Crimes don’t stop Canadians from traveling to Mexico

2 June, 2007

Canadians set a record in overseas travel in 2006. The United States was their most favourite destination, followed by Mexico.

Mexico got the second place despite highly publicised crimes and fatal accidents involving Canadians in Mexico. And, according to an official of the Canadian travel industry, the fact that the untoward incidents are continuing in 2007 might not change the trend.

Randy Williams, CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said Canadians are not likely to be frightened away from Mexico by what he described as a few well-publicised cases of harm to Canadians, including a double murder.

Canadian couple Nancy and Dominic Ianeiro were killed in February 2006 in their room at a Mayan Riviera resort. The Mexican government and police agencies have been severely criticised for their inept handling of the case.

In fact, several more incidents of crime involving Canadians or allegations of crimes committed against Canadians have been reported since the beginning of 2007. A recent poll found that 60% of Canadians said they would not go to Mexico in 2007 because of the crimes.

The preliminary annual report on the characteristics of international travellers, released by Statistics Canada, show that Canadians also spent a record sum of money while abroad in 2006.

Canadians took an estimated 22.7 million overnight trips in 2006 and spent a record $20.1 billion in the process.

Canadians also set a new record for travel to non-United States destinations. About 6.7 million trips, nearly one-third of the total, were to destinations other than the United States – up by 8.2% from 2005. This was the fourth consecutive annual increase in overseas travel.

Travel to the United Kingdom fell by 13.4% to just 778,000 overnight visits, according to Statistics Canada. This was partly owing to a decline in visits during the third quarter of 2006, coinciding with the major security threat at London’s Heathrow Airport in August 2006.

France, Cuba and the Dominican Republic were the third, fourth and fifth top destinations for Canadian tourists.

China was another favourite country that Canadians visited in 2006, with travel to China jumping by 55.7% from 2005.

Travel into Canada also showed an increase for the third straight year in 2006 after three consecutive annual declines. The number of overnight trips to Canada from countries other than the United States rose by 1.2% to about 4.3 million.

The number of overnight trips from the United States to Canada fell by 3.7%, and the amount of money spent by US travellers in Canada dipped by 2.6%.