Have most Canadians travelled to the "Old World" or overseas at least once?

[Capsicum]

Either a country in the Old World or overseas that's not in the Americas.

https://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tab...rts37a-eng.htm

In 2016, there were 19 million visits from Canada to the US, 2 million to Mexico, and the UK and France both have more than 1 million each.

Some other destinations in the Old World like Germany, China, Italy and Spain have about a half million visits too.

If those are the stats for one year, add in the fact that over 20 % of Canadians are foreign born (and mostly not from a nearby country like the US or Mexico, but in fact overseas and now mostly from Asia), isn't it likely that a majority or half of all Canadians have visited the "Old World"?

Could it even be a large majority?

Notably, it seems like Canadians are more likely to travel to the Old World than Americans.

"In 2016, a total of 66,960,943 U.S. citizens traveled outside the country."


"For the most part, these travelers didn’t stray too far from home; more than half of the year’s international travelers — 37,403,398 to be exact — stayed within the confines of North America"

According to:

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/01/rec...d-abroad-2016/

So roughly 33 million or 10% of the US population travelled to a location outside North America, while adding up all the old world locations for Canada gives several million -- well over 10% of Canada's population.

We don't know how much is repeat visitation though.

Travel by Americans to the UK and France also seems like only generally in the range of 2-3 million annual visits, while Canadian visits to the UK or France number over 1 million. Basically, for a country that is nine or ten times as populous, the US only travels to the UK or France twice as much as Canadians do (meaning proportionally many more Canadians visited them).

It also seems to be my impression that urban Canadians (even accounting for non-immigrants) are much more likely to visit the place of their origins/roots than Americans, like the UK, France, Italy, China, India, even if they are not first generation.

[Capsicum]

http://www.nwitimes.com/lifestyles/t...17adc4.html#40

Countries like France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, India get within the range of 1 to 3 million visits by Americans yearly.

These countries get proportionally much more Canadian visitors (over a quarter million to over 1 million) since the US is nine to ten times more populous.

Foreign-born immigrants probably can't account for all this alone (Canada is 20% foreign born compared to the American 13%).

[SpongeG]

I've been ovearseas 5 times in my life so far, never been to asia, but hopefully one day, might have a chance to go to australia in july though.

The bulk of my friends and coworkers past and present have not gone overseas, but most have been to mexico or cuba.

[SpongeG]

I went to high school with some guy whose family was from greece, he used to complain that he had to spend the summer in greece, it was like oh poor you. I also know some of portugese background who make regular trips back there. Travel is so expensive I think that many make family visits a priority as opposed to just going to see a new country.

I hve a friend from pakistan and among his circle of friends most of them go back fairly often and when they do they go for months at a time. Yet they don't seem to travel elsewhere.

[Capsicum]

From working with American and Canadian colleagues, I get the impression that many more Canadians seem to travel to their ancestral/heritage country, even if they were born in the USA/Canada.

But I don't know if it's due to them bringing it up more, or reflects Canadians really having more of a connection to their immigrant roots.

[Capsicum]

Lots of recent immigrants to the US come from more geographically close places (Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba) than Canadian ones (Europe, Asia) so it's probably more expensive for the average Canadian first-generation or second-generation immigrant to visit his/her country of roots.

[SpongeG]

Perhaps more Canadians come over singularly, like I think ones who immigrate to America are more likely to bring over their families to the states, it sounds an easier process for them to do so than it is for Canadians. For example my mom couldn't sponsor her brother to come here only her mom. So to visit family was more a priority than a beach vacation.

[FrAnKs]

I've only visited France in 2007.

[Capsicum]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Perhaps more Canadians come over singularly, like I think ones who immigrate to America are more likely to bring over their families to the states, it sounds an easier process for them to do so than it is for Canadians. For example my mom couldn't sponsor her brother to come here only her mom. So to visit family was more a priority than a beach vacation.

That's a good point. Since the US has more family reunification migration, and Canada has more economic selection (because of the system) of who is allowed to immigrate, that could be a big factor.

[Acajack]

In Quebec pretty much everyone in the chattering classes has been to France. That is not the majority but it is a good chunk of the population.

Almost everyone in my entourage has been to France.

[Architype]

Probably not; if you are looking for absolute numbers, most Canadians may have travelled to the US, or the North American Caribbean, but probably not overseas, considering the costs and logistics involved. You are overestimating the average wealth of Canadians.

[Capsicum]

So the numbers that involve millions of visits probably I'm guessing include many repeat visitors (since presumably many visiting family would do it more than once a year) who can afford it.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Capsicum

So the numbers that involve millions of visits probably I'm guessing include many repeat visitors (since presumably many visiting family would do it more than once a year) who can afford it.

The old world is a weird concept. Basically any place outside of North, Central or South America.

As for the status, I think that is hard to measure. You could look at flights, but many people travel through the US to get to a foreign destination.

[1ajs]

morocco in 1996 backpacking with my parents then nz in 2008 on my own for been all over north amarica..
been all over the us and meixco all by car... prolly seen more of mexico then most mexicans

[le calmar]

I have travelled overseas a six times, almost exclusively to Europe, where I also spent three years for school. I have never been to Asia but my girlfriend and I will be going to the Philippines sometime in the future since that’s her country of origin. I have not travelled oversea since 2015.

[Metro-One]

Have travelled overseas to Europe, Asia, and Africa.

5 years living in Japan now.

Growing up in the Vancouver area I actually found it more rare to meet someone who hasn't been overseas than who has (and yes, this includes the Canadian born people I know, most have been to Asia,Europe, or Australia at least once).

[MonctonRad]

Europe twice - for a total of three weeks. I've spent most of my time in the UK (two weeks) but also have spent time in Iceland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland (bus trip, so sometimes three countries in a single day).

Also - Bermuda twice (my sister used to live there) and the Bahamas.

[speedog]

Three of my four brothers have never travelled to the old world and we're all in our 50's. The fourth brother has been once and I've been twice. My parents, who are in their 80's, have both been once.

Of the seven of us, only Hawaii has been the only other overseas destination outside of the Carribean, Mexico and Central America. For myself, as I slide towards 60, I find that the effort of getting somewhere via a jet is getting to be too bothersome and there is just so much wonderful stuff I haven't seen or experienced with a driving vacation of where I lived for the past 38 years, Calgary.

I need to revisit Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and SE Idaho with my wife because she's never been and there's just so much to see there. Haven't seen the Grand Canyon yet, would love to explore some of the Yukon and even revisit Waterton despite the expansive fires of 2017 which have resulted in that area never looking the same for the rest of my lifetime. Parts of Arizona need to be seen as well and the Bonneville salt flats.

With so much to see and experience so nearby, I really have no desire to go outside of North America anymore. Two of my sons got me back on the slopes this past winter after a 30 year hiatus but as much as I enjoyed it, hauling my ass out of bed to get up to a ski hill is still a lot of effort. Personally, I just enjoy being out and about and I still find plenty of things in Calgary and Albeta to visit anew or revisit.

[esquire]

With air travel constantly becoming more affordable, these numbers are bound to shoot up.

I remember back in the 80s, the old immigrant folks in my family's circles might have gone back to "the old country" once in their lives, if ever. It cost a fortune back then. By contrast, these days anyone with some disposable income and a basic ability to save up a few bucks can afford to travel anywhere. I know people who fly "back home" to Europe, Africa, Asia if not annually, maybe once every two or three years or so. That would have been unthinkable for a middle class person 35 years ago.

Between cheap travel and the internet, it's interesting to see how newer arrivals remain connected to their old country in a way that also would have been unthinkable to past generations. When I was a kid, staying connected to the "old country" meant reading months-old periodicals at the library or if you were really motivated, maybe tuning into shortwave radio broadcasts. That was it. Phone calls were like $5 a minute at a time when the minimum wage wasn't even that high per hour.

[Tony]

In the last 10 years, been to Europe 8 different times and once to China.