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.
International travel
Electronic customs declaration data
What information is being requested?
Statistics Canada is requesting contact information (email addresses) from travellers using Canada Border Services Agency's electronic customs declaration mobile application, as well as the following information from their declarations made in the application: first name(s), surname(s) and initial(s) of traveller(s), language(s) spoken by traveller(s), mode of transportation, port of entry, flight number, date of arrival, purpose of trip, date(s) of birth, country(ies) of issue for documents, document type(s) and document number(s).
Only data for non-resident visitors to Canada will be retained.
What personal information is included in this request?
This request contains personal information such as travellers' names, dates of birth, email addresses and travel document information for visitors to Canada. Personal identifiers are required to reliably identify and contact potential survey respondents for the Visitor Travel Survey. The personal identifiers are removed once survey responses are received and all published data files or tables are either anonymized or aggregated.
What years of data will be requested?
- Annual data starting in January 2020.
- Daily data beginning with January 2024 (ongoing).
From whom will the information be requested?
The information is being requested from Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
Why is this information being requested?
This information is required to obtain travellers' contact and customs declaration information so that the redesigned Visitor Travel Survey can build a reliable list of international visitors to Canada from which to select a sample. Without this information, it is virtually impossible to reliably contact international visitors to complete the survey, except those travelling by commercial air.
The estimates from the Visitor Travel Survey are essential for measuring tourism's impact and are critical for policy makers, researchers, and industry stakeholders to help support Canada's tourism sector and to better serve visitors during their stay in Canada. Individual Canadians benefit from the survey because a thriving tourism industry, driven by smart decisions from reliable data, leads to jobs and investment in local communities and infrastructure.
Statistics Canada may also use the information for other statistical and research purposes.
Why were these organizations selected as data providers?
Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for the development and maintenance of the electronic customs declaration mobile applications, so they are the owners of this data once collected from travellers.
When will this information be requested?
January 2024 and onward (daily).
What Statistics Canada programs will primarily use these data?
When was this request published?
October 3, 2023
Travel and traveller characteristics
Aggregate anonymized mobile phone movement data
What information is being requested?
Anonymized and aggregate information on Canadians travelling in Canada and Americans travelling to Canada is being requested. Information will include number of visitors, number of trips, number of nights, nights per visitor, and nights per trip at the geography level of FSA (forward sortation area: the three first characters of the postal code).
What personal information is included in this request?
This request does not include personal information.
What years of data will be requested?
Monthly data beginning with January 2018 (ongoing).
From whom will the information be requested?
This information is being requested from Environics Analytics Group
Why is this information being requested?
Statistics Canada requires this information to produce and publish statistics on domestic travel within Canada by both Canadians and Americans. This will help fill important data gaps and provide travel information that would normally be collected from travel surveys, ultimately eliminating response burden. Data can be used by policy makers, researchers, and industry stakeholders to help support Canada's tourism sector which employs Canadians directly and indirectly in the transportation, restaurant and food services, accommodation and cultural as well as recreational industries. High quality detailed tourism data benefits the Canadian economy and, in turn, all Canadians.
Statistics Canada may also use the information for other statistical and research purposes.
Why were these organizations selected as data providers?
Environics Analytics Group (EAG) provides a range of large-sample-size surveys, administrative data, mobile movement data and detailed current estimates of the population. The data span both Canada and the US and are maintained and updated regularly. EAG takes research data, and administrative data and uses statistical and geographic techniques to express the data for small geographies for all of Canada providing datasets that are needed to produce timely and quality detailed tourism data.
When will this information be requested?
December 2020 and onward (monthly).
When was this request published?
December 8, 2020