U.S. travel to Canada, overall travel hit record lows in January

[Bulldog]

(  I have not been to the US in over a year, but want to get back soon )

OTTAWA - Travel to Canada from the United States hit a record low in January, bringing down overall travel to its lowest level on record.

In total, travellers made about 2.38 million trips to Canada in January, 1.4 per cent fewer than in December and a record low since record-keeping began in 1972.

Slower travel from the United States more than offset a record high of 391,000 overnight trips to Canada from overseas countries.

The number of trips to Canada from the United States failed to reach the two-million mark for the first time on record.

U.S. residents took about 1.97 million trips to Canada in January, down 1.7 per cent from December.

Same-day car travel from the United States hit a record low of about 794,000 trips, down 1.2 per cent from December - the first time same-day car travel failed to reach 800,000.

Only five of Canada's top 12 overseas markets recorded increases from December even though overnight travel to Canada from overseas countries reached a record high.

Among these markets, travel from Mexico recorded the largest increase, at 9.3 per cent, while travel from Japan posted the largest decline, down seven per cent.

Meanwhile, Canadian residents took 4.4 million trips outside the country in January, down 0.2 per cent from December.

The average value of the Canadian dollar in January was 98.9 U.S. cents, down 0.8 per cent from December. The dollar also dropped against the euro and the yen in January from December, but gained against the British pound.

http://travel.canoe.ca/Travel/News/2008/02/20/4861915-cp.html