National Travel Survey, fourth quarter 2019
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Released: 2020-07-08
Highlights
The looming pandemic was not yet a consideration in the travel decisions of Canadians in the final months of 2019. Nevertheless, trips within Canada and abroad were down 1.5% year over year to 71.3 million trips from October through December 2019.
This release completes the data story for 2019 and will serve as an important benchmark to measure the full impact of COVID-19 on travel behaviour during 2020. More recent data are available from the Frontier Counts and Leading Indicators travel programs.
Travel by Canadian residents abroad rose 2.4% in the fourth quarter, while domestic travel declined 2.0%, led by fewer overnight trips within Canada.
More Canadians travel overseas
Canadian residents aged 18 years and older made 2.4 million trips to overseas countries (countries other than the United States) in the fourth quarter, up 8.7% from the same quarter a year earlier.
While travel to overseas countries increased during the quarter, spending on overseas trips declined 1.8% to $3.8 billion. The average amount spent by Canadian residents overseas was $1,604 per trip, down from $1,775.
Accommodation ($1.7 billion) and food and beverages in restaurants and bars ($859 million) accounted for the largest shares of total overseas travel expenditures (excluding the cost of commercial transportation to leave and return to Canada).
Mexico (445,000 visits) was the country most visited by Canadians during the fourth quarter, followed by the United Kingdom (190,000 visits), Cuba (183,000 visits) and France (147,000 visits).
Travel to the United States mostly for holidays or recreation
Canadian residents took 6.3 million trips across the border during the fourth quarter, up slightly (+0.2%) from the same quarter in 2018.
Canadians spent $5.1 billion during their trips for an average of $812 per trip. Accommodation, the largest single expense category, represented 36.5% of overall travel spending made by Canadians in the United States ($1.9 billion). Food and beverages in restaurants and bars ($1.0 billion) and clothing ($327 million) were the next largest expense items.
Canadian residents travelled to the United States during the quarter most frequently for holiday, leisure or recreation (2.9 million trips), followed by trips to visit with friends or relatives (1.4 million trips).
Less domestic travel during the fourth quarter
Canadian residents made 62.6 million trips within Canada during the fourth quarter, down 2.0% from the same quarter in 2018.
Despite this decline, spending on domestic travel edged up 0.3% to $9.0 billion. Average spending by Canadian travellers within Canada rose from $141 to $144 per trip.
Canadian travellers spent $2.0 billion on accommodation from October to December, up 10.8% from the same period in 2018. Canadians travellers spent a further $2.0 billion on food and beverages in restaurants and bars (-1.8%) and $1.3 billion on vehicle operations (-6.6%), including the cost of gas and car repairs during their travels.
Travelling to visit friends or relatives, the most common reason for domestic travel during the quarter, was down 4.0% year over year to 28.9 million trips. In contrast, travel for holidays, leisure or recreation within Canada increased 6.5% to 17.5 million trips.
Although down 2.2% from the same quarter in 2018, Ontario remained the most popular destination with 27.1 million visits by domestic travellers in the fourth quarter. Quebec, the second most-popular destination, saw the number of visits by Canadians decline 6.7% to 11.9 million.
British Columbia reported 8.5% more domestic visits year over year, to 7.5 million during the quarter.
Note to readers
The National Travel Survey (NTS) collects information about the domestic and international travel of Canadian residents.
The NTS was developed to replace the Travel Survey of Residents of Canada and the Canadian resident component of the International Travel Survey. As such, NTS data are not directly comparable with these two surveys because of changes in methods.
NTS estimates are based on a sample and subject to variability. For example, estimates for smaller geographic areas and detailed categories have more variability. In such cases, users are advised to examine the coefficient of variation indicated by the letter quality indicators attached to each estimate.
Users are also advised that changes to procedures for contacting NTS households were introduced in 2019 and may have resulted in differences in non-response bias for 2018 and 2019, which could affect comparability.
Data released for all quarters of 2019 are preliminary and will be revised at the time of the release of annual data for 2019.
Target population is the civilian, non-institutionalized population 18 years of age and older in Canada's provinces, excluding persons living on Indian reserves and in the territories. Also excluded are out-of-scope trips such as routine trips taken by commuters and diplomatic or military personnel.
Domestic trips are made by travellers residing in Canada who travelled inside Canada for a period of less than 12 months before returning to their place of residence.
Same-day trips or visits take place within the same calendar day—that is, the traveller left and returned home on the same day—and must be a distance of 40 km or more away (one way).
Trips abroad are made by travellers residing in Canada who travelled outside of Canada for a period of less than 12 months before returning to Canada. Foreign citizens who are residing in Canada and travel abroad are included as Canadian resident travellers.
A trip abroad for persons residing in Canada starts when they cross the border to exit Canada and ends when they first re-enter Canada.
Trips and visits: A trip can consist of one or more visits. A Canadian traveller on a trip abroad may cross into several countries or US states before being recorded as having re-entered Canada. Each of these crossings represents a visit. Similarly, a Canadian resident travelling in Canada may stay in several locations during their trip. Each stay at a Canadian location (for example, a province) within a given trip represents a visit.
Products
Data from the National Travel Survey for the fourth quarter of 2019 are now available. Other tables, including statistical profiles of Canadian travellers, are available upon request.
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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