Canada approved fewer than 7,000 visitor visas and electronic travel authorizations for travellers citing FIFA events as their reason for travel between Nov. 14 and March 31, according to data obtained by The Logic. (The Logic, Toronto Star) 

Talking point: The figures “do not reflect the total number of visitors expected to attend the tournament,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spokesperson Briannah Dale said in an email, noting that some travellers may already hold valid visas or other travel documents. Among countries with teams expected to play in Toronto or Vancouver, Canada approved 345 travel authorizations for Australian fans, 225 for Egyptians and 185 for Ghanaians. Approval numbers were lower for fans from Senegal (25), Iraq (10) and Ivory Coast (15). The figures are extremely low relative to the scale of the tournament, reportedly because of high refusal rates. In December, the federal government projected hundreds of thousands of visitors, while a Deloitte study commissioned by Airbnb estimated last year that roughly 350,000 visitors could travel to Toronto and Vancouver during the tournament.