CANADA. Land border duty free sales in Canada hit C$156.2 million (US$123.1 million) in 2017, a marginal decline on the 2016 figure of C$156.4 million.
That’s according to the latest figures from the Canadian Border Services Agency, and reported by the Frontier Duty Free Association. Full-year figures for airport duty free in the country are not yet available.
In the largest region for the land border duty free business, Ontario, sales reached C$90.6 million (US$71.4 million), a slight increase compared to 2016. Sales in the Atlantic and Quebec regions sales were also marginally up to C$33.3 million (US$26.2 million).
Pacific region sales fell by -3% year-on-year to C$23.3 million (US$18.4 million) while Prairie region sales rose marginally to C$8.9 million (US$7 million).
Cross-border traffic volumes and the relative value of the Canadian and US currencies have a big impact on the land border duty free business. According to Statistics Canada, trips by car by Canadian residents to the USA increased +1.0% in 2017, to 32.2 million. Trips to Canada by car by US residents (about two-thirds of total US trips to Canada) dropped -0.5% in 2017 to 16.2 million following two years of growth. The US Dollar also fell sharply against the Canadian Dollar in 2017, negatively affecting the spending power of US visitors.
