Car trips to U.S. drop significantly, but only in May

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This article was published 20/07/2017 (2471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Car travel by Canadians to the United States fell during May to its lowest level in 14 years, with Manitoba leading the way with the largest provincial drop.

In that month, 37,041 Canadians crossed the Manitoba border into the U.S., compared to 47,661 in the same month of the previous year — a drop of just more than 22 per cent, according to data released by Statistics Canada Thursday.

For the country as a whole, the decrease was only 8.3 per cent.

Peter Kalhok, who works with the tourism statistics program for Statistics Canada, says experts are unable to explain the extreme drop in border crossings for Manitoba.

“I really don’t have an answer for why Manitoba would be different than other provinces,” Kalhok said. “We’re aware of it and I admit it’s something we’re looking at too.”

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Kalhok went on to clarify that border crossings for May 2016 for the province of Manitoba were considered average, which means a spike in the previous year cannot explain this year’s low figures.

That said, Kalhok admitted local events such as festivals, or the opening of the new outlet mall in Winnipeg, could potentially play a role in the drop. Without quantifiable data, however, he would not make definitive statements on causes.

A poll released by Probe research at the end of 2016 showed that 29 per cent of Manitobans, almost one in three, would be less likely to travel to a United States led by President Donald Trump.

Those figures were particularly high among women, with 37 per cent provincewide saying it would affect their travel plans. For women between the ages of 35 and 54, that figure rose to 49 per cent.

For men, however, 70 per cent said the president’s identity would have little to no impact on whether they would go to the United States.

For every other month of 2017, Manitoba border crossings to the U.S. were on the rise from the previous year, with the only significant variance coming in May.

For the country as a whole, 3.2 million trips were made south of the border in May, down 7.7 per cent from April and 5.5 per cent from May 2016.

“We’ve noticed there’s a drop almost across the board, which is very interesting for us,” Kalhok said.

The last time the level of car trips south by Canadian residents were this low was in May 2003. That year also saw a drop in value for the Canadian dollar respective to its U.S. counterpart — similar to 2017.

When compared to the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar was at 73 cents in May. In May 2003, it was at 72 cents.

One possible explanation put forth by Statistics Canada is that unusually wet weather in May, particularly in central and eastern Canada, could have lowered the amount of car trips south of the border.

Travel Manitoba did not respond to interview requests.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca