Statistics Canada
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Cross-border shopping now a trickle

Cross-border shopping has not taken flight with the loonie. In fact, today’s cross-border shopping volumes pale compared with the flood of shoppers in the late 1980s, when the exchange rate was also rising.

Whether measured by the number of same-day car trips across the border, the average spending on these trips or the amount of online shopping, the recent increases in cross-border shopping have been minimal or, outside of Ontario, insignificant relative to total retail sales.

Americans’ cross-border shopping in Canada has tumbled 50% or by 11.3 million trips since the loonie began to rise in 2003. However, Canadians’ same-day car trips to the United States increased by 2.2 million.

Americans’ overnight visits to Canada have also dropped; this has been partly offset by more overseas visitors. Ontario has borne the brunt of the steep slide in trips here by Americans. Foreign arrivals in Ontario have not been this low since the 1970s.

In 2007, the equivalent of 5.9% of Canada’s population made same-day U.S. car trips each month, compared with 5.5% in 2002. These trips hit a peak equal to 17.6% in 1991. Besides tighter border security and higher gas prices, other factors might be dampening enthusiasm for cross-border shopping such as the aging of the population, growth of big-box chains here and today’s stronger economy.

This time as the loonie has risen, new and used vehicles have been the fastest-growing segment of cross-border shopping, though the dollar amount—nearly $1 billion in 2007, or five times its 2002 value—still represents less than 2% of the vehicles purchased annually by Canadians.