HarryWatch Institute For Travel & Tourism

The following data is from Stats Canada and it provides colorful pictures as to what the current travel pattern to Canada and from Canada. The also captures the... movement of people between Canada and the USA The number of travellers to Canada from the United States and overseas declined 1.4% in November, while travel abroad by Canadian residents edged up 0.3%. Over the first 11 months of 2019, 5.4 million residents of overseas countries came to Canada by air, 1.2% more than during the same period in 2018. More Canadian residents travelled to overseas countries (+3.1%) from January to November compared with the same period a year earlier, but fewer travelled to the United States (-1.5%). US arrivals decline in November US residents made 2.1 million trips to Canada in November, down 1.2% from October. Trips to Canada by car accounted for 1.4 million of these trips, down slightly (-0.1%) from the previous month. Car arrivals from the United States increased in British Columbia (+4.6%) and the Prairie provinces (+1.7%), while Ontario (-1.6%) recorded the largest decline. The decline in Ontario coincided with severe snowstorms that affected the bordering states of Michigan and Minnesota during the last week of November. This may have slowed US car travel to the province during the US Thanksgiving weekend. Plane arrivals to Canada from the United States declined 1.8% in November to 457,000 tripsa second consecutive monthly decline. From January to November 2019, US residents took 23.3 million trips to Canada, up 2.4% from the same period in 2018. This was the fifth consecutive year-to-date increase since 2015, and the highest year-to-date level since 2007, just before the 2008 recession. Both car (+2.5% to 15.5 million) and air (+2.8% to 5.2 million) arrivals were up in 2019 compared with the same period in 2018. Arrivals to Canada from overseas countries decline Residents of overseas countries (countries other than the United States) took 612,000 trips to Canada in November, down 2.2% from October. From January to November, 5.4 million residents of overseas countries arrived in Canada by air, up 1.2% from the same period a year earlier. Residents of Mexico (+12.5%), India (+7.9%) and France (+7.1%) took more trips to Canada by air in the first 11 months of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018, while air arrivals from Brazil (-10.8%), China (-9.9%) and the United Kingdom (-0.8%) declined. The number of air arrivals from ChinaCanada's third-largest source market for overseas travellers in 2019, after the United Kingdom and Francedeclined 9.9% to 537,000 arrivals, year to date. British Columbia (-11.8%) and Ontario (-7.6%) reported the largest declines in air arrivals from China. Combined, these two provinces accounted for 90% all air arrivals to Canada from China. Canadian travel to the United States by car declines while plane travel increases Canadian residents took 3.6 million trips to the United States in November, up slightly (+0.1%) from October. Travel by car, the primary mode of transportation across the border, declined 0.5% from October to 2.7 million trips. This was led by a 2.2% decrease in overnight car travel to the United States, to 878,000 trips. Same-day car travel increased 0.4% to 1.8 million trips. In November, fewer Canadian residents returned from the United States by car in most provinces, including the three largest: Ontario (-0.4%), Quebec (-3.8%) and British Columbia (-0.7%). Meanwhile, car travel from Manitoba (+10.1%) and Saskatchewan (+7.6%) to the United States rebounded following a heavy snowstorm in the southern parts of these provinces in October. Plane travel to the United States increased 1.9% in November to 851,000 trips. Canadian residents made 40.4 million trips to the United States over the first 11 months of 2019, down 1.5% from the same period a year earlier. Car travel, which accounted for three-quarters of all trips to the United States, fell 3.2% to 29.9 million trips, while the number of plane trips to the United States rose 4.1% to 9.2 million. The lower value of the Canadian dollar, a factor known to influence cross-border travel, may have contributed to fewer cross-border car trips by Canadian residents. The Canadian dollar averaged $0.75 USD from January to November 2019, compared with $0.77 USD during the same period in 2018. The number of Canadians travelling overseas increases The number of Canadian residents travelling overseas (trips to countries other than the United States) increased 1.0% in November to 1.0 million trips. On a year-to-date basis, Canadians made 3.1% more trips to overseas countries in 2019 compared with the same period in 2018