More Canadians traveled abroad in August than in July, but the total number of trips was still down for the year, according to data released by Statistics Canada
Canadians made four million trips abroad in August, up from 3.8 million in July. The bulk of the increase came from increased trips to the U.S.
Same-day trips to the U.S. rose 9.6% to 1.7 million from 1.6 million and U.S. trips lasting one or more nights rose 4.6% to 2.2 million from 2.1 million.
The bulk of multi-day trips came from a 9.3% increase in flights to and from the U.S. and a 4.7% increase in car trips.
Year-over-year, however, Canadians are still traveling about 9.4% less than they were in August 2008.
Travel to Canada remained flat in August due to declines in multi-day travel by Americans offsetting increases in same-day trips from the U.S.
The number of multi-day trips fell 2.2% to 1.27 million from 1.29 million, overcoming a 5.5% increase in same-day car trips to 612,000 from 580,000 in July.
For the year, American travel to Canada is still down 12% from August 2008.