CANADIANS ON THE MOVE

Canadians have been bitten by the wanderlust bug, and according to the recently published Global Tourism Watch summary report by the research department of the Canadian Tourism Commission, in 2011 alone, took 32.7 million trips abroad and spent US$33.1 billion on their adventures.
More Canuck statistics:
!!! Canadians have almost doubled their spending on international travel since 2005, pushing Canada to sixth place in terms of global tourism expenditures;
!!! The US is the primary destination for Canadians on the road, who made more than 21 million trips there in 2011. The launch of Brand USA and its aggressive marketing efforts to lure Canadians over the border poses another challenge to the local Canadian tourism industry;
!!! Everybody loves the sunshine, including Canadians who take much of their leisure travel to hot spots such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico during the winter;
!!! Domestic travel is vital to Canada’s economy: Canadians took 229 million domestic trips in 2010, which accounted for 80% of total tourism receipts;
!!! Canadians take great pride in their country, ranking it first in terms of being friendly, beautiful, informal, liberal and confident;
!!! Nature, cultural activities and unique or local experiences get Canadian travel pulses racing the most, but there is a growing appetite for city activities;
!!! Facebook is the No. 1 social network for Canadian travellers, with almost 75% using it in the past three months. YouTube (50%) and Twitter (18%) are the other heavyweights on the social scene;
!!! Nearly three in 10 Canadian travellers use social networks to share images or stories while on the road, with one in five doing so via smartphones.