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Travel to Canada hit a record low for the fifth consecutive month in March, in the wake of substantial declines in both same-day car trips from the United States and the number of visitors from overseas nations.
In total, foreign visitors made 2.3 million trips to Canada in March, the lowest since record keeping started in 1972. This was a 1.0% decline from February, and a 12.4% drop from the level in March 2007. (Unless otherwise specified, monthly data are seasonally adjusted.)
Same-day car travel from the United States continued its downward trend. US residents made only 730,000 such trips in March, down 2.5% from the previous month. During the past two years, same-day car travel to Canada has fallen by 41.1%.
Overall travel from the United States to Canada declined slightly in March as the decrease in same-day car travel offset a slight gain in overnight trips.
Overseas travellers to Canada made 384,000 trips in March, down 3.0%. Travel declined in 8 of Canada's top 12 overseas markets, with the strongest decreases in travel from Mexico, Germany and Hong Kong. On the other hand, there were gains in visitors from India, Italy and the Netherlands.
In the opposite direction, Canadian residents were making more trips outside the country in all categories. The number of Canadian trips abroad rose 1.4% to almost 4.5 million, the vast majority (85%) of which were to the United States.
Overall, Canadians made 3.8 million trips to the United States in March, up 1.6% from February. The level of Canadian travel to the United States observed in the past six months has been the highest since 1998.
In March, same-day car travel to the United States increased 1.5% to 2.1 million trips, while overnight car travel rose 1.9% to 991,000 trips.
Overnight plane trips to the United States set a new record high for the fourth consecutive month.
Canadian travel to countries other than the United States increased 0.4% to a record 670,000. This was the 10th month in which a new record high was set during the past year.
Available on CANSIM: tables 427-0001 to 427-0006.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5005.
The March 2008 issue of International Travel, Advance Information, Vol. 24, no. 3 (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 Paul Durk (613-951-5859; paul.durk@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.
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