Travel both to and from Canada declined in March compared with February. Inbound travel declined 1.0% to 2.2 million trips while Canadian trips abroad decreased by 0.7% to 3.9 million.

Statscan - United States residents made 1.0 million overnight trips to Canada in March, down 0.6%. This decline occurred despite a 0.8% increase in overnight car travel. The decline was largely a result of a 3.6% decrease in overnight plane travel. In March, US residents took 275,000 overnight plane trips to Canada. This was the lowest level since May 2003, which coincided with the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis. Overnight plane travel by American residents has been on a downward trend since the summer of 2004.

Same-day car travel from the United States fell 1.0% to 743,000 trips. This level has been relatively stable for the past year, following a downward trend during the previous seven years.

The number of trips from countries other than the United States fell 1.4% to 366,000 in March. Travel declined in 5 of Canada's top 12 overseas markets. Trips from the United Kingdom, Canada's most important overseas market, declined 0.2%, the ninth monthly decrease in 12 months. France and Germany, Canada's second and third largest overseas markets increased by 2.0% and 3.4% respectively.

In the opposite direction, total Canadian travel to both the United States and overseas countries fell in March.

The reduction in travel to the United States occurred despite an increase in overnight trips. Canadian residents made 1.5 million overnight trips to the United States, up 0.8% from February. This was the result of a 0.6% increase in overnight travel by car and a 1.4% increase in overnight plane travel.

However, same-day car travel to the United States fell 2.0% to 1.7 million trips.

Canadians also made 694,000 trips to non-US destinations in March, down 1.3% from February.