THUNDER BAY — In a resumption of a trend that was reported last winter, the volume of U.S.-bound traffic across the international border at Pigeon River fell significantly in May, and dropped even more sharply in June.
Data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that, compared with May 2017, there was a 13 per cent decline in the number of automobiles entering from Ontario in May of this year, followed by a 21 per cent falloff in June compared with June 2017.
Southbound automobile traffic also dropped 23 per cent year-to-year in February, and 21 per cent in January.
There was an interruption in the downward trend only in March and April, when the year-to-year traffic count increased by 13 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.
Paul Pepe, the City of Thunder Bay's tourism manager, is not surprised to hear the statistics, given the unfavourable exchange rate for the Canadian dollar.
"Definitely, that would be down. That's something that we've known for a couple of years now," Pepe said in an interview with Tbnewswatch.
"That decline in cross-border shopping and people going across the border to pick up parcels is a big, big part of that decline."
But Pepe believes the imbalance between the value of the loonie and the U.S. dollar is not the only factor affecting Canadian travel to the U.S. more recently.
Some people, he said, "Are voting politically, with their wallets, to stay close to home...some of that's the tariff talk and the trade talk."
Pepe feels U.S. vehicle traffic into Thunder Bay, on the other hand, may be on the upswing this year, following a decline of about two per cent in 2017.
"What we've heard anecdotally from partners in accommodation, retail, culinary...they're seeing more American traffic coming through their establishments."
Pepe noted, however, that even though "there's a vibe" among business operators about the U.S. traffic this summer, he and his staff will only be able to do a proper evaluation when they look at official data from Statistics Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and Ontario tourism officials this fall.
In the meantime, Thunder Bay's tourism sector is welcoming this year's warm summer.
"It started in June, and it looks like it will continue into August...I think it's definitely going to drive strong traffic" both from Canada and the U.S., Pepe said.
