Requests for information – Income, pensions, spending and wealth

Under the authority of the Statistics Act, Statistics Canada is hereby requesting the following information, which will be used solely for statistical and research purposes and will be protected in accordance with the provisions of the Statistics Act and any other applicable law. This is a mandatory request for data.

Household spending and savings

Payment card data

What information is being requested?

Information about purchases made by domestic and international visitors within Canada. The information is anonymized, meaning neither the identities of individual consumers nor merchants are disclosed. The information is aggregated, meaning expenditures are reported according to specific retail categories, not at the level of individual consumer transactions. In terms of geographical area, the information is also aggregated, meaning it is only broken down to the level of neighbourhood or region (first three digits of a postal code) within a province or territory. At this time, the request is an update for information at a more aggregated geographic level for the same variables (country of origin of cardholder, merchant location, card type, transaction type, merchant category grouping, value of transactions), and frequency (monthly and quarterly data from 2018 to 2026).

What personal information is included in this request?

This request does not contain any personal information.

What years of data will be requested?

Monthly and quarterly data as of 2018 (ongoing)

From whom will the information be requested?

This information will be requested from payment card organizations.

Why is this information being requested?

Statistics Canada provides timely, high quality estimates of aggregate tourism expenditure information. These measures are compiled using information from surveys and other administrative data sources.

This information is being requested to enable Statistics Canada to provide high quality data for travel statistics that help to support Canada’s tourism sector which employs Canadians directly and indirectly in the transportation, restaurant and food services, accommodation, cultural and recreational industries.

High quality detailed tourism data benefits the Canadian economy and, in turn, all Canadians. This will benefit both businesses and governments in Canada, in development of evidence-based policies.

Statistics Canada may also use the information for other statistical and research purposes.

Why were these organizations selected as data providers?

These organizations collect and maintain up-to-date data on payment card transactions.

When will this information be requested?

Ongoing; 2018 and onward (monthly and quarterly)

What Statistics Canada programs will primarily use these data?

Tourism Statistics

When was this request published?

November 10, 2021

Summary of changes

February 2023 – Frequency modified from quarterly to monthly and quarterly. There is no change to the information being requested.

Date modified: