(OTTAWA) The number of people who traveled to Canada in January increased from a year earlier, but remained a fraction of what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
Posted at 11:45 a.m.
According to the federal agency, some 218,600 American residents traveled to Canada in January, compared to 86,500 in the same month a year earlier. They were still far fewer than the 1.2 million Americans who visited the country in January 2020.
The number of residents of countries other than the United States who traveled to Canada in January was 79,700, up from 34,500 in January 2021. However, they were nearly 365,600 in January 2020.
Canadian residents, for their part, returned from 690,200 trips to the United States in January, added Statistics Canada. The number is higher than 265,000 in the same month a year earlier, but down from 3.1 million in January 2020.
The number of Canadian residents returning from travel abroad totaled 463,700 in January, up from 160,500 in January 2021, but down from 1.4 million in January 2020.
As COVID-19 cases spiked late last year, Ottawa advised Canadians on Dec. 15 to avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada. Then, on December 21, the government required all travelers entering Canada to provide a negative molecular test result for COVID-19.