Visits to the United States by Canadians rose 4.2% in April from the previous month to 4.3 million trips – the highest figure since March 1995.
According to a report released this morning by Statistics Canada, those cross-border trips by Canadian residents were the chief factor driving a 4% increase in Canadians’ travel abroad for the month.
Canadian residents took 2.4 million same-day car trips to the U.S., up 3.9% from March. Same-day travel has been trending upward since September 2010.
Also in April, Canadians took 1.8 million overnight trips to the U.S. – a 4.5% rise from March. This was chiefly driven by car travel, which rose 6.4%, while overnight plane travel rose 2.2%.
Travel by Canadians to overseas countries rose 3.1% in April, relative to the prior month, to 766,000 trips.
Travel by Americans to Canada rose 0.6% in April to 1.6 million trips, with same-day car travel rising 1.5% – the first monthly increase since August 2010.
Overnight car travel by Americans headed to Canada rose 2.5% relative to the month before; however, overnight plane trips declined 2.6%.
Trips by overseas residents to Canada increased 1.9% to 369,000 in April, with travel from Japan rebounding 27.3%, following a 26.7% decline in March. Travel by residents of South Korea increased 15.2%, while trips by Mexican residents declined 14.3%.
Jenny Wagler
Twitter: JennyWagler_BIV