Travel between Canada and other countries, May 2012

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Travel both into and out of Canada declined in May compared with April, particularly for Canadians travelling to the United States.

Canadian residents made 5.3 million trips abroad in May, down 1.7% from April. Most of these trips, 4.5 million, were to the United States, a 1.9% decrease.

Overnight travel by Canadians to the United States fell 1.5% to 1.8 million trips in May. Overnight plane travel decreased 1.9% to 620,000 trips, while overnight car travel also fell 1.5% to 1.1 million trips.

Travel by Canadians to overseas countries declined 0.2% to 795,000 trips.

In the opposite direction, travel by residents from abroad to Canada fell 0.6% in May to 2.1 million trips.

Travel from the United States was down 0.5%, while travel from overseas countries declined 0.8%.

Same-day car travel by US residents to Canada increased 1.8% to 673,000 trips, while travel of one or more nights declined 2.2% to 989,000 trips.

Residents of countries other than the United States made 378,000 trips to Canada in May, down 0.8% from April. About 24,000 of those trips were made by residents of China, a 3.4% increase. Travel from China has grown so strongly that it has overtaken Australia as the fourth-largest overseas market for Canada behind the United Kingdom, France and Germany. In the first five months of 2012, residents of China made 115,200 trips to Canada, a 22.9% increase from the same period in 2011, the strongest rate of growth in the top 10 markets.