The number of U.S. travellers to Canada hit a record low in January, dragging overall travel to the country to the lowest level since 1972, when record keeping began, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.

Travellers made about 2.38 million trips to Canada in January, down 1.4 per cent from December. The number of trips from the U.S. hit 1.97 million, failing to reach two million for the first time on record. Same-day car travel from the U.S. also hit a record low of about 794,000 trips, the first time such trips have not totalled more than 800,000.

Even a record number of overseas travellers, at 391,000 overnight trips, was unable to compensate for the dip in U.S. travel. Only five countries — Switzerland, Hong Kong, China, Mexico and France — recorded increases in Canadian travel in January, with Mexico seeing the largest boost at 9.3 per cent. Japan saw the largest decrease in travel, dropping seven per cent.

The number of Canadians travelling outside the country also lagged in January, with roughly 4.4 million trips, down 0.2 per cent from the previous month. An estimated 653,000 of these trips were to overseas countries.

Same-day travel by car to the U.S. also dropped to 2.1 million trips, while overnight travel slipped by 0.2 per cent.

But Canadians did take a new record high number of overnight trips by plane to the U.S., with a 3.2 per cent increase to 525,000 trips.

The Canadian dollar averaged 98.9 US cents in January, down 0.8 per cent from December. The dollar's value also dropped against the euro and the yen during this period.