Travel from the U.S. to Canada slumped in October to the lowest level since records have been kept, likely thanks to border hassles, confusion about passport requirements and a stronger Canadian dollar.
According to Statistics Canada, there were 2.3 million trips from the U.S. in October, down 12.1 percent from a year earlier. That's the least travel since 1972. The number of same-day car trips fell 18 percent while the number of overnight trips fell 2.1 percent.
The dropoff hurts tourism and trade across Cascadia and could hinder attempts by Washington to take advantage of the surge in visitors around the 2010 Olympics. Delays at the border highlight the need for Washington and B.C. to convince the federal governments to fund better infrastructure and use much clearer standards to screen travelers.
Strength in the Canadian currency also discouraged travel in October, as the dollar rose to 88 cents against the U.S. dollar. Still, travel from seven of Canada's top 12 overseas markets was up, though the total number of visits from countries other than the U.S. was off 1.9 percent to about 370,000.