Travel between Canada and other countries

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Same-day car travel by Canadians to the United States hit its highest level in almost seven years in October as the loonie surpassed parity with the US dollar. At the same time, same-day car travel by US residents to Canada hit a record low.

Canadian residents took an estimated 2.2 million same-day car trips to the United States in October, up 6.0% from September. It was the highest monthly total since January 2001. Overnight car travel to the United States jumped 4.9% to 972,000 trips, the highest monthly level since September 1993. (Unless otherwise specified, monthly data are seasonally adjusted.)

The average monthly value of the Canadian dollar in October was $1.03 US.

On a regional basis, an estimated 431,000 Canadian same-day car travellers returned from the United States through British Columbia, up 16.5% from September, the largest increase. Same-day car travel also increased significantly in the Prairie provinces. However, the estimated 81,000 Canadian travellers who returned through this region accounted for 3.6% of the national total, the lowest proportion among the regions.

In Ontario, same-day car travel rose only 1.8%. However, because of the high numbers at Ontario border crossings, the province's estimated 1.2 million same-day car travellers in October accounted for 54.6% of the national total. On a year-to-date basis, the number of same-day car travellers returning through Ontario increased 10.8% from January to September.

Overall, Canadian residents took nearly 3.9 million trips to the United States in October, up 4.2% from the previous month. Almost 1.6 million of these trips were overnight stays, a 1.9% gain.

Overnight travel by car increased 4.9%. Overnight travel by plane declined 2.1%, while travel by other transportation modes fell 4.7%.

As same-day car travel by Canadians to the United States was on its way up in October, Americans made a record low 899,000 same-day car trips to Canada. This was a 3.8% decline from September.

It was also the ninth time this year that same-day car travel from the United States failed to reach the 1-million mark, something that had not occurred prior to 2007.

In total, travel to Canada from the United States fell 1.4% in October, as the decline in same-day car travel offset a slight 0.6% gain in overnight travel.

Overnight travel by car from the United States rose 2.8% to 695,000 trips, the largest increase among all modes of transportation.

In terms of overseas travel, the number of overnight trips to Canada from overseas countries slipped 0.3% to 375,000 in October.

Half of Canada's top 12 overseas markets recorded increases from September. Among these markets, travel from the Netherlands posted the largest gain (+6.0%), while travel from Hong Kong recorded the largest decrease (-9.2%).

In the opposite direction, travel by Canadian residents to overseas countries rose 3.2% in October to 642,000, another record high. It was the seventh record monthly high set in 2007.

Note: Revisions have been made to some non-seasonally adjusted series for each month of the first and second quarters of 2007.

Available on CANSIM: tables 427-0001 to 427-0006.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5005.

The October 2007 issue of International Travel, Advance Information, Vol. 23, no. 10 (66-001-PWE, free), is now available from the Publications module of our website.

For general information, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-800-307-3382; 613-951-9169; fax: 613-951-2909; tourism@statcan.gc.ca). For more information or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Frances Kremarik (613-951-4240; frances.kremarik@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.

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