National Travel Survey, third quarter 2023
Released: 2024-02-27
Highlights
During the third quarter, Canadian residents took 99.7 million trips, up 3.0 million from the same quarter of 2022 (96.7 million). Most (91.1%) of the third quarter of 2023 trips were domestic. From July to September, Canadian residents spent $27.5 billion on domestic travel and spent $11.8 billion on travel outside the country.
Domestic travel
In the third quarter, Canadian residents took 90.8 million domestic trips, up by 1.3 million from the third quarter of 2022 and reaching 99.2% of such trips recorded in the same quarter in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of domestic overnight trips was 36.3 million in the third quarter of 2023, while same-day trips totalled 54.5 million.
From July to September, Canadian residents spent $27.5 billion on domestic travel expenditures, up 0.7% from the third quarter of 2022 ($27.3 billion) and increasing 27.1% from the same period in 2019 ($21.7 billion), before the pandemic.
Average domestic trip spending was $303 ($127 for same-day and $568 for overnight) in the third quarter of 2023. The top three domestic expenditures in the third quarter were accommodations ($6.4 billion), vehicle operations ($5.0 billion), and spending in restaurants and bars ($4.5 billion).
Travel to the United States
Canadian residents took 6.9 million trips to the United States from July to September, up 24.9% from the same period in 2022 (5.5 million) and reaching 91.6% of the trips taken during the same quarter in 2019 (7.5 million). Holiday, leisure, or recreation (3.8 million) and visiting friends or relatives (1.2 million) were the most reported purposes for trips to the United States in the third quarter of 2023.
Total travel expenditures by Canadian residents in the United States reached $6.1 billion in the third quarter, exceeding travel expenditures during the same quarter of 2022 ($5.3 billion) and of 2019 ($4.9 billion). In the third quarter of 2023, Canadian residents spent an average of $874 per trip, and the average length of trips to the United States was 3.4 nights. Spending was highest on accommodations ($2.5 billion) and in restaurants and bars ($1.1 billion).
Overseas travel
From July to September, Canadian residents returned from 2.0 million trips overseas, up from the 1.7 million trips taken in the third quarter of 2022 and reaching 80.8% of such trips taken during the same quarter of 2019 (2.5 million). Most Canadian residents reported travelling overseas for holiday, leisure, or recreational purposes (1.2 million) and to visit friends or relatives (578,100) in the third quarter of 2023.
Canadian visitors spent $5.7 billion overseas in the third quarter, up 37.3% from the same quarter in 2022 ($4.1 billion) and by 15.3% from July to September 2019 ($4.9 billion). In the third quarter of 2023, Canadian residents spent the most on accommodations ($2.4 billion) and in restaurants and bars ($1.2 billion) while travelling overseas.
The United Kingdom (248,700 visits), Italy (217,000 visits), and France (207,600 visits) were the top three overseas countries visited by Canadian residents during the third quarter.
Cruise vacations
Spending by Canadian residents on cruises to the United States and overseas increased from $110.7 million in the third quarter of 2022 to $121.0 million in the third quarter of 2023. This figure was 21.6% above the spending recorded during the third quarter of 2019, prior to the pandemic, supporting the sector's resilience in terms of expenditures.
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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 data on arrivals in Canada, 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 on a cost-recovery basis.
Products
Data from the third 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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