Almost a million Americans crossed their northern border: just one of the stellar stats from CTC’s key international markets in the latest CTC Tourism Snapshot
2012-07-31 — /travelprnews.com/ — It was the merry month of May for international travel to Canada. With 1.4 million visitors from around the world—up 2% on 2011—coming to Canada, the latest fact-packed Tourism Snapshot by the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)’s Research department is good enough for a jig around the maypole.
Here are some more data hot spots:
Sacrebleu! Overnight arrivals from France fell 2% in May 2012 after three consecutive monthly increases.
Heavy economic clouds still gathered over the UK market in May 2012: it continued its downward spiral with another 8% drop in trips to Canada.
It was Yankee-doodle-dandy in the US market, in May 2012. A 6% rise in auto travel meant that overnighters to Canada hit the accelerator, growing 3% to nudge against one million.
Year-to-date, Americans have made 4% more trips to their northerly neighbours, a total of 3.3 million arrivals.
Those positive vibes spread through the Americas: the Mexico market knocked up an 11% increase in Canadian expeditions, while Brazilians stayed nuts about Canada, taking 7% more trips here than in 2011.
The inexorable rise of the China market continued in May 2012, with a 22% rise in overnight trips to Canada.
Also upwardly mobile in Asia: the India market was looking frisky, posting a 21% surge in visitors to these shores, while Japan’s steady recovery continued with 4% growth.
South Korea also remained in the doldrums: May 2012 brought no sign of relief, with 9% fewer trips to Canada.
Canada’s tourism rivals had a good April: total international travel to the US rose 8% and to Australia, 3%.
Home sweet home: for the first time since October 2009, Canadians took fewer trips to passport control. A total of 2.5 million outbound trips in May 2012 represented a 2% year-on-year decline.
Canadians were full of the joys of spring in May 2012. The Index of Consumer Confidence, released by The Conference Board of Canada, leapt 5.8 points to hit 80.8.
