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Non-U.S. foreign visitors to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ finally exceed pre-pandemic level

Fewer American visitors coming to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ has kept the overall number of foreign visitors to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ below its pre-pandemic level, according to new data from Statistics ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½
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Air passengers disembark at Vancouver International Airport

The good news for ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s tourism sector is that the number of non-American foreign visitors to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points has , according to new Statistics ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ data.

This comes four months after .

In February, the number of non-American foreign visitors was 104,741, up 12.13 per cent from the 93,409 such people who entered ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points in February 2020.

One reason why the February total this year may be for the first time above the pre-pandemic level is that some international visitors may have cancelled or opted against trips to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ in February 2020 out of fear of catching an unknown virus even though the World Health Organization (WHO) did not officially declare that there was a COVID-19 pandemic until March 11, 2020.

If we look at data for February 2019, instead of February 2020, there were 112,129 non-American foreign visitors who entered ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ via ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points, which would be about seven per cent more than in February. 

Regardless, the bad news for ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s tourism economy is that there are fewer American visitors than pre-pandemic.

ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s cruise sector saw a , but that only helps in the spring, summer and early fall.

Having fewer American visitors coming to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ kept the overall number of foreign visitors to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ in February marginally below its pre-pandemic level, according to the data. 

Had it not been for the drop in American visitors, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s international-visitor count in February would have been above where it was four years earlier.

Statistics ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½'s data today shows that the number of international visitors coming to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points in February was down only about 0.18 per cent, to 437,244 from 438,042 in February 2020. In that time frame, the number of U.S. visitors to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points was 332,503, down nearly 3.52 per cent from the 344,633 Americans who visited ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points in February 2020.

The number of Americans coming to ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points exceeded pre-pandemic levels in June, July, September and October - months when there were cruises. 

Since then, in each month, there have been fewer Americans visiting ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ through ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ entry points than was the case in comparable pre-pandemic months. 

The exchange rate has not significantly changed. The Canadian dollar strengthened against the U.S. greenback in November and December, but has since weakened. 

ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½-wide, the number of Americans visitors has never exceeded pre-pandemic monthly levels, but in February the differential was smaller than it has been.  

In February, 1,127,588 Americans visited ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, down nearly 1.2 per cent from 1,281,300 Americans in February 2020, according to Statistics ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½.

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