Travel between Canada and other countries, June 2020
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Released: 2020-08-21
Highlights
June marked the third full month of travel restrictions, which have considerably limited international travel to and from Canada. Overall, international travel was down substantially in June compared with the same month the year before.
Travel from overseas countries (those other than the United States) to Canada fell 97.8% from June 2019, while travel from the United States was down 96.6%.
Similarly, the number of Canadian residents returning from either overseas countries (-95.4%) or the United States (-94.0%) declined year over year.
Restrictions on non-essential travel continue
International travel remained low throughout June as travel restrictions, first introduced in March, remained in effect. As a result, total international travel to and from Canada (excluding non-resident and Canadian crews, immigrants, and former residents) declined 95.5% overall.
Travel from abroad to Canada fell from 3.9 million trips in June 2019 to 121,500 in June. However, despite the year-over-year decrease, the number of non-resident travellers entering Canada was up for the second consecutive month, following a low in April (the first complete month of lockdown during the pandemic).
Travel across the Canada–US border continued to be minimal in June because of restrictions on non-essential travel, which first took effect on March 21 and have been extended each month since. As a result, border crossings declined sharply from 6.5 million in June 2019 to 312,400 in June. Despite this steep decline, crossings were up 29.4% from May.
Overseas travel to Canada remains low
Residents of overseas countries took 19,900 trips to Canada in June, down 97.8% year over year. Arrivals from Europe declined to 4,800 (from 365,500 in June 2019), while arrivals from Asia dropped to 6,200 (from 310,300 in June 2019).
In June, arrivals from Australia recorded the largest year-over-year decline, down 99.8% from 47,800 to 110.
Arrivals from China—the leading source market for travel from Asia—also decreased, down from 78,000 in June 2019 to 1,600.
Arrivals from the United Kingdom fell 99.3% year over year to 760 in June, while travel from France declined 98.9% to 720. Travel from Canada's other major markets also remained low throughout June.
Travel from the United States edges up
US residents took 101,600 trips to Canada in June, down 96.6% from June a year earlier. However, this was up from May, when 72,100US residents entered Canada.
US residents took 91,500 trips to Canada by automobile in June, a 95.2% decline from 1.9 million trips in June 2019. Almost three-quarters of these automobile trips were same-day car crossings (72.3%).
While automobile crossings to Canada by US residents fell year over year in every province, Quebec (-96.6% to 5,600), New Brunswick (-96.0% to 3,500) and Ontario (-95.7% to 49,800) reported the largest percentage declines.
In June, US residents took 8,000 trips to Canada by air, down 98.8% from 685,300 trips in June 2019. However, despite this decrease, this number was up from 3,700 in May.
The number of Canadians returning from the United States remains low
Canadian residents made 210,800 return trips from the United States in June, down 94.0% from 3.5 million in June 2019, but up 24.5% from 169,300 trips in May 2020—the second monthly increase in a row.
In June, there were 192,500 return car trips from the United States. Of these, 166,800 were same-day car trips, down 91.1% from June 2019.
Year over year, Yukon (-98.8%), British Columbia (-97.8%) and Quebec (-96.4%) recorded the largest percentage decreases in car trips.
The decline in air travel was more pronounced. The number of Canadian residents returning from trips to the United States by plane decreased 97.5% year over year to 16,200 trips in June. On a monthly basis, however, this number was up from 9,600 in May.
Few Canadians travelling overseas
Canadian residents returned from 35,900 trips overseas in June, down 95.4% from the 780,600 trips taken in June 2019.
Note to readers
Data for Statistics Canada's Frontier Counts program are produced using administrative data received from the Canada Border Services Agency 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 countries.
Unlike data releases prior to April 2020, the analysis of June data is based on unadjusted data (not seasonally adjusted) to emphasize the change in actual volumes. However, data are available on a seasonally adjusted basis from the tables. Because of the unusually small travel volumes since April 2020, future revisions to seasonally adjusted data for the months of 2020 can be expected to be larger than usual. This may have a significant impact on the month-to-month movements of individual series.
Seasonally adjusted data for March to May 2020 have been revised.
For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
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 nights' stay.
Products
The June 2020 issue of International Travel, Advance Information, Vol. 36, no. 6 (66-001-P), is now available.
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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