Travel between Canada and other countries, February 2018
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Released: 2018-05-04
US residents made 2.0 million trips to Canada in February, up 0.4% from January. 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 2.0% from January to 428,000 in February. Same-day car trips to Canada by US residents declined 0.6% to 658,000, while overnight car trips increased 1.3% to 673,000.
Canada saw 599,000 residents from overseas countries (countries other than the United States) in February, up 2.9% from January.
Canadian residents made 3.8 million trips to the United States in February, up 1.3% from January. Overnight trips by plane to the United States rose 1.0% from January to 733,000 in February. Canadian residents took 2.0 million same-day car trips (+2.6%) and 948,000 overnight car trips (-1.0%).
Just under 1.1 million Canadian residents returned from overseas countries in February, a 4.7% increase from January.
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 2018 and January to December 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 were 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); Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Montréal (November 2017); and Jean Lesage Airport, Québec (December 2017).
While awaiting receipt of PIK data, Statistics Canada prepared preliminary estimates for airports at which the PIK system has been deployed. These estimates are based on CBSA reports of total international travellers by airport, while the distribution between Canadian, American 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 have been reviewed and processed, 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.
An overnight traveller or a tourist is a traveller whose trip includes one or more night's stay.
Products
The January and February 2018 issues of International Travel, Advance Information, Vol. 34, no.1 and no. 2 (66-001-P) are now available.
The updated Canada and the World Statistics Hub (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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