Travel between Canada and other countries

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Both same-day and overnight car travel from the United States fell in February, with every province except Saskatchewan recording declines in inbound border crossings by US residents travelling by car.

Adverse weather in Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, and the resulting accumulation of snow, likely contributed to a downswing in car travel from the United States.

Trips through Ontario border crossings, which accounted for almost two-thirds of all car trips by US residents in Canada, fell 4.8% from January. New Brunswick posted a 12.6% decrease, as Environment Canada estimated Fredericton's snowfalls at 75.5 centimetres in February. (Unless otherwise specified, monthly data are seasonally adjusted.)

Same-day car travel from the United States continued its downward trend, falling 4.1% to a low of 751,000 trips in February. This was the eighth consecutive decline in same-day car travel, and in that span, it has fallen by nearly one-quarter. February's level was far below the record high 3.0 million same-day car trips that US residents took to Canada in March 1981.

Overnight car travel fell for the fourth consecutive month, dropping 5.6% to 610,000 trips in February, the lowest level in over 24 years. Overall, US residents made 1.0 million overnight trips to Canada in February, down 3.8% from January and the lowest level since November 1996.

Meanwhile, travel from overseas countries inched up to its highest level since October 2004, reaching 401,000 trips. Increases in travel from Asia, most notably China (+6.3%), South Korea (+3.2%) and Japan (+2.0%), offset declines from Canada's two most important overseas markets, the United Kingdom (-1.2%) and France (-1.0%).

All in all, foreign visitors made nearly 2.3 million trips to Canada in February, the lowest monthly level since record keeping started in 1972.

In the other direction, a decline in travel from Canada to the United States offset an increase in travel to overseas countries in February.

The unfavorable weather did not hamper car travel to the United States as much as it did US travel to Canada. Same-day car travel to the United States fell 1.3% to 2.1 million trips in February. Same-day car travel to the United States has fallen in the last three months following seven consecutive increases. Overnight car travel to the United States slipped 0.1% to 973,000 trips.

Overall, Canadians made 1.6 million overnight trips to the United States in February, up 0.7% from January and the second highest level in 16 years. Total travel to the United States fell 0.3% to 3.7 million trips.

Canadian travel to overseas countries resumed its upward trend in February, after slipping the previous two months. Canadians made an unprecedented 667,000 trips overseas, up 1.9% from January. In the last five years, travel to overseas countries has increased 59.7%.

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

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5005.

The February 2008 issue of International Travel, Advance Information, Vol. 24, no. 2 (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). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Eric Desjardins (613-951-1781; eric.desjardins@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.

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