Canadian travel to U.S. has increased for 1st time since January 2025

For the first time since January 2025, new data from Statistics Canada shows Canadian trips to the United States are increasing.

That data, released Tuesday, indicates that this April, the number of return trips from the U.S. for Canadian residents increased 1.8 per cent year over year.

The spike was driven by trips via car, up 8.1 per cent to 1.5 million, 65 per cent of which were same-day trips. Return trips by air also went down by 7.1 per cent year-over-year to 805,900. All in all, Canadians returned from 2.4 million American trips in April.

Canadians have been boycotting travel to the U.S. following the American administration’s trade war against Canada and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to make the country into the “51st state.”

Trump was sworn into office in January 2025.

In February 2026, Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. by automobile declined 12.3 per cent to 1.2 million in February 2026, with the number of return trips by air (749,500) decreasing 12 per cent compared with February 2025.

Trips abroad by Canadian residents increase

In addition to the increase in Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S., Canadian residents returned from 3.8 million trips abroad in April, an increase of 2.1 per cent year over year.

This marks the first year-over-year monthly increase since February 2025.

Canadian residents also made 1.4 million return trips from overseas countries in April, up 2.7 per cent year over year.

Americans are also continuing to travel to Canada, with U.S.-resident trips to Canada equalling 1.5 million, rising 6.9 per cent from the same month in 2025 and marking the third consecutive monthly year-over-year increase.

Arrivals to Canada by overseas residents decline

In April 2026, 432,700 overseas residents arrived in Canada, down 6.7 per cent from the same month one year earlier. The majority (87.9 per cent) of these arrivals were by air.

Statistics Canada outlines the main driver for the year-over-year decrease in arrivals was fewer arrivals from Europe (-20,800; -10.2 per cent) and Asia (-8,200; -6.2 per cent).

Despite fewer visitors in April, the U.K. remained the top country of residence for overseas visitors to Canada. The U.K., France and Mexico overall accounted for 30.4 per cent of all overseas arrivals in Canada.