Drop in dollar linked to fewer cross-border shoppers

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Fewer of us are taking same-day trips to the US and the lower loonie is to blame, according to a new report from the Business Council of British Columbia.

That means people are spending more of those dollars here in BC.

“We’ve seen a fairly sharp drop-off in the number of people going across the border. Over the past couple of years, (there have been) close to 150-thousand fewer same-day trips into the United States and then back into Canada, in British Columbia,” says Ken Peacock, the council’s chief economist.

That amounts to a 28 per cent drop, all because of the low loonie.

But that doesn’t mean people have stopped shopping. “Now that there are fewer trips, we’re pretty sure that most of that money is being spent and repatriated and spent in local stores. And gasoline is a big factor here because gasoline of course is included in total retail sales here in the province,” says Peacock.

“We’ve seen a very steep revival and recovery in retail sales growth. And it’s actually quite strong. So I would not attribute all of it to the reduction in cross-border shopping but there’s no doubt it’s a factor. So you see fewer trips south of the border. We’ve seen a big bump in retail spending here in BC.”

Longer trips are down too. Cross border jaunts of two or more days dropped by just under 25 per cent.

It all means good news for TransLink. The transit authority reported an increase in fuel tax money of more than two-million.

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