Strong dollar helps boost travel overseas, overnight visits to U.S.

OTTAWA (CP) - A strong dollar helped boost overnight travel to the United States for the third straight quarter between April and June, while Canadians set another quarterly record for travel to countries other than their southern neighbour.
And Statistics Canada says that while fewer Americans came north, more overseas visitors came to Canada during the second quarter.

Canadian residents took about 3.9 million overnight trips to the United States between April and June, up 7.5 per cent from the same three months last year.

Typically, more Canadians visited New York state than any other while Florida came second; spending by Canadians declined in five of the Top 10 states but rose 2.5 per cent overall to about $2.9 billion.

Canadians set a new record for second-quarter travel overseas this year with nearly 1.6 million trips, or 5.5 per cent more than in the same quarter last year, with Britain, France and Cuba the most popular destinations.

Cuba was up 13.4 per cent while visits to Italy dropped 34.6 per cent; travel to China broke a four-year-old record in the second quarter.

© The Canadian Press, 2006