Travel between Canada and other countries, April 2023
Released: 2023-06-23
Highlights
In April, the number of non-resident visitors to Canada and returning Canadian residents accounted for 81.4% of the level observed in April 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Residents of overseas countries took 373,200 trips to Canada in April 2023, and US residents took 1.3 million trips. At the same time, Canadian residents returned from 4.1 million trips abroad.
To further explore current and historical data in an interactive format, please visit the Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard.
Overseas visitors to Canada
In April, 373,200 overseas residents arrived in Canada, up 54.4% from 241,700 in April 2022 and reaching over three-quarters (77.4%) of the number of overseas arrivals during the same month in 2019, before the pandemic.
Over two-fifths (161,200) of overseas visitors arrived from Europe in April 2023, up 31.3% from 122,800 in April 2022 and reaching four-fifths (80.8%) of the number of visits by European residents in April 2019 (199,500).
The number of overseas visitors from Asia was 90,900 in April 2023, which was twice as many as that in April 2022 (45,100), but represented just over half (57.0%) of the number of such visitors in April 2019 (159,300).
US-resident trips to Canada
In April 2023, US residents took 1.3 million trips to Canada, up 71.2% from the 759,600 trips taken in April 2022 and reaching more than four-fifths (81.9%) of the number of trips taken during the same month in 2019. Total arrivals by land (967,700) in April 2023 increased 73.3% from April 2022 (558,500).
In April 2023, of arrivals by land from the US, 927,900 were by automobile, 25,500 by bus, 5,000 by train and 8,800 were pedestrian trips. Just over half (51.9%) of arrivals by automobile were same-day returns.
Canadian-resident trips to the United States
In April, Canadian residents returned from 3.2 million trips to the United States, increasing 53.4% from the number of trips taken in April 2022 (2.1 million), and reaching 83.7% of the level from the same month in 2019.
Of the total return trips by Canadian residents in April 2023, 2.0 million were by automobile, and three-fifths (60.9%) of these trips took place in the same day.
The number of return trips by air was 1.1 million, which was 82.5% higher than the 611,500 such trips recorded in April 2022 and 13.2% higher than the same month in 2019. This was the eighth consecutive month that the number of return trips by air exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Canadian residents travelling overseas
In April 2023, there were 875,900 return trips taken by Canadian residents overseas, up 23.6% from the same month in 2022 (708,700). By way of comparison, 1.2 million such trips were taken in April 2019, before the pandemic.
Note to readers
Complete Frontier Counts data are now available for March 2023 and tables 24-10-0050-01, 24-10-0051-01, 24-10-0053-01, 24-10-0054-01 and 24-10-0055-01 have been updated.
To align with the Variant of the Standard Classification of Countries and Areas of Interest 2019 for Travel Statistics, the following territories have been realigned: British Indian Ocean Territory, Eastern Africa; Christmas Island, Micronesia; Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Micronesia; and Norfolk Island, Melanesia.
Additional levels of aggregation for Traveller Characteristics are now available in table 24-10-0053-01.
Starting with the January 2022 release, all estimates, including those in Table 1, are based on unadjusted counts only. Seasonally adjusted data continue to be available online in tables 24-10-0051-01 and 24-10-0054-01.
Seasonally adjusted data for January 2018 to March 2023 have been revised. No revisions were made to data that were not seasonally adjusted.
For more current estimates of international arrivals to Canada, please see the "Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada" for the May 2023 reference month.
Readers are encouraged to review the concepts, definitions, data sources, methods and summary of changes for Frontier Counts, as well as explanatory notes for online tables, especially when making historical comparisons and examining specific regions.
Overseas countries refer to countries other than Canada or the United States.
A Canadian resident visitor is a Canadian resident traveller whose trip purpose outside Canada is related to tourism and whose trip duration is less than one year.
A non-resident visitor is a traveller to Canada whose country of residence is not Canada, whose trip purpose is related to tourism and whose trip duration is less than one year.
Products
The April 2023 issue of International Travel: Advance Information (66-001-P) is now available.
The product "Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard," part of the Data Visualization Products series (71-607-X), is also 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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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