U.S. Travel to Canada Declines By 76% Since 2001

According to data from Statistics Canada, the number of U.S. vehicles entering Canada for one-day travel fell in June to the lowest level since 1972, when Canada started recording monthly vehicle travel from the U.S. Only 367,452 automobiles from the U.S. entered Canada in June, down by 76% from the recent peak of 1,536,800 cars during the summer before the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

As this Globe and Mail article explains:
New passport rules are keeping Americans at home, with June numbers showing that travel to Canada from the United States fell to its lowest level since Statistics Canada started tracking cross-border trips in 1972.

The number of same-day car trips from the United States was down 26% in June from May, while the overall number of U.S. tourists plummeted to about half of what it was five years ago.

The dramatic drop in travel across the Canada-U.S. border shows that the fears of many in the tourism industry in both countries are coming to pass. After the tougher passport rules were announced in 2005 as part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, many industry groups warned that the regulations would further discourage Americans already reluctant to travel due to the high dollar and gas prices.
MP: Notice in the chart below that the 40% decline of the U.S. dollar relative to the Canadian dollar between 2002-2007 helps explain the decline in travel to Canada between 2002-2007.
HT: Megan McArdle

Originally posted at Carpe Diem.