Statistics Canada says the number of people travelling to Canada in January was up from a year earlier, but remained a fraction of where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.The agency says the number of trips by US residents to Canada in January was 218,600, up from 86,500 a year earlier, but well short of the 1.2 million in January 2020.

The number of residents of countries other than the US arriving in Canada in January totalled 79,700, up from 34,500 in January 2021, however that total was nearly 365,600 in January 2020.

Statistics Canada says Canadian residents returned from 690,200 trips to the United States in January, up from 265,000 a year earlier, but down from the 3.1 million trips in January 2020.

The number of Canadian residents returning from visiting overseas totalled 463,700 in January, up from 160,500 in January 2021, but down from 1.4 million in January 2020.

As COVID-19 cases surged at the end of last year, Ottawa advised Canadians on Dec. 15 to avoid non-essential travel outside of Canada. and, on Dec. 21, required all travellers entering Canada to provide a negative COVID-19 molecular test.