American Tourists Visit Canada

US travellers to Canada are among the most likely of any market to travel with children under the age of 18. This suggests that there is potential to explore family offerings that can appeal to this market.

US arrivals reached 14.44 million in 2018, up 1% over 2017 and the highest level recorded since 2004.

This growth was driven primarily by the 8.18 million US auto arrivals in 2018, which were the largest source of overnight visitors to Canada, making up 57% of US arrivals in 2018. American leisure travellers like to take advantage of the long weekends for travel, with Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labour Day contributing to the largest weekend spikes in road arrivals in 2018.

American tourists spend close to $700 per trip to Canada, staying an average of 5 nights.

In 2018, four of the top five activities that American leisure travellers wanted to experience on vacation were nature-based, including seeing natural attractions, hiking or walking in nature, visiting nature parks and viewing wildlife.

American tourists are most likely to travel to Canada in the summer months of July and August, but also report higher interest in visiting in the spring and fall seasons.

An increasing proportion of American leisure travellers to Canada are choosing not to book organized group travel packages, up from 55% in 2017 to 69% in 2018.

Overnight arrivals from the US increased in May (1.3M, +6%) and year-to-date (4.2M, +5%) in 2019. Proportionately, more US overnight travellers arrived by air than other modes (34% vs. 30% in May 2018).

www.destinationcanada.com