Characteristics of international overnight travellers, fourth quarter 2012

Released: 2013-05-27

Overnight travel by Canadian residents to the United States rose in each major trip purpose category in the fourth quarter, with trips to visit friends and relatives posting the largest increase.

Canadian residents took 832,000 overnight trips to the United States to visit friends and relatives during the fourth quarter, up 19.4% from the same period in 2011.

Pleasure travel, though, remained the most common reason for overnight trips to the United States with 2.7 million trips in the fourth quarter, a 5.1% increase over the fourth quarter of 2011. Business travel rose 3.3% in that same period.

New York was the top destination state for all overnight travel. Canadian residents made 844,000 overnight visits to New York State during the fourth quarter, up 13.7% from the same period in 2011.

Among major trip purpose categories, business travel from the United States to Canada posted the largest percentage increase in the fourth quarter, up 3.5% from the same period in 2011. Pleasure travel, the most common reason for overnight travel from the United States to Canada, rose 1.9%, while trips to visit friends and relatives were up 2.1%.

New York was the top US state of origin for overnight travel to Canada, as its residents took 321,000 trips, up 4.1% from the fourth quarter of 2011.

The United Kingdom was the top overseas country of origin for overnight travel to Canada, followed by France and China. Overnight travel for pleasure and to visit friends and relatives were the most popular reasons for overnight travel to Canada from overseas countries during the fourth quarter.

For Canadians, the most popular overseas destinations for overnight travel were Mexico, the United Kingdom, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Canadian residents took 1.4 million overnight pleasure trips in the fourth quarter, by far the most popular reason for travel overseas.

This release summarises data now available from the International Travel Survey. Tables, various statistical profiles and microdata files of characteristics of international travellers using the fourth quarter 2012 are now available on request.

Data on characteristics of international overnight travellers for the first quarter of 2013 will be released on August 27.

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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (613-951-4636; statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@canada.ca).