Â鶹ӰÊÓ

Tourists from the United States made 5.2 million overnight trips to Canada in the third quarter of 2008, Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday, the lowest third-quarter figure since the agency began keeping such records in 1972.

According to the report "Characteristics of International Travellers," overnight trips made by U.S. travellers to Canada fell 6.9 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2007.

Travel by car accounted for 60 per cent of all overnight trips, but the number of car trips fell by 8.8 per cent to 3.1 million.

Pleasure trips from the United States were down 7.6 per cent, while trips to visit Canadian friends and relatives declined by 8.4 per cent.

However, business travel posted a slight increase of 0.5 per cent.

Tourism officials acknowledge that the global financial crisis will have an impact on many people's travel plans, but that many will still want to take holidays.

"We have to remember that even though the economy has slowed down and there's a global financial worry, most of the world sees travel as an essential part of their life," Randy Williams, president of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said Wednesday afternoon on Â鶹ӰÊÓnet.

"They may alter their plans or shorten their visits, but they're still going to travel and they're going to look for good value in their experiences and maybe take shorter holidays, but they still will travel."

Williams said that the data includes the months of July, August and September, when the Canadian dollar was still close to par with the U.S. greenback.

Tourists from the U.S. may have felt more inclined to take advantage of a weaker Canadian dollar later in the year, after it began sinking against the U.S. dollar.

"So October is when the dollar went down another 10 cents and so we got a little bit of a relief there and we're hoping to see in the fourth quarter some return of growth from the American market," Williams said.

Because the tourism industry employs 1.6 million Canadians, Williams suggested that federal and provincial governments need to ensure they are supporting funding for arts festivals and other events that draw tourists.

While figures for U.S. travel to Canada were down, the same was not true for Canadian visits south of the border.

More Canadians travelled to the U.S. compared to the third quarter of 2007.

Overnight trips by Canadians to the United States rose 4.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, to 6.1 million.

Pleasure trips, which accounted for more than 63 per cent of overnight travel from Canada to the U.S., rose 5.6 per cent, while trips to visit friends and family increased 2.6 per cent. However, business trips declined by 8.5 per cent.

Overnight car travel accounted for more than 70 per cent of overnight trips by Canadians, increasing 5.8 per cent to 4.3 million trips.

While spending by American travellers in Canada dropped 8.4 per cent to $8.2 billion, spending by Canadians in the U.S. rose 5.6 per cent to nearly $3 billion.

U.S. travellers may be making fewer trips to Canada, but trips by overseas tourists rose 1.1 per cent to 1.8 million. However, they spent about $2.3 billion on those trips, down 2.6 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2007.

And the worldwide financial crisis has not kept Canadians from travelling overseas. Canadians made 1.8 million overnight trips during the third quarter of 2008, up 7.2 per cent compared to the third quarter of 2007. They also spent more, about $3 billion, a 3.6 per cent jump.