Canada sees dramatic drop in U.S. arrivals in April due to coronavirus measures

OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – Canada’s move to close the border early on in the pandemic has had a dramatic impact.

Statistics Canada says for the month of April — the first full month of COVID-19 border restrictions — arrivals to Canada from the U.S. and overseas were down 96.8 per cent from the same time last year.

Border crossings have been virtual ghost towns with trips plummeting from 5.4 million last April to just 203,000 for April of this year.

That’s the lowest number of Canada–U.S. border crossings for any month since record keeping started in 1972.

The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to all non-essential traffic since the end of March. Meanwhile, all international arrivals are restricted to four airports across the country, and only citizens and permanent residents are allowed into Canada.

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Airlines across the globe, including in Canada, have significantly reduced the number of international flights due to decreased demand since late March.

“These flight restrictions, along with the bans on all non-essential travel around the world, resulted in a virtual standstill in overseas travel to Canada,” a release from Statistics Canada reads. “Overseas travel to Canada almost stops in April.”

By region, the number of arrivals from Europe fell from 191,000 year over year in April to just 2,400 trips. Arrivals from Asia dropped to 3,500 trips from 167,000 the same time last year.

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