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Available today is a set of tables containing data on domestic visits for the second quarter of 2006 from the Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (TSRC).
This survey, which started in 2005, provides estimates of domestic visits that are more in line with international guidelines as recommended by the World Tourism Organization.
A domestic visit is one that originates and occurs within Canada, is less than 365 days in duration, ends during the reference period, and is outside the respondent's "usual" environment.
The visits made by Canadian travellers in Canada totalled 49.4 million during the second quarter of 2006.
Visits for pleasure, vacations, holidays and visiting friends and relatives represented 88% of all domestic visits. Together, these visits increased 2.8% in the second quarter of 2006 compared with the same period in 2005.
Intra-provincial visits reached 45.5 million in the second quarter of 2006, while inter-provincial visits totalled 4.2 million.
In Canada, 9 domestic visits out of 10 were taken in the traveller's province of residence.
Same-day visits reached 28.6 million in the second quarter of 2006, while 20.7 million overnight visits were recorded.
Canadian residents spent an average of three nights away from home when making an overnight visit. Of the 54.5 million nights spent away from home, 19.3 million were spent in a commercial establishment.
Distributed by month, the number of visits in Canada was 15.0 million in April, 16.0 million in May and 18.4 million in June.
Canadian travellers spent $7.2 billion within the country during the second quarter of 2006. When taking inflation into account, spending on domestic visits totalled $6.7 billion (in 2002 dollars) for this same quarter.
Almost two-thirds of all domestic expenditures were for transportation ($2.6 billion) and food and beverages ($2.0 billion).
In the second quarter of 2006, Canadian spending on domestic visits for pleasure, vacations, holidays and visiting friends or relatives, increased 5.9% compared with the same period in 2005.
Note: The total domestic visit estimates for the second quarter of 2006 are preliminary and are not comparable with the preliminary data released for the second quarter of 2005. Two categories of visits (business and other) are affected as a result of changes made to the TSRC questionnaire, starting from the reference month of September 2005. These two categories represented 12% of domestic visits in the second quarter of 2006. The remaining categories of visits, which include visits for pleasure, vacations, holidays and visiting friends and relatives, are comparable.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3810.
For general information, or to obtain data, contact Client Services (toll-free 613-951-9169; fax: 613-951-2909; tourism@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, questionnaires, methods or data quality of this release, contact Lizette Gervais-Simard (613-951-1672; fax: 613-951-2909; gervliz@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism, and the Centre for Education Statistics.
