Canadians Stayed Home For Christmas

Statscan - Both same-day and overnight car travel to the United States fell sharply in December 2007. Contributing factors could have been winter storms and a dip in the value of the Canadian dollar.

December's declines halted three consecutive months of significant gains in cross-border automobile travel by Canadians.

In total, Canadians took nearly 3.8 million trips to the United States, down 7.8% from November. Of these, the majority, just over 2.1 million, were same-day car trips, which were also down 7.8%. (Unless otherwise specified, monthly data are seasonally adjusted.)

Similarly, the number of overnight car trips to the United States fell 12.3% to 995,000. This followed a 17.6% increase in November.

Travel may have been dampened by heavy snowfalls in early and mid-December that resulted in hazardous driving conditions and cancelled flights across Canada. Meanwhile, the average value of the loonie, which had been above parity for the previous two months, dipped to US$0.997 in December.

With December's sharp decline, the number of same-day car trips for the month was only 4.6% above the level in December 2006, even though the loonie was worth 13 cents US more in December 2007.

For 2007 as a whole, Canadians took a total of 24.2 million same-day car trips to the United States, up 3.3% from 2006. Large gains in October and November last year more than offset year-over-year declines during the first five months of 2007.

Canadians also took 10.6 million overnight car trips to the United States, up 14.1% over 2006. It was the first time since 1994 that this type of travel has surpassed the 10-million mark, as the volume of traffic was up in every month on a year-over-year basis.

Overnight trips to the United States by airplane remained relatively unchanged in December at 506,000. For 2007 as a whole, Canadians took a record-high 5.9 million such trips, up 6.1% from 2006. It was the second annual record in a row.

In the opposite direction, Americans took a record-low 804,000 same-day car trips to Canada in December, down 2.4% from November. It was the sixth consecutive monthly decline and the third consecutive record low since record keeping started in 1972.

For 2007 as a whole, American residents made 11.2 million same-day car trips to Canada, an 18.8% decline from 2006.

They also took 665,000 overnight car trips to Canada in December, a 1.0% decrease from November. For the year, they made fewer than 8.0 million overnight car trips, the lowest figure since 1984.

Overnight plane trips to Canada from the United States edged up 0.2% to 306,000 in December. On an annual basis, the number of overnight trips by plane fell 3.2% to 3.8 million in 2007, just below the record high of 3.9 million set in 2004.

Canadians made 658,000 trips to countries other than the United States in December, virtually unchanged (-0.1%) from November. For the year as a whole, they made a record-high 7.4 million trips to overseas nations, up 9.9% from 2006, continuing a steady upward trend.

In December, trips to Canada from overseas countries were also virtually unchanged (+0.1%). Leading gains in Canada's top 12 overseas markets were China (+6.6%) and Hong Kong (+5.8%). France had the biggest decline (-3.7%).

Annually, overseas residents made 4.7 million trips to Canada, up 3.6% over 2006 and just 100,000 shy of the record high in 1996. Half of the top 12 overseas markets had a record year: the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, China and India. Leading the pack was Mexico with a 17.1% gain. The only major market with a decline was Japan (-14.4%).

Travel between Canada and other countries
	November 2007r	December 2007p	November to December 2007	December 2007p	December 2006 to December 2007	Annual 2007p	2006 to 2007
	Seasonally Adjusted			Unadjusted
	thousands		% change1	thousands	% change1	thousands	% change1
Canadian trips abroad2	4,769	4,447	-6.8	3,915	9.1	50,045	6.7
to the United States	4,110	3,789	-7.8	3,338	8.9	42,641	6.1
to other countries	659	658	-0.1	577	10.5	7,404	9.9
Same-day car trips to the United States	2,297	2,117	-7.8	2,075	4.1	24,224	3.3
Total trips, one or more nights	2,415	2,275	-5.8	1,788	17.0	25,139	10.6
United States3	1,756	1,617	-7.9	1,211	20.4	17,735	10.9
Car	1,135	995	-12.3	671	32.5	10,608	14.1
Plane	506	506	0.1	479	7.8	5,860	6.1
Other modes of transportation	115	116	0.5	61	9.9	1,267	8.0
Other countries4	659	658	-0.1	577	10.5	7,404	9.9
Travel to Canada2	2,438	2,412	-1.0	1,840	-15.6	30,373	-9.0
from the United States	2,036	2,010	-1.3	1,525	-18.9	25,695	-11.0
from other countries	402	403	0.1	315	4.7	4,679	3.6
Same-day car trips from the United States	824	804	-2.4	707	-27.5	11,164	-18.8
Total trips, one or more nights	1,510	1,505	-0.3	1,081	-5.9	17,975	-1.6
United States3	1,118	1,114	-0.4	772	-9.5	13,415	-3.2
Car	672	665	-1.0	468	-11.6	7,961	-4.3
Plane	305	306	0.2	263	-6.5	3,758	-3.2
Other modes of transportation	142	143	1.1	41	-2.1	1,696	2.4
Other countries4	392	391	-0.3	309	4.5	4,560	3.4
Travel to Canada: Top overseas markets, by country of origin5
United Kingdom	78	78	0.2	62	3.0	926	5.0
France	34	33	-3.7	26	1.7	379	1.5
Japan	28	28	-0.6	16	-9.8	343	-14.4
Germany	26	27	1.0	14	-3.4	318	1.6
Mexico	24	23	-3.6	21	15.8	251	17.1
Australia	20	21	2.5	22	19.7	229	10.7
South Korea	19	19	2.2	15	2.7	213	5.3
China	13	13	6.6	10	5.4	156	5.3
Netherlands	10	11	4.4	6	0.9	124	2.2
Hong Kong	10	10	5.8	9	7.6	116	3.3
Italy	9	9	3.6	6	16.4	103	10.3
India	9	9	3.9	5	6.8	105	16.9
p preliminary r revised 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.