OTTAWA — The number of Mexican nationals entering Canada has plummeted by 63.3 per cent in the past year, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.
Much of the October-to-October drop came after Canada imposed new visa restrictions on Mexican visitors in July.
An earlier StatsCan report found Canadian tourism in Mexico also dropped, due in part to the cancellation of some Canadian flights to Mexico following the H1N1 outbreak.
Travel by U.S. residents to Canada fell 2.6 per cent between September and October to 1.6 million trips, the first decline in travel by Americans to Canada in four months.
The agency reported U.S. travellers made 943,000 overnight trips to Canada in October, down 2.7 per cent from September.
Same-day car travel by United States residents to Canada fell 2.3 per cent to 617,000 trips, its first decline in four months, it said.
The number of overnight trips by travellers from countries other than the United States to Canada increased 3.2 per cent to 332,000 in October, the highest level in six months.
Overall, inbound travel decreased 1.7 per cent between September and October to two million trips.
Travel by Canadians abroad edged down 0.1 per cent to four million trips.
Canadians made 1.5 million overnight trips to the United States in October, down 1.1 per cent from September.
Canadians made 1.8 million same-day car trips to the United States in October, up 1.3 per cent from September.
Overall, travel to the United States by Canadian residents edged up 0.1 per cent to 3.3 million trips.
Travel to overseas countries decreased one per cent between September and October to 680,000 trips.