Another drop in U.S. visitors recorded in first quarter: StatsCan

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Another drop in U.S. visitors recorded in first quarter: StatsCan

OTTAWA (CP) - More Canadians headed south in the first quarter of this year, while fewer Americans came north, Statistics Canada says.

The number of Americans making overnight visits to Canada dropped again in the first quarter, the eighth consecutive year-over-year quarterly decrease, the agency reported.

The figures cover a period during which the Canadian dollar reached a series of 30-year highs against the U.S. greenback, hovering around the 95 cent US mark for weeks.
 
 
 

Overnight travel by Canadians to the United States rose to its highest first-quarter level since 1993.

Canadians took about 3.7 million trips south of the border, up 4.8 per cent from the same period in the previous year.

The agency said Americans made fewer than 1.8 million overnight trips to Canada in the first three months of the year, down 6.3 per cent from the same quarter in 2006.

This year's figure was the lowest first-quarter result in 10 years.

Overnight travel both by air and by car from the United States fell between January and March. It was the fifth consecutive year in which first-quarter overnight car trips declined.

American residents made just over one million overnight car trips to Canada, an 8.3 per cent decline from 2006.

They made fewer than 800,000 overnight pleasure trips to Canada in the first quarter, a 10.9 per cent drop compared with the same period last year. While the number of business trips increased 7.6 to 440,000, overnight trips for visiting friends and relatives declined 3.4 per cent on a year-over-year basis.

American tourists spent an estimated $915 million in Canada, down 5.0 per cent from the first quarter of 2006. Canadian travel spending in the United States rose 5.0 per cent, to about $3.1 billion.

Canadians continued to flock to Florida, with over one million overnight trips recorded in the quarter. That's a 14.2 per cent jump from 2006.

Pleasure trips, which accounted for 58.7 per cent of overnight Canadian travel to the United States, rose 9.2 per cent from the first quarter of 2006, despite rising gasoline prices and the requirement that Canadians hold a passport when flying south.

The number of business trips increased 2.2 per cent, while trips to visit friends and relatives posted a more modest 0.4 per cent gain compared with the first quarter of 2006.

About 26.6 per cent of U.S. visits were for business purposes.

Canadians also set a record for overseas trips in the first quarter, racking up nearly 2.5 million overnight visits abroad. That's a first-quarter record, up 11.4 per cent from the same quarter in 2006 when the previous record was set.

The top three most visited overseas countries for Canadians were Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Over half a million overnight visits were made to Mexico alone, an increase of 24.6 per cent from the first quarter of 2006. Visits to the Dominican Republic and Cuba rose 34.1 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively, with nearly 400,000 overnight visits to each country.

Travel to Europe dropped 14.7 per cent over the quarter, marking the second consecutive year in which travel there declined in the first quarter.

StatsCan said this may reflect a 9.5 per cent drop in the value of the Canadian dollar against the euro in the first quarter.

During their overseas trips, Canadians spent an estimated $3.0 billion, a 7.3 per cent increase from the first three months of 2006 and a new record for a first quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, the statistics agency reported that Canada's international travel deficit - the difference between what Canadians spend abroad and what foreigners spend here - narrowed to $1.7 billion in the second quarter of this year.

That's down $131 million from the first quarter and off about $300 million from the record high set in the fourth quarter of last year, but it remains one of the highest deficits ever.

Foreigners spent $4.2 billion in Canada in the second quarter, up 2.1 per cent from the previous three months. Canadian travel spending abroad slipped for the second consecutive quarter, dropping down 0.8 per cent to $5.9 billion. Prior to this, it had increased for nine consecutive quarters.

The travel deficit with the United States dropped for the first time in a year in the second quarter, falling $195 million to $1.1 billion.

The deficit with overseas countries climbed to $668 million, a $64 million increase from the previous quarter and the second highest level in over three years.