INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL TO/FROM CANADA JAN TO SEPT 2006 – CON’T Trips to Canada by Non-Residents The stronger Canadian dollar has taken a toll on visits to Canada. Inbound travel by US residents decreased 8.7% year-to-date (January to September). The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is anticipating that due to the overall outlook for the US economy, weak trends in US visitors to Canada will continue into 2007.1 . Visits from overseas residents has remained flat at 3.7 million trips year-to-date. However, decreases were observed in many of the top markets, including the UK, Japan, Germany, Australia and Hong Kong. The CTC attributes some of the declines in key markets to the increasing cost of trips to Canada, based both on the stronger Canadian dollar and on higher prices of airfares, accommodations and other trip costs.2 In contrast, strong growth in visits was observed for China, up 27% over last year to 114,000 visits, for Mexico, up 8.5% to 175,000 visits and for China, up 9.3% to 73,000 visits. Spending by US visitors decreased 4.7% to $9.7 billion year-to-date, while spending by overseas visitors has remained flat at approximately $5.6 billion. Table 2: Trips to Canada by Non-Residents January to September TRIPS:
2005
2006
% Change
Total US + Overseas
29,226,000
27,023,100
-7.5%
United States
25,555,600
23,343,100
-8.7%
Overseas
3,670,400
3,680,000
+0.3%
United Kingdom
759,000
726,200
-4.3%
Japan
339,700
316,200
-6.9%
France
297,100
303,200
+2.1%
Germany
287,500
265,900
-7.5%
Mexico
160,800
174,600
+8.5%
Australia
173,000
169,400
-2.1%
South Korea
156,400
161,500
+3.2%
China
89,800
113,900
+26.8%
Netherlands
104,400
104,000
-0.4%
Hong Kong
93,500
91,200
-2.5%
India
66,800
73,000
+9.3%
1,142,400
1,180,900
+3.4%
Other Overseas
Source: Statistics Canada, International Travel Advance Information, November 2006.
1 “Tourism Faces Escalating Security and Economic Challenges,”CTC Tourism Intelligence Bulletin, Issue 35, September 2006. 2
“Winter Ushers in Cooling Trend,” CTC Tourism Intelligence Bulletin, Issue 36, November 2006.
Page 4 December 2006
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