National Travel Survey, second quarter 2023
Released: 2023-11-24
Highlights
During the second quarter, Canadian residents took 78.3 million trips, 7.7 million more than in the same quarter of 2022. Most of these trips (89.6%) were related to domestic travel.
Domestic travel exceeds pre-COVID-19 pandemic level
In the second quarter, Canadian residents took 70.2 million domestic trips, up by 5.2 million from the second quarter of 2022 and 4.7% more than in the same quarter in 2019. The number of domestic overnight trips was 22.7 million in the second quarter of 2023, while the number of same-day trips was 47.4 million.
Domestic travel accounted for 89.6% of all travel by Canadian residents in the second quarter, surpassing the proportion seen in the same quarter of 2019 (87.1%). In comparison, this proportion was 92.0% from April to June 2022.
Canadian residents spent $17.7 billion on domestic travel expenditures in the second quarter of 2023, up 2.6% from the second quarter of 2022 ($17.2 billion) and up 29.0% from the same period in 2019 ($13.7 billion), before the pandemic (all figures expressed in this Daily release are in current dollars).
The top three domestic expenditures in the second quarter of 2023 were accommodations ($3.5 billion), vehicle operations ($3.5 billion), and spending in restaurants and bars ($3.1 billion).
Travel to the United States increases in the second quarter
Canadian residents took 6.1 million trips to the United States in the second quarter of 2023, up 2.2 million from the number of trips taken during the same quarter in 2022 (4.0 million) and reaching 84.2% of the trips taken during the same quarter in 2019 (7.3 million).
Holiday, leisure, or recreation (3.3 million) and visiting friends or relatives (1.0 million) were the most reported purposes for travelling to the United States in the second quarter of 2023.
Total travel expenditures by Canadian residents in the United States reached $7.0 billion in the second quarter, exceeding travel expenditures during the same quarter of 2022 ($4.6 billion) and of 2019 ($5.5 billion).
Canadian residents visiting the United States spent the most on accommodations ($2.9 billion) and in restaurants and bars ($1.3 billion) in the second quarter of 2023.
Overseas travel remains below pre-pandemic level
From April to June, Canadian residents returned from 2.0 million trips overseas, up from the 1.7 million trips taken in the second quarter of 2022 and reaching just over three-quarters (75.9%) of such trips taken during the same quarter of 2019 (2.6 million). Most Canadian residents travelled overseas for holiday, leisure, or recreational purposes (1.4 million) and to visit friends or relatives (453,000) in the second quarter of 2023.
Canadian-resident travellers spent $4.8 billion overseas in the second quarter, up 35.9% from the same quarter in 2022 ($3.5 billion) and reaching 96.7% of the $5.0 billion spent from April to June in 2019. In the second quarter of 2023, Canadian residents spent the most on accommodations ($2.2 billion) and in restaurants and bars ($1.1 billion) while travelling overseas.
Mexico (370,800 visits), France (241,300 visits), and the Dominican Republic (167,800 visits) were the top three overseas countries visited by Canadian residents during the second quarter.
Cruise vacations increase in popularity
Spending by Canadian residents on cruises to the United States and overseas increased sharply from $47.0 million in the second quarter of 2022 to $185.2 million in the second quarter of 2023. Relative to the second quarter of 2019, spending on cruise vacations was up by 55.8%.
Note to readers
The National Travel Survey collects information about the domestic and international travel of Canadian residents.
All spending estimates are based on visit expenditures, and domestic visit expenditures include commercial air expenditures incurred at the point of origin of the trip.
The target population is the civilian, non-institutionalized population 18 years of age and older in Canada's provinces, excluding people living on Indian reserves and in the territories. Routine trips taken by commuters and diplomatic or military personnel are out of scope.
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 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 people 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.
Recent data on international travel by Canadian residents are available from the monthly "Travel between Canada and other countries." To explore current and historical arrivals-to-Canada data, in an interactive format, please visit the Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard.
Data on visited states during trips made by Canadian residents to the United States are available upon request.
Products
Data from the second quarter of 2023 from the National Travel Survey 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; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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