One-day car trips by Canadians to the United States hit a six-year high in September as shoppers, buoyed by the rising loonie, floated over the border.
Statistics Canada reported that Canadians made an estimated 2.1 million same-day car trips to the U.S., up four per cent from August. It was the seventh consecutive monthly gain and the highest level since August 2001.
The Canadian dollar hit parity with the U.S. dollar in mid-September, but Statistics Canada pointed out that September's level for same-day car trips was still a long way off the peak of 5.4 million set back in November 1991, when the value of the dollar was just 88.5 cents US.
Overnight car travel from Canada to the U.S. increased more than four per cent to 930,000 in September, the largest number recorded since December 1993. Canadians also made 507,000 overnight trips to the United States by plane, up 1.5 per cent. September marked the first time that overnight plane travel to the United States topped the half-million mark, Statistics Canada said.
While trips south of the border surged, visits by U.S. travellers to Canada rose by 0.1 per cent in September as a decline in same-day car travel nearly matched a gain in overnight trips.
One-day car travel from the United States fell more than two per cent in September to 945,000, just above the record low of 914,000 set in February this year.
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