The chill on cross-border travel continued in April, according to new data from Statistics Canada, which continued to show a sharp drop in border traffic since the U.S. launched its trade war.
In April, the number of Canadian residents returning from trips to the U.S. was down by 29.1% from the same month a year ago. Return flights from the U.S. dropped by 14% year over year, while automobile traffic was down 35.4%.
As Canadians continued to skip trips to the U.S., they turned to travel elsewhere. Statistics Canada reported that return flights from overseas rose by 9.1% in April, compared with the previous year.
Alongside the drop in cross-border travel by Canadians, trips by U.S. residents into Canada were down in April.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, total arrivals in Canada by U.S. residents fell by 8.7% in April, Statistics Canada reported — with arrivals by air down 3.5%, and trips by automobile down by 11.2% year-over-year.
At the same time, the number of arrivals in Canada by overseas residents was up 0.9% in April, led by an increase (up 2.9%) in visits from Europe.