OTTAWA — There was good news for travel agents and the outbound travel industry in the second quarter of the year.

Despite global economic uncertainty Canadians were travelling outside the country like never before.

Higher spending by Canadians abroad took Canada’s international travel deficit to $3.5 billion in the second quarter, up $464 million from the previous quarter. This was the highest level since record keeping started in 1972, according to Statistics Canada.

Canadians travelling outside Canada spent $7.5 billion, up by 5.9%, the fastest increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.

In contrast, spending by foreign travellers in Canada decreased 1.1% to $4.0 billion from the first quarter, when Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics.

Canada’s travel deficit with overseas countries increased by $194 million to $781 million in the second quarter. This was up from the previous quarter, when the overseas travel deficit was at its lowest level in almost five years.

During the second quarter, the number of overnight trips by Canadians to countries other than the United States increased by 5.5%.

Canadian travellers increased their spending in overseas countries by 6.1% to $3.0 billion in the second quarter, $176 million more than the previous quarter. The increased spending contributed to the rise in Canada’s travel deficit with overseas countries.

The number of overnight trips to Canada by travellers from countries other than the United States increased by 1.0% to 1.1 million.

Conversely, spending in Canada by overseas travellers fell by 0.8% during the second quarter to $2.3 billion.

Overnight trips by Canadian travellers to the United States rose 3.2% to 5.0 million trips in the second quarter.

U.S. travellers spent $1.7 billion in Canada, down 1.6% from the first quarter, holding spending by American travellers under $1.8 billion for the sixth consecutive quarter and the lowest spending level since the third quarter of 1997.

Fewer U.S. travellers taking trips to Canada contributed to the reduction of spending in the second quarter. U.S. travellers took 2.8 million overnight trips to Canada, down 2.1% from the first quarter.