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Travel to Canada increased 1.1% from March to April to just under 2.3 million trips. While this was the highest level this year, inbound travel has remained fairly stable over the last 12 months.
The majority of those inbound trips, about 1.9 million, were from the United States, a 0.7% increase from March. Americans made 1.0 million overnight trips to Canada, up 1.9%. Overnight travel by car, plane and other modes of transportation all increased.
Same-day car travel from the United States fell 0.3% to 753,000. This was a continuation of a downward trend that started in July 2001. Since then, the number of same-day car trips from the United States has declined by 68.2%.
Travel from overseas countries increased 3.0% from March to 382,000 trips in April, with 9 of the top 12 overseas markets recording increases. Travel from the United Kingdom, Canada's largest overseas market, increased 6.3%.
In the opposite direction, Canadians made more than 3.9 million trips outside the country in April, unchanged from March. This was well below the level in April 2008, when Canadians made 4.4 million outbound trips.
Overnight travel to the United States reached 1.5 million trips, up 1.1% from March, with increases in overnight travel by car, plane and other modes of transportation.
Same-day car travel to the United States decreased 1.1% to 1.7 million trips. This was the seventh decline in eight months.
Canadians also made 705,000 trips to overseas countries in April, up 1.4% from March, and the second highest level ever recorded.
Available on CANSIM: tables 427-0001 to 427-0006.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5005.
The April 2009 issue of International Travel, Advance Information, Vol. 25, no. 4 (66-001-P, free), is now available from the Publications module of our website.
For more 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), Tourism and Centre for Education Statistics Division.
Table 1
| April 2008r | October 2008r | March 2009r | April 2009p | March to April 2009 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||
| thousands | % change1 | ||||
| Canadian trips abroad2 | 4,423 | 4,083 | 3,948 | 3,947 | 0.0 |
| To the United States | 3,757 | 3,401 | 3,254 | 3,243 | -0.3 |
| To other countries | 665 | 682 | 695 | 705 | 1.4 |
| Same-day car trips to the United States | 2,102 | 1,840 | 1,714 | 1,695 | -1.1 |
| Total trips, one or more nights | 2,261 | 2,193 | 2,187 | 2,213 | 1.2 |
| United States3 | 1,596 | 1,510 | 1,493 | 1,509 | 1.1 |
| Car | 956 | 906 | 903 | 915 | 1.4 |
| Plane | 544 | 504 | 501 | 502 | 0.1 |
| Other modes of transportation | 96 | 101 | 89 | 92 | 2.9 |
| Other countries4 | 665 | 682 | 695 | 705 | 1.4 |
| Travel to Canada2 | 2,306 | 2,277 | 2,243 | 2,267 | 1.1 |
| From the United States | 1,900 | 1,893 | 1,872 | 1,885 | 0.7 |
| From other countries | 406 | 383 | 371 | 382 | 3.0 |
| Same-day car trips from the United States | 753 | 765 | 755 | 753 | -0.3 |
| Total trips, one or more nights | 1,457 | 1,418 | 1,391 | 1,421 | 2.1 |
| United States3 | 1,061 | 1,046 | 1,029 | 1,049 | 1.9 |
| Car | 619 | 624 | 642 | 652 | 1.5 |
| Plane | 311 | 291 | 274 | 283 | 3.0 |
| Other modes of transportation | 131 | 131 | 112 | 114 | 1.5 |
| Other countries4 | 396 | 372 | 362 | 372 | 2.7 |
| Travel to Canada: Top overseas markets, by country of origin5 | |||||
| United Kingdom | 76 | 67 | 64 | 68 | 6.3 |
| France | 35 | 34 | 35 | 37 | 7.8 |
| Germany | 28 | 28 | 27 | 27 | 0.2 |
| Japan | 22 | 23 | 20 | 20 | 0.7 |
| Mexico | 25 | 22 | 22 | 20 | -10.2 |
| Australia | 21 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 1.4 |
| China | 14 | 12 | 16 | 16 | -0.6 |
| South Korea | 17 | 14 | 14 | 13 | -4.5 |
| Hong Kong | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 5.7 |
| Netherlands | 12 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10.1 |
| India | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 1.5 |
| Switzerland | 9 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 4.8 |
