More Americans decided to travel to Canada in February, but tourism figures are still at record lows, according to Statistics Canada data released Monday.
Almost 1.9 million Americans made overnight trips to Canada in February, up 3.8% from 1.8 million travellers in January. The increase surpassed the 3.3% decline in U.S. travellers in January compared with the number of trips in December.
Total trips to Canada by Americans and other foreigners rose 2.3% to 2.25 million in February from 2.2 million in January.
Despite the increase, StatsCan reported that February's figures remain among the lowest since record keeping started in 1972.
More Canadians also made travel plans in February. StatsCan reported a 4.1% increase in Canadian trips abroad with almost 3.3 million trips to the U.S. and 702,000 trips to other countries.
Despite the increase, Canadians are still travelling less than they did a year ago. February saw a 10% decrease in the number of trips compared with the 4.4 million trips made in February 2008.