Although historically low, the number of international arrivals to Canada during July increased from the same month last year, according to a new report released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.
The federal agency said travellers from overseas countries made 63,700 trips to Canada in July, more than double compared with July 2020, but still down 94.2 per cent from the pre-pandemic levels of July 2019.
In July 2021, there were over 80,000 more American residents travelling to Canada than in July 2020, yet this was down 94.6 per cent from the same month in 2019, it said, adding that Canadians made a total of 535,100 return trips home from abroad in July 2021, more than double compared with last year, but still down 89.7 per cent from July 2019.
“While the ban on non-essential travel across the Canada-US border was extended on June 21 for another 30 days, more cross-border traffic was expected with provincial re-openings and the federal easing of requirements for international air travellers,” said StatsCan.
“As of July 5, mandatory testing upon arrival with a hotel stopover as part of a 14-day quarantine—which had been in force since February—was no longer required of fully vaccinated air travellers currently eligible to enter Canada.”
Statistics Canada said the number of residents from overseas countries arriving in Canada rose to 63,700 in July, up from 28,400 in July 2020. The July 2021 figure represents 5.7 per cent of the 1.1 million overseas arrivals in July 2019, before the pandemic.
“The number of travellers originating from Europe nearly tripled, from 9,400 in 2020 to 26,300 this year, but was significantly down from the 513,600 arrivals in the same month in 2019. While arrivals from Asia were up year over year from 9,300 to 22,900 in July 2021, this was 93.3 per cent below the pre-pandemic level of July 2019. Travel from other major markets also remained low throughout July,” it said.
“In July, US residents took 194,800 trips to Canada, up from 113,400 in July 2020. The July 2021 figure represents 5.4 per cent of the 3.6 million such trips made in July 2019. In July 2021, 37,100 US residents arrived by plane, the highest number since the pandemic began in March 2020. While up by more than three times from July 2020, the July 2021 figure is well below the total of 735,100 Americans who flew into Canada in the same month in 2019.
“American residents arriving to Canada by car increased to 155,200 in July, up from 100,400 in July 2020, but less than one-tenth of the 2.4 million arrivals in July 2019. Just over half of these car trips involved a same-day return (82,200).”
