| More people travelling within home province | |
| November 9, 2007 | |
| Statistics Canada reports that Canadian travellers made 206.4 million domestic visits during 2006, most of which were within their home province and were for pleasure or to visit friends or relatives. More than 30% of these visits were made during the summer, compared with 21% in the winter. To put this into perspective, Canadian travellers took five trips in Canada for every trip to the US in 2006, even though the Canadian dollar recovered compared with its American counterpart. Canadians made an estimated 41.2 million overnight and same-day visits south of the border last year. The data came from the Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (TSRC). This survey, which started in 2005, provides estimates of domestic visits in line with the international guidelines recommended by the World Tourism Organization. A domestic visit is one which originates and occurs within Canada, is less than 365 days in duration, ends during the reference period, and is outside the respondent's "usual" environment. Included in this survey are all "out-of-town" overnight visits and same-day visits to places located at least 40 km from home. Last year, 9 domestic visits out of 10 were taken within the traveller's province of residence. Intra-provincial visits reached 188.9 million, while visits from province to province totaled 19.6 million. The majority of domestic visits were same-day visits, which reached 119.2 million in 2006. Canadians made the largest number of these visits in July, August and December, averaging 11 million a month. Canadians made 87.2 million overnight visits in 2006, staying away an average of three nights. They spent 265.0 million nights away from home, just over one-third (36%) of them in commercial establishments. The number of visits made for pleasure or for visiting friends or relatives rose 1.8% from 179.3 million visits in 2005 to 182.6 million visits in 2006, thanks in part to a strong economy. Canadians spent $32.3 billion in total travelling within the country in 2006. Spending on travel for pleasure or to visit friends or relatives and for pleasure amounted to $26.8 billion, up 3.5% from 2005. This gain was sustained by increases in all major expenditure categories, except for purchases of other goods and services, which fell 4.0%. Transportation spending, which represented almost one-third ($8.7 billion) of travel expenditures for pleasure or for visiting friends or relatives, increased 5.5% in 2006. The main contributing factor was the increase in gasoline prices across Canada. Spending on accommodation rose 13.7%, the largest increase, resulting from two factors: Canadians spent more nights in commercial accommodations, and prices increased in this sector of the economy from 2005 to 2006. Data for the fourth quarter of 2006 indicate Canadians made 43.5 million visits in Canada for pleasure or visiting friends or relatives, up a marginal 0.8% from the same quarter of 2005. This slight increase was entirely attributable to a 2.7% rise in same-day visits, while overnight visits declined 2.2% during the same period. Statistics Canada specifies that total domestic visit estimates for 2006 in this report are preliminary and are not comparable with the preliminary data released for 2005. |
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Author: TOURISM staff Organization: Canadian Tourism Commission E-mail: tourism@ctc-cct.ca |
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