International Travel Survey (ITS)

Summary of changes

Activity on this program started: 1972 (ITS Mail-back questionnaire); 2000 (Air Exit Survey for Overseas Visitors); 2001 (Air Exit Survey for American Visitors); and 2013 (ITS E-Questionnaire)

Reference period of change - fourth quarter 2017

Note that as of January 2018, the ITS was replaced by two new surveys: the Visitor Travel Survey (record number 5261; which includes the US and overseas visitors to Canada component of the ITS) and the National Travel Survey (record number 5232; which includes the Canadian residents travelling abroad component of the ITS, as well as domestic travel within Canada formerly covered off by the Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (record number 3810).

Reference period of change - third quarter 2011

The extension, in August 2011, of the Air Exit Survey to include United States commercial air travellers has improved the quality of current estimates concerning United States commercial air travel to Canada as compared to historical estimates. Consequently, use caution when comparing current and historical estimates for this flow of travellers.

Reference period of change - third quarter 2010

In the third quarter of 2010, a significantly increased number of questionnaires of the International Travel Survey were filled and returned by the travellers at the following border crossings: Fort Erie, Niagara Rainbow, Windsor, Sarnia and Sault Ste-Marie in Ontario, Lacolle in Québec, as well as Douglas and Pacific Highway in British Columbia.

This has resulted in better estimates of the characteristics and spending of international travellers at these border crossings that affect their comparability with third-quarter estimates of previous years. Given their importance, caution should be exercised in time series analyses for the implicated provinces and at the national level.

Reference period of change - second quarter 2010

In the second quarter of 2010, a significantly increased number of questionnaires of the International Travel Survey were filled and returned by the travellers at the following border crossings: Fort Erie, Niagara Rainbow, Windsor and Sault Ste-Marie in Ontario, as well as Douglas and Pacific Highway in British Columbia.

This has resulted in better estimates of the characteristics and spending of international travellers at these border crossings that affect their comparability with second-quarter estimates of previous years. Given their importance, caution should be exercised in time series analyses for the implicated provinces and at the national level.

Reference period of change - first quarter 2010

Quality evaluation - In the first quarter of 2010, a significantly increased number of questionnaires of the International Travel Survey were filled and returned by the travellers at the following border crossings: Fort Erie and Niagara Rainbow in Ontario, Lacolle in Québec, as well as Douglas and Pacific Highway in British Columbia.

This has resulted in better estimates of the characteristics and spending of international travellers at these border crossings that affect their comparability with first-quarter estimates of previous years. Given their importance, caution should be exercised in time series analyses for the implicated provinces and at the national level.

Reference period of change - first quarter 2000

Starting in 2000, the ITS data are not comparable to the data from the previous years. This break in the series was caused by modifications and improvements to the survey's methodology. The main changes are the following:

- Addition of the Air Exit Survey of Overseas travellers component;
- Bias adjustment (see details in the "Estimations" section);
- Regional weighting of questionnaires for travellers from overseas countries;
- Extension of the production period to include more questionnaires and longer trips
- Imputation of transportation fares and trip spending

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