CALGARY -- Canada's ban on non-essential travellers entering the country has stopped thousands of citizens from coming here, data obtained by CTV News has revealed.

Between March 22 and June 16, the Canada Border Services Agency says their agents barred 7,639 people from entry into the country.

Jacqueline Callin, CBSA spokesperson, says the residents were turned away because their purpose of travel was deemed to be "discretionary (non-essential) by a border services officer (BSO) at time of processing."

"Of the 7,639, 6,615 were U.S. citizens and 1,024 were citizens of other countries arriving from the U.S.," she wrote in an email to CTV News.

Of the citizens arriving by land, rail or marine crossings, 1,414 U.S. citizens were turned back because they wanted to tour Canada and sightsee, 778 were crossing for recreational purposes and 405 wanted to shop. An additional 3,518 citizens gave other reasons for wanting to cross.

When it came to U.S. citizens arriving by air, 35 were barred entry because of tourism, 49 for recreational purposes and 13 for shopping trips.

The CBSA says there has been between an 80 to 95 per cent drop in the number of travellers seeking entry into Canada since March 22, 2020.

Between June 8 and 14, the volume of travellers at land crossings has dropped by 86 per cent while those coming into the country at airports has dropped by 97 per cent.

Since the start of travel restrictions on March 21 and June 14, 329,807 Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents have entered the country by air.