StatCan has been crunching the numbers of international arrivals into Canada since the easing of COVID restrictions. It’s a stretch to say the glass is half full.
When it comes to Canadians travelling abroad, 1.3 million returned from trips to the U.S. in MAR this year, and that’s five times as many as travelled stateside in MAR of 2021. But it’s only a third of the number of Canadians who visited the U.S. in the same month of 2019.
Air travel stats look hugely encouraging - at first. CTVNews reports over half a million Canadians returning by air in MAR. That’s over 25 times higher than the measly 19,000 pax in MAR, 2021. But it’s less than half of the number of the same month prior to the pandemic.
Of course, MAR figures are of high importance because of the value of March Break travel.
For that particular period of MAR, while the 685,000 returning Canadians represents a huge win over March Break travel from last year, it remains less than half of pre-pandemic March Break pax.
International Visitors to Canada
Non-Canadians travelled more to Canada this MAR than in 2021, too, but inbound visitation numbers are still far off their pre-pandemic game.
Five times the number of overseas and American visitors arrived in Canada in MAR, 2022.
But that was only half the number of international visitors - and one-third of the U.S. arrivals into Canada in MAR 2019.
The new StatCan report shows similar, encouraging trends across the board for returning Canadians and international arrivals - but they still fall far short of the cold, hard figures that would demonstrate industry recovery.
