Travel both to and from Canada was down in January from December but travel from seven of Canada's top 12 markets increased, with China posting the largest gain, Statistics Canada reported on Thursday.

The number of Chinese traveling to Canada rose by 20.4 percent during the month, while Japan showed the largest decline, down 14.5 percent, the report said.

In total, there was a 1.7-percent increase in travel from overseas nations to Canada, but that was offset by a 3.3 percent decline in travel from the United States, resulting in a 2.5-percent decrease in visits from abroad.

Canadian residents took 3.8 million trips abroad in January, 2.4 percent fewer than in December.

Of these trips, 690,000 were made to overseas countries, a 6.6-percent decline. The number of Canadian trips to the United States dropped 1.4 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2009)