TInews -- Archive
Subscribe
TInews Archive
|
||||||||||||||||
|
TInews Archive #981120175337
=== TINEWS =================================== An information service from Tourism Industries 11/20/98 Exchange Rate Favors U.S. Resident Travel to Canada
Monthly U.S. resident travel to Canada for August continued its upward climb. Travel of one or more nights by all modes garnered a 4 percent gain, making seven out of eight months positive in 1998. Statistics Canada notes that Americans made up 81% of all overnight trips in August. Air travel posted a notable increase, up 12 percent, to 471,000 trips in August. Rail travel to Canada by U.S. residents posted a 9 percent increase in travel volume compared to the same period of the previous year. Bus and pedestrian/other modes of entry to Canada from the U.S. both registered declines in August, down 1 and 2 percent, respectively. However, these are very small numbers of travelers and are subject to wide shifts in performance. Auto travel of a single nights* duration rose by 8 percent. Longer duration trips, surprisingly, exhibited much slower growth, up only 3 percent, for a cumulative increase of 4 percent by this mode. Year-to-date US resident travel to Canada rose by more than 8 percent to 10.7 million trips. Compared to the same period of 1997, this is an increase of approximately 850,000 travelers. The American dollar was at a record high of Cdn$1.54 compared to Cdn$1.39 for the same month of 1997. The Canadian Tourism Commission notes "for the first eight months of 1998, US tourists to Canada are up 8.3%, with solid increases in both auto and non-auto entries. The story behind these numbers remains the same with the strong US economy, the exchange rate, Open Skies and the cumulative effort of our marketing efforts all combining to produce this increase in US tourist visitation.* Overseas travel to Canada is dominated by the decline in Asia arrivals to the country. For the month of August, the depth of the Asian decline has lessened so that arrivals are down 20 percent, compared to the first quarter decline of 35%. However, key markets have deepened their declines. It is also noteworthy that Canada is seeing declines from other world regions. CTC reports *Overseas travel continues to be weak....down 7.4% in the Jan-August period. From our major markets, overnight entries from the UK were up 4.4%; France down 9.2%; Germany down 5.9%; Japan down 16.3% and South Korea down 59.8%. For the second month in a row, Hong Kong is recording an increase on a cumulative basis - up 7.9%. Among some of our secondary markets, the number of tourists from Mexico are up 16.7%; Argentina is down 7.4% and Brazil is up 1.0%.* Outlook? Tourism Industries* forecast calls for an 8 percent increase in US travel to Canada. The Canada NewsWire reported *Graham Todd, managing editor of Travel Research International, speaking at the TIAC summit, told Canadian tourism business leaders to focus on attracting Americans in the next year, and extend their efforts to global travellers, including those from Europe and Japan in subsequent years. Mr. Todd predicts that global travel will continue to expand at a rate of about 4% per year over the long term, but he recommends that "Canada go hard for the U.S. market next year" as the U.S. dollar is expected to buy around 6% more next year than this. In 1998, the US dollar already bought 33% more in Canada than it did in 1990.* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on Tourism Industries* Canadian Statistics program or to view a summary table of arrivals, expenditures and length of stay by state for 1997, please visit our web site at http://tinet.ita.doc.gov. Monthly aggregate data on Canadian arrivals to the U.S. in through March 1998 are found on the site at Monthly Tourism Statistics, Arrivals to the U.S., 1998, Section 1. U.S. resident travel to world regions, including Canada, is posted in Monthly Tourism Statistics as well. Stay tuned to the TINet website and TINews for future developments and/or analyses of the Canadian market. To Order from the Internet: You can order the 1997 annual report on Canadian Travel to the U.S. from TI's website 24 hours a day. This publication will provide in-depth analysis of the market in the past year and also provide an historic perspective of arrivals to the U.S. In the Market Analysis section, scroll down to the Canadian Statistics program and click on *Most Current Publication*. To Order by Fax: Fax 1-202-482-2887 with a written request for the 1997 annual Canadian Travel to the U.S. report. Please provide your full mailing address (this report is too lengthy to FAX) and phone number. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe Now! To subscribe to TInews, visit our web site at: http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/tinews/subscribe.html **If you wish to unsubscribe, send E-mail to tinet_listserv@tinet.ita.doc.gov, with "SIGNOFF TIANNOUNCE" in the body of the message. Tourism Industries, International Trade Administration U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1860 Washington, D.C. 20230 (202) 482-0140, fax: (202) 482-2887 e-mail: tinet_info@ita.doc.gov === END T I N E W S =========================== |