economy
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME The pandemic brought international travel to a virtual standstill in 2020. And though Canadians have, in fact, been venturing out in greater numbers of late, the total number of travellers still lags pre-pandemic levels.
International trade and travel are important components of our local and national economies. Canada relies on international transactions in terms of importing and exporting products (which we’ll look at next), but also on the movement of people. In this case, we're examining Canadians travelling internationally, which impacts our local economies to some extent through purchases such as flights, insurance, and travel-related products locally. It also helps us understand Canadians' expenditure on travel, both for vacations and business purposes. And whether for business or pleasure, travel is an expense that is often scaled back during difficult economic times, a business or household can save a lot of money in a budget by forgoing trips. Of course, the pandemic brought international travel to a relative halt in 2020, and it took a while for many people to get back to travelling again. Canadians have indeed been venturing abroad in increasing numbers over the past
two years with the average number of trips taken–this includes both multi-night trips overseas or to the south, as well as day trips to the US–however the number of travellers is still less than the pre-pandemic average. Given that travel is inherently seasonal, it makes sense to look at the monthly average over the course of a year, and in 2023 there were 48% more trips taken than in 2022. This is still 15% less than the three-year pre-pandemic average. When we adjust for population growth, we’re still further below the pre-pandemic average (by 21%) but the same trend remains, with per-capita trips up 45% over 2022. With more belt tightening on the way in 2024, alongside robust population growth, it may take some time before the per-capita rate of international travel is back to pre-pandemic levels, though in terms of the overall number of trips taken, that pre-pandemic level is likely to be reached sooner rather than later.
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