Travel between Canada and other countries, July 2017
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Released: 2017-09-20
Record US overnight travel to Canada by plane for month of July
During the month of its 150th birthday, Canada welcomed 2.0 million US residents, down 1.1% from June, but an increase of 0.5% compared with July 2016.
Of these trips to Canada, 698,000 were same-day trips by car. This was an increase of 0.4% from June, 1.5% higher than the same month of the previous year, and the highest figure for July since 2008. The number of overnight US travellers to Canada by car increased by 0.4% from June to 663,000, and was 0.4% lower than in July 2016.
The number of US travellers making overnight trips to Canada by plane increased 1.1% from July 2016 to 390,000, a record high for the month of July. It did, however, represent a decrease of 3.9% from the previous month. Of the four most-visited provinces, British Columbia (+5.9%), Quebec (+10.9%) and Alberta (+13.6%) recorded increases in the number of US travellers by plane compared with July of the previous year while US travel to Ontario by plane decreased by 4.5%.
More overseas travellers from Europe, fewer from Asia
Canada received 535,000 residents visiting from overseas countries in July, a 2.8% decline from June and 2.6% fewer than in July 2016. However, from January through to the end of July 2017, the number of overseas travellers to Canada was still 9.0% higher compared with the same period of the previous year.
Residents of European countries made 240,000 trips to Canada in July, an increase of 3.4% from June, but 6.1% lower than in the same month of the previous year. The number of travellers from Asia declined by 8.8% in July to 175,000, and was 5.1% lower than in July 2016. For the period from January to July 2017, the number of travellers from both Europe (+3.1%) and Asia (+9.1%) were higher compared with the same period last year.
The number of travellers from Mexico declined by 8.2% in July, but this was 42.1% higher than in July 2016 when the visa requirement for Mexican citizens was in place before being lifted in December 2016.
New July record for number of Canadians flying to United States for overnight stays
Canadian residents made 3.4 million trips to the United States in July, up 1.1% from June and 0.3% higher than in July 2016. The value of the Canadian dollar, one factor influencing cross-border travel, stood at US$0.80 on July 31, compared with US$0.75 at the end of June and about US$0.77 in July 2016.
The number of Canadian travellers making overnight trips to the United States by plane increased 12.9% from July 2016 to 730,000, a record high for the month of July.
The number of trips to the United States by car rose 2.2% to 2.6 million in July. Compared with 12 months earlier, the number of Canadian residents travelling to the United States by car declined 3.0%, led by a 3.2% decrease in the number of same-day car trips and a 2.5% decline in overnight car trips.
Canadian travel overseas continues upward trend
In July, 1.1 million Canadian residents returned from trips to overseas countries, a decrease of 2.9% from June, but 9.2% more than in July of the previous year. This was also the highest figure for the month of July since modern recordkeeping began in 1972 and the eighth consecutive year of increased overseas travel by Canadians in the month of July.
Note to readers
Monthly data are seasonally adjusted. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions. Year-to-date figures are based on unadjusted data.
Seasonally adjusted data from January to June 2017 and January to December 2016 have been revised. Data that have not been seasonally adjusted, from October to December 2016 and January to March 2017, have also been revised. Corrections were made to the previous months of May and June.
Recent data for the following airports are preliminary estimates that will be revised in a future release: Macdonald-Cartier, Ottawa (since March 2017), Vancouver (since April 2017) and Toronto International Airport T3 (since June 2017). Since these estimates contribute to provincial and national totals, these totals will also be revised.
Overseas countries refer to countries other than the United States.
A Canadian resident traveller is a Canadian resident who has travelled outside Canada for a period of less than 12 months.
A non-resident traveller is a resident of a country other than Canada who is travelling to Canada for a period of less than 12 months.
Products
The July 2017 issue of International Travel: Advance Information, Vol. 33, no. 7 (66-001-P) is now available.
The updated Canada and the World Statistics Hub – United States (13-609-X) is now available from the home page of the Statistics Canada website. This new product illustrates the nature and extent of Canada's economic and financial relationship with the United States, using interactive graphs and tables. This product provides easy access to information on trade, investment, employment and travel, including merchandise trade by Canadian provinces and US states.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; STATCAN.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.STATCAN@canada.ca).
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