Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Travel between Canada and other countries

Same-day car travel from the United States continued its downward spiral in July as American travel to Canada fell to its lowest level since the late 1970s.

Same-day car trips by Americans have been at historic lows since the beginning of 2005. Once again a new record low was set in July when just 1.2 million Americans made same-day car trips, down 0.6% from the previous month. (Unless otherwise specified, monthly data are seasonally adjusted.)

Although same-day car travel is currently about half as popular as it was prior to September 11, 2001, the decrease may be linked to other factors. These include the higher Canadian dollar, which averaged 64.9 US cents in August 2001 and higher gas prices, which are nearly 60% higher than they were before 9/11. However, the new security policies at the border following 9/11 and travellers' perception of them might also have contributed to the decrease.

In July, overnight car travel, which is historically more stable than same-day travel, fell to its lowest level in nearly nine years, slipping 2.6% to 681,000 trips.

Declines in overnight travel by plane (-5.1%) and other modes of transportation (-0.2%) were also observed, bringing the total number of overnight trips to its lowest level since the height of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis in May 2003. American travellers made 1.1 million overnight trips to Canada in July, down 3.0% from the previous month.

While overnight travel from the United States was 17.1% lower than in August 2001, the decline is likely caused by factors other than 9/11. Overnight car travel from the United States was actually higher for most of 2002 than it was prior to 9/11, while overnight plane travel hit an all-time high in August 2004.

Overall, travel from the United States fell to its lowest level since May 1979, slipping 1.3% to 2.4 million trips between June and July.

Trips from overseas markets fell to their lowest level since May 2005, down 1.6% to 368,000. Travel from Canada's six most important overseas markets all recorded declines, with Australia being the hardest hit (-6.0%). Travel from the United Kingdom, Canada's biggest overseas market, fell 1.4% to 71,000 trips but travel from China reached a record high of 13,000 trips.

While fewer foreigners visited Canada in July, more Canadians travelled abroad, specifically to the United States.

Travel to the United States climbed to 3.3 million trips, up 1.5% from June, as both same-day car and overnight travel increased in July.

Canadians made over 1.9 million same-day car trips south of the border, up 0.8% from the previous month. Same-day travel to the United States has trended up since it fell 32.4% to 1.5 million trips between August and October 2001.

With increases in both the number of trips by car (+3.5%) and plane (+2.2%), overnight travel to the United States climbed to 1.3 million trips in July, up 2.8% from the previous month. This was the third highest level since 1993 with only those of January and April of this year being higher.

However, travel to overseas countries fell for the first time since last November, after record highs were observed in each of the last five months. Canadians took an estimated 561,000 trips to overseas countries in July, down 1.4% from the previous month. This was still the second highest month on record.

While it is possible that an increasing number of Canadians are choosing overseas destinations instead of the United States, this does not seem to be a direct result of 9/11. Travel to overseas countries has increased steadily since the early 1980s, well before 9/11.

The Canadian dollar dropped to an average of 88.6 US cents in July, down 1.4% from June. The loonie also fell against the euro, British pound sterling and Japanese yen.

Note: Same day and overnight data for United States residents entering by commercial plane, train, commercial boat or other methods (for example, by foot or motorcycle) and any summation of these not seasonally adjusted series have been revised for each month of the fourth quarter of 2005 and the first quarter of 2006.

Same day and overnight data for Canadian residents returning from the United States by commercial plane, private plane, train, commercial boat or other methods (for example, by foot or motorcycle) and any summation of these not seasonally adjusted series have been revised for each month of the fourth quarter of 2005 and the first quarter of 2006.

Available on CANSIM: tables 427-0001 to 427-0006.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5005.

The July 2006 issue of International Travel, Advance Information, Vol. 22, no. 7 (66-001-PIE, free) is now available from the Publications module of our website.

For general information, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-800-307-3382; 613-951-9169; fax: 613-951-2909; cult.tourstats@statcan.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Eric Desjardins (613-951-1781; eric.desjardins@statcan.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.

Travel between Canada and other countries
	August 2001	June 2006r	July 2006p	August 2001 to July 2006	June to July 2006	July 2006	July 2005 to July 2006
	Seasonally adjusted					Unadjusted
	thousands			% change		thousands	% change
Canadian trips abroad1	3,897	3,845	3,885	-0.3	1.1	4,679	5.8
to the United States	3,477	3,276	3,325	-4.4	1.5	4,175	5.0
to other countries	420	568	561	33.5	-1.4	504	12.3
Same-day car trips to the United States	2,222	1,929	1,944	-12.5	0.8	2,266	3.1
Total trips, one or more nights	1,602	1,856	1,884	17.6	1.5	2,363	8.4
United States2	1,182	1,288	1,323	11.9	2.8	1,859	7.3
Car	656	750	776	18.2	3.5	1,332	8.6
Plane	419	446	455	8.8	2.2	365	6.8
Other modes of transportation	108	92	92	-14.3	-0.2	162	-1.1
Other countries3	420	568	561	33.5	-1.4	504	12.3
Travel to Canada1	4,223	2,813	2,775	-34.3	-1.3	4,793	-10.3
from the United States	3,853	2,439	2,407	-37.5	-1.3	4,126	-11.3
from other countries	370	374	368	-0.6	-1.6	667	-3.5
Same-day car trips from the United States	2,340	1,169	1,162	-50.3	-0.6	1,639	-14.0
Total trips, one or more nights	1,710	1,523	1,481	-13.4	-2.8	2,911	-8.6
United States2	1,355	1,157	1,122	-17.1	-3.0	2,263	-10.0
Car	873	699	681	-22.0	-2.6	1,448	-11.7
Plane	336	326	310	-7.8	-5.1	494	-6.5
Other modes of transportation	146	132	132	-9.4	-0.2	321	-7.4
Other countries3	355	366	359	1.0	-1.9	648	-3.3
Most important overseas markets4
United Kingdom	75	72	71	-4.3	-1.4	120	-10.6
Japan	44	34	33	-25.8	-2.6	44	-3.6
France	31	31	31	1.3	-0.7	58	0.8
Germany	31	26	24	-20.1	-4.6	46	-14.5
Australia	14	18	17	20.7	-6.0	23	-7.6
Mexico	15	18	17	14.1	-5.6	43	0.1
South Korea	13	16	16	22.9	0.2	31	3.1
China	8	12	13	65.4	6.0	20	34.8
Netherlands	10	10	10	4.8	1.4	24	-1.4
Hong Kong	11	9	10	-9.7	8.8	19	5.6
Taiwan	10	8	8	-19.0	-2.8	14	-4.2
Switzerland	8	8	8	0.5	-0.8	20	-8.1
r revised p preliminary 1. Totals exceed the sum of "same-day car trips" and "total trips, one or more nights" because they include all of the same-day trips. 2. Estimates for the United States include counts of cars and buses, and estimated numbers for planes, trains, boats and other methods. 3. Figures for other countries exclude same-day entries by land only, via the United States. 4. Includes same-day and one or more night trips.

---

Send this article to another person
E-mail to:
Your name:
Your e-mail:
Comments: