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Pinpointing traveller numbers is always helpful. But a new series of Travel Characteristics reports from the Research department of the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) aims to take that info one step further. These detailed reports get up close and personal with the travel details of visitors to Canada from CTC’s key international markets.

The specific target is revenue: what visitors spend per trip, per night and what they’re spending on. The quarterly reports break down the figures into accommodation, food, trip purpose and activities. There’s a breakdown of key US states—New York, Massachusetts, California, Illinois and New Jersey—and a comparative study across all Canadian provinces and territories.

Here are some highlights from the 2009 Q1 report:

• Although it was a quieter time at passport control at Canada’s points of entry, with overnight trips down 9%, yield held its own. The average spend per night nudged up 2%.
• Visitors from Brazil (25%) and Mexico (12%) led the way to the cash registers; South Korea was the only key market to suffer a decline (-7%).
• Overall, CTC’s emerging markets had a 13% bump in average spending per night. However, the average length of stay dropped 11% to 19 nights.
• Hey, big spenders! Travellers from the Americas had the deepest pockets, spending an average 140 bucks a night, up 4%. Visitors from old-world Europe were next at $102 per night, up 3%.
• Key US states made up 39% of all US trips to Canada and 39% of total spending during this period.
• Japan was the biggest riser in Asia, up 7% to $101 per night. This fitted in neatly with a whopping 39% gain by the yen against the loonie compared with Q1 2008.

The commission creates its Travel Characteristics reports mainly using data from Statistics Canada’s International Travel Survey.

Read the Travel Characteristics Q1 2009 report in full.