http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060817.wtravel0817/BNSt ory/Business/
Americans staying away in droves TAVIA GRANT Globe and Mail Update American visits to Canada have sunk to a record low, a government report showed Thursday. The number of same-day U.S. travellers to Canada hit the lowest since record keeping started in 1972, Statistics Canada said. Visits from the U.S. are 7.4 per cent lower than they were a year ago. Nor is this trend a one-month blip. In the first half of the year, visits from the U.S. hit a record low amid high gas prices, perceived hassles at the border and a strong Canadian dollar. June was the second straight month that U.S. same-day car visits touched record lows. "We're forecasting a soft U.S. market for this year in British Columbia," said Carol Nelson, director of North American marketing for Tourism B.C. "You can't just pinpoint one specific reason and therefore it's very difficult to pinpoint one specific solution." "The U.S. is a very important market...and any time a market of this size experiences a decline, it's certainly a concern." Other travellers stayed away in June too. Visitors from other countries fell 1.3 per cent in June, with the number of travellers from the Netherlands dropping 7.5 per cent. Among Canada's top 12 overseas markets, only Taiwan and Japan posted increases. Canadians are also reduced travel plans to the U.S. in June. Same-day and overnight travel from Canada to the U.S. combined fell 2.8 per cent in June, with same-day car trips dropping 3.8 per cent. On a year-over-year basis, however, trips to the U.S. have risen 5.2 per cent. That said, Canadians are still flocking to other countries. A record number of Canadians set off on overseas voyages in June. More than half a million Canadian travelled abroad in June, the seventh month in a row of increases, Statistics Canada said. The Canadian dollar was worth 89.80 (U.S.) cents on average in June, down 0.4 per cent compared to May. However, the loonie gained against the yen, the euro and pound sterling. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
