.2 |
14 |
-4.1 |
| China |
14 |
14 |
5.5 |
9 |
15.0 |
| Hong Kong |
11 |
11 |
4.7 |
6 |
32.8 |
| Netherlands |
10 |
10 |
-2.6 |
4 |
-4.9 |
| India |
9 |
9 |
-4.1 |
5 |
-1.9 |
| Switzerland |
9 |
9 |
1.0 |
4 |
11.8 |
| r | revised |
| p | preliminary |
| 1. | Percentage change is based on unrounded data. |
| 2. | Totals exceed the sum of "same-day car trips" and "total trips, one or more nights" because they include all of the same-day trips. |
| 3. | Estimates for the United States include counts of cars and buses, and estimated numbers for planes, trains, boats and other methods. |
| 4. | Figures for other countries exclude same-day entries by land only, via the United States. |
| 5. | Includes same-day and overnight trips. |
|
Note: Seasonally adjusted data have been revised back to January 2005.
Revisions have been made to some non-seasonally adjusted series for each month of the second and third quarters of 2007.
|
