The number of visitors from Canada's southern border are declining with every year. According to Statistics Canada, the numbers have been dropping since 2002.
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Woe, Canada: The country is experiencing a 37-year low in visitors from the U.S. |
Tourists from the U.S. are visiting Canada less and less these past several years. According to Canada’s tourism association, U.S. travel into its northern border is at a 37-year low and still declining.
Randy Williams, head of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, says it is mainly due to the recession, and partly because of the stricter passport restrictions crossing both borders.
He also said that tourism traffic has been on the decline for the last eight years, from 16.7 million in 2002 down to 13.4 million in 2007, according to Statistics Canada.
In addition, summer tourism is also being impacted by the chaos surrounding Via Rail, Canada’s national railway system. Shut down for two days over a weekend in July by a strike, Via offered a 60 percent discount on regular-fare tickets countrywide. But the deal, announced immediately after the strike was settled, proved too popular, prompting a flood of bookings that overwhelmed the company's website and tied up its phone lines.