U. S. visits to Canada lowest since 1972
June auto tallies off 30% locally, 22% nationally
Canada had the fewest U. S. visitors in more than three decades in June as gasoline prices and a strong Canadian currency dissuaded trips north of the border.
Journeys to Canada by U. S. residents fell 16 percent from June 2007 to 2.56 million, Statistics Canada said, pushing the total number of foreign visitors down 13 percent to 3.13 million. Neither figure has been lower since the Ottawa-based agency started keeping such travel records in 1972. Trips by people from other countries rose 2.6 percent to 575,000.
“U. S. visitors traditionally have spent a lot of money here, even more than Canadians do, so it’s definitely a hit to our ticket sales,” Ann Swerdfager, media manager for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ont., said before the report.
The biggest decline in June came from U. S. tourists taking day trips by car. Those fell 22 percent from last year, according to the data, which isn’t seasonally adjusted.
Across the four bridges in the Buffalo Niagara region in June, car trips to Canada were down 30.4 percent compared with June last year: 261,727 trips made versus 376,181 last year.
The Peace Bridge saw 30.6 percent fewer Canada-bound car drivers in June, with 115,928 trips versus 166,957 last year. Car trips to Canada were down 31.7 percent on the Rainbow Bridge (85,515); and 31.6 percent on the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge (52,857). Only the Whirlpool Bridge, used only by NEXUS pass holders, saw an increase with an 8.8 percent hike (7,427).
Canadians visiting the U. S., on the other hand, were up 4.2 percent in the region, with 352,476 trips in June.
Lost revenue from foreign visitors to Canada is a drain on an economy facing the slowest growth since 1992 this year. Canada’s $66.6 billion (U. S.) tourism industry has struggled since the 2001 terrorist attacks in the U. S. made travel to and from that country more cumbersome, while the currency’s 59 percent appreciation since early 2002 has made spending time there more expensive.
“We’re calling it the perfect storm,” said Holly Ward, a spokeswoman for the Caesars Windsor casino, in Windsor, Ont.
U. S. travelers, most of whom do not carry passports, used to be able to get into Canada and back home with a driver’s license or birth certificate. As of last year, anyone entering or reentering the U. S. by air is required to show a passport, and drivers are scheduled to face a similar rule in mid-2009.
In addition, gasoline pump prices in the U. S. rose about 34 percent from January through June, reaching $4.15 a gallon, according to the U. S. Department of Energy. In Canada, they rose as high as $4.97 a gallon, in July, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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