Travel between Canada and other countries, November 2017
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Released: 2018-01-19
US trips to Canada continue upward trend
Travel to Canada by US residents rose in November, up 0.4% from the previous month. It was also up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. The 2.1 million trips in November was the highest number recorded for the month of November since 2006.
Growth was led by an increase in trips by plane. After accounting for normal seasonal variation, the number of overnight trips to Canada by plane taken by US residents rose 3.5% from October to 430,000 in November. It was also up 13.4% from November 2016.
Meanwhile, the number of car trips to Canada by US residents rose 0.5% from October to 1.4 million in November. On a 12-month basis, the number of trips was down 0.8% compared with November 2016.
Overseas travel to Canada rises in November
Travel to Canada by residents of overseas countries (countries other than the United States) rose 9.3% from October on a seasonally adjusted basis, and was up 12.1% from November 2016. For the 11 months from January to November, the number of overseas travellers was up 6.7% compared with the same period a year earlier, led by increased travel from Asia.
Travel by Canadians to the United States up from November 2016
Canadian residents took 5.6% more trips to the United States in November compared with the same month of the previous year. This increase followed three years of declining travel by Canadians to the United States in the month of November. Notably, the average November value of the Canadian dollar was up on a year-over-year basis in 2017 for the first time since 2012.
The 3.6 million trips in November did, however, represent a 0.4% decrease from the previous month.
Car trips, which account for about three of every four trips by Canadian residents to the United States, increased 5.2% compared with November 2016 and were also up slightly from October (+0.3%). Same-day car trips increased 0.8% compared with October, while overnight trips declined 0.6%.
Overnight trips by plane increased 6.5% compared with November 2016, but were down 2.3% compared with October 2017.
Eighth straight November of record travel by Canadians overseas
About 1.1 million Canadian residents returned from overseas countries in November, down 1.7% from October, but up 6.8% compared with November 2016. This marked an eighth consecutive increase in overseas travel for the month of November and was also a new record for the month.
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 August to October 2017 have been revised. No revisions were made to data that were not seasonally adjusted. No corrections were made to the previous month.
Data for Statistics Canada's Frontier Counts program are produced using administrative data received from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) on all international travellers who have been cleared for entry or re-entry into Canada. This includes residents of Canada, the United States and overseas entering Canada from abroad.
In 2017, the CBSA began introducing the electronic Primary Inspection Kiosk (PIK) system at airports in Canada. The PIK system replaces the E-311 Declaration Cards that are completed by international travellers to Canada. As of the end of October, the PIK system was deployed at the following airports: Macdonald–Cartier, Ottawa (March 2017); Vancouver International Airport (April 2017); Toronto International Airport T3 (June 2017); Edmonton International Airport (September 2017); Stanfield International Airport, Halifax (October 2017); and Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Montréal (November 2017).
While awaiting receipt of PIK data, Statistics Canada has prepared preliminary estimates for airports at which PIK has been deployed. These estimates are based on CBSA reports of total international travellers by airport, while the distribution between Canadian, US and travellers from individual overseas countries are modelled estimates based on historical data and trends, using methods similar to those used to do seasonal adjustment.
Once PIK data are received, Statistics Canada will revise the preliminary estimates for these airports, as well as the provincial and national totals to which they contribute.
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 November 2017 issue of International Travel: Advance Information, Vol. 33, no. 11 (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 our 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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