StatsCan: Travel between Canada and other countries - November 2007 - Insurance-Canada.ca

November 2007 – Canadian travel abroad increased across the board in November, with significant gains in overnight car travel to the United States.

Canadian residents made a record 2.4 million overnight trips outside the country in November, up 7.6% from the previous high recorded in October. (Unless otherwise specified, monthly data are seasonally adjusted.)

Higher car travel south of the border contributed the most to the record setting pace, as Canadians took 1.1 million overnight car trips to the United States in November, a significant 16.2% increase from October and the highest level in over 15 years.

Since the end of 2006, overnight car travel to the United States has gone up 43.6%. The rising Canadian dollar and the extensive media coverage it generated likely contributed to the increase in overnight car trips. The loonie averaged US $1.03 in November, compared with US $0.87 in December 2006.

Meanwhile, overnight plane travel to the United States climbed to its second highest level ever in November, up 0.2% to 502,000 trips. Overnight travel by other modes of transportation edged up 0.1%.

Overall, overnight travel to the United States jumped 10.0% to 1.8 million trips, the highest since the end of 1991. Same-day car travel to the United States had a more modest increase, climbing 2.7% to 2.3 million trips.

For the seventh consecutive month, Canadian travel overseas set a new high. Canadians took 657,000 trips to non-US destinations in November, a 1.8% increase from October.

All in all, Canadians travelled abroad more in November than at any other time in the last decade. Travel abroad reached 4.8 million trips in November, 5.0% more than October and 17.4% higher than at the end of 2006.

Inbound, overnight travel from the United States fell 1.9% to 1.1 million trips in November. Overnight car travel slipped 1.5% to 679,000 trips, while overnight trips by plane and other modes of transportation fell 2.1% and 3.7% respectively.

Same-day car travel from the United States was the hardest hit, dropping 6.3% to 824,000 trips, the lowest level since record keeping started in 1972.

Overnight and same-day car travel from the United States have taken different paths since recording sharp declines at the beginning of 2007. Since February 2007, overnight car travel from the United States has increased 7.6%, with gains in seven of the last nine months. Same-day car travel, however, is down each of the last five months and has fallen 10.2% since February.

This suggests that same-day car travel from the United States may be more vulnerable to external factors predominant in 2007, such as the rising cost of gasoline, the uncertainty surrounding the US economy and the faltering US greenback.

Travel from overseas countries reached its highest level in over three years in November, as residents of countries other than the United States made 401,000 trips to Canada, up 4.6% from October.

Overall, 10 of Canada’s 12 most important overseas markets had increases in travel in November, with Mexico and Switzerland posting gains of 13.6% and 10.1% respectively. Travel from the United Kingdom, Canada’s most important non-US market, slipped 1.8% to 78,000 trips.

About Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada produces statistics that help Canadians better understand their country�its population, resources, economy, society and culture. In Canada, providing statistics is a federal responsibility. As Canada�s central statistical agency, Statistics Canada is legislated to serve this function for the whole of Canada and each of the provinces. Visit
www.statscan.ca.

Travel between Canada and other countries
	October 2007^r	November 2007^p	October to November 2007	November 2007^p	November 2006 to November 2007
	Seasonally adjusted			Unadjusted
	thousands		% change¹	thousands	% change¹
Canadian trips abroad²	4,538	4,765	5.0	4,284	21.9
to the United States	3,893	4,108	5.5	3,812	23.1
to Other Countries	646	657	1.8	472	13.6
Same-day car trips to the United States	2,239	2,299	2.7	2,269	20.3
Total trips, one or more nights	2,238	2,409	7.6	1,951	25.2
United States³	1,592	1,751	10.0	1,479	29.5
Car	976	1,135	16.2	886	48.2
Plane	501	502	0.2	514	8.9
Other modes of transportation	115	115	0.1	79	8.7
Other countries⁴	646	657	1.8	472	13.6
Travel to Canada²	2,507	2,448	-2.4	1,649	-11.1
from the United States	2,124	2,046	-3.6	1,438	-13.3
from Other Countries	384	401	4.6	211	7.2
Same-day car trips from the United States	879	824	-6.3	714	-22.6
Total trips, one or more nights	1,524	1,519	-0.3	880	0.6
United States³	1,150	1,128	-1.9	674	-1.2
Car	689	679	-1.5	405	0.1
Plane	314	307	-2.1	227	-4.5
Other modes of transportation	148	143	-3.7	42	6.0
Other countries⁴	373	391	4.8	206	6.8
Travel to Canada: Top overseas markets, by country of origin⁵
United Kingdom	80	78	-1.8	35	8.2
France	31	33	8.3	15	11.4
Japan	26	28	7.8	18	-10.3
Germany	25	26	3.8	11	0.1
Mexico	21	24	13.6	11	31.6
Australia	19	20	2.7	10	21.8
South Korea	17	18	6.0	10	-1.5
China	12	12	4.5	10	1.5
Netherlands	10	10	-2.7	4	-2.5
Hong Kong	9	10	9.8	5	3.0
Switzerland	8	9	10.1	4	13.8
Italy	8	9	5.8	5	11.6

^r revised

^p preliminary

1. Percentage change is based on unrounded data.

2. Totals exceed the sum of “same-day car trips” and “total trips, one or more nights” because they include all of the same-day trips.

3. Estimates for the United States include counts of cars and buses, and estimated numbers for planes, trains, boats and other methods.

4. Figures for other countries exclude same-day entries by land only, via the United States.

5. Includes same-day and overnight trips.