Friday, March 29, 2024

More Americans are visiting Canada but fewer Canadians are heading south

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According to Statistics Canada, Canadian visitorship to America has decreased for months, while American trips to Canada have increased.

Comparing July to August of this year, the total number of trips that Canadians have taken to the U.S. has decreased by 1%. Meanwhile, Canada has seen 1.2% more American travellers to our country in the same amount of time.

A decrease of 1% of Canadians making a trip down south doesn’t seem like much, but for August, a 1% dip meant 35,000 fewer visits to our American neighbours. August also marked the fifth consecutive monthly decrease of Canadian visitors to the U.S.

The 1.2% increase of American visitors to Canada means that an additional 15,400 visits were made to our country in August compared to July. The total 1.4 million car trips to Canada also equates to a 2.1% increase for August 2018 compared to August 2017.

Statistics Canada notes that the severe forest fires in B.C. and Alberta, and resulting evacuation orders, flight cancellations, road closures and heavy smoke impacted tourism in those areas, meaning that American visitorship could have been even higher.

Statistics Canada also thinks that the value of the Canadian dollar may have been a factor for lower Canadian trips to America. The Canadian dollar dropped from $U.S. 0.79 to $U.S. 0.76 from April to May, and held there over June. In July and August, the Canadian dollar rose slightly to $U.S. 0.77. The current Canadian dollar is valued at $U.S. 0.76.

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Adam Chan
Former Staff Writer at Victoria Buzz.

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