Canada's international travel deficit with the rest of the world rose by $91 million to $4.2 billion in the second quarter, possibly helped along by increased cross-border shopping in the United States, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
Overall, Canadian travellers increased their spending outside the country by 1.5 per cent to about $8.5 billion.
Spending by foreign visitors to Canada increased 0.8 per cent to about $4.4 billion, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2004.
Canada's travel deficit with the United States increased by $45 million to $3.3 billion in the second quarter as Canadians increased spending south of the border by 1.3 per cent to $5.2 billion.
American travellers spent $1.9 billion in Canada, also up 1.3 per cent from the previous quarter and the highest amount since the fourth quarter of 2008.
"The increase in payments [in the U.S.] coincided with an advance in overnight travel by Canadian residents to the United States," Statistics Canada said in a statement.
"The number of overnight trips by automobile rose 2.2 per cent to 3.4 million, the highest quarterly level since the third quarter of 1992," it said, noting that on June 1 the duty-free exemptions for Canadians returning from trips abroad increased.
Statistics Canada recently reported that Canadians took nearly 2.8 million overnight trips abroad in June alone - the highest monthly figure in four decades.
That was up 5.7 per cent compared with May, with the boost coming from more trips to both the U.S. and overseas.
