Travel between Canada and other countries, December 2023
Released: 2024-02-23
Highlights
In December, the number of non-resident visitors to Canada accounted for 91.0% of the number observed in December 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the number of returning Canadian residents reached 87.7% of the level recorded in December 2019.
Residents of overseas countries took 469,400 trips to Canada in December 2023, and US residents took 1.5 million trips. In the same month, Canadian residents returned from 3.8 million trips abroad.
To further explore current and historical data in an interactive format, please visit the Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard.
Overseas arrivals in Canada
In December, 469,400 overseas residents arrived in Canada, up 27.4% from the 368,400 overseas arrivals in December 2022, reaching 95.0% of such arrivals recorded in December 2019 (494,100), before the pandemic.
Over one-third (38.1%) of overseas visitors were from Europe in December 2023 (179,100), up 19.7% from December 2022 (149,600) and reaching 98.5% of the trips to Canada by European residents recorded in December 2019 (181,700).
Representing 36.8% of all overseas residents arriving in Canada in December 2023, residents of Mexico (69,300), the United Kingdom (56,800), and France (46,900) rounded out the top three overseas markets to Canada, with Mexico ranking first for the second consecutive month.
US-resident trips to Canada
In December, US residents took 1.5 million trips to Canada, up 24.9% from the 1.2 million trips taken in December 2022 and reaching 89.8% of trips taken during the same month in 2019 (1.7 million).
In December 2023, US-resident arrivals by automobile (1.1 million) increased 28.0% from December 2022 (868,600). Nearly half (49.9%) of the arrivals by automobile were same-day trips (554,600).
Canadian-resident trips to the United States
Canadian residents returned from 2.8 million trips to the United States in December 2023, increasing 15.3% from December 2022 (2.5 million) and reaching 84.2% of such trips taken during the same month in 2019 (3.4 million).
Of the total trips to the United States that Canadian residents returned from in December 2023, 2.0 million were by automobile and over two-thirds (71.0%) of those were same-day returns (1.4 million).
The number of Canadian residents returning from the United States by air was 809,000 in December, decreasing 12.5% from the 924,000 trips recorded in December 2022. In December 2023, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by air reached 94.8% of the pre-pandemic level observed in December 2019 (853,100).
Canadian residents travelling overseas
In December 2023, Canadian residents returned from 989,700 trips overseas, increasing 61.1% from the same month in 2022 (614,400). The number of overseas trips Canadian residents returned from in December 2023 corresponded to 99.6% of the pre-pandemic level recorded in December 2019 (993,300).
2023 in review
2023 continued to gain momentum with increased recovery rates compared with 2022.
In 2023, Canada welcomed 74.5 million international arrivals (non-resident visitors and returning Canadian residents), almost 1.5 times those from 2022, and over four-fifths (84.1%) of the number of arrivals observed in 2019.
In 2023, the 21.2 million US residents (+51.8%) and 6.0 million overseas residents (+51.7%) both increased from the number of such arrivals recorded in 2022, representing over four-fifths of their 2019 levels (85.0% in the case of US residents and 80.4% in the case of overseas residents). The number of Canadian residents returning from visiting abroad was 47.3 million in 2023, up 48.0% from the 2022 volume and representing 84.2% of the 2019 level.
The cruise industry demonstrated its resiliency with a total of 1.8 million passengers entering Canada by cruise ships in 2023. Disembarkations by cruise passengers in Canada in 2023 included 184,600 by Canadian residents (+34.9% from 2019), 1.4 million by US residents (+35.3% from 2019) and 207,300 by overseas residents (-18.8% from 2019).
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Note to readers
Seasonally adjusted data for January to November 2023 have been revised; seasonally adjusted data continue to be available online in tables 24-10-0051-01 and 24-10-0054-01. No revisions were made to data that were not seasonally adjusted.
For more current estimates of international arrivals to Canada, please see the "Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada" for the January 2024 reference month.
Readers are encouraged to review the concepts, definitions, data sources, methods, and summary of changes for Frontier Counts, as well as explanatory notes for online tables, especially when making historical comparisons and examining specific regions.
Overseas countries refer to countries other than Canada or the United States.
A Canadian resident visitor is a Canadian resident traveller whose trip purpose outside Canada is related to tourism and whose trip duration is less than one year.
A non-resident visitor is a traveller to Canada whose country of residence is not Canada, whose trip purpose is related to tourism and whose trip duration is less than one year.
Products
The December 2023 issue of International Travel: Advance Information (66-001-P) is now available.
The product "Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard," part of the Data Visualization Products series (71-607-X), is also available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods, or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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