Canadians Snubbed US Vacation Destinations in 2025

Across the full year, the number of Canadians returning from trips to the US plunged more than 25% in 2025, whereas visitors to Canada from the US eased less than 3% (graph 1). On net, Canada saw roughly 671k fewer visitors from the US last year than in 2024, but this was largely offset by an increase of about 477k overseas travellers. Visitors from Europe and Asia comprised the bulk of the non‑US travellers to Canada in 2025, while visitor numbers rose across all major global regions.

The contraction in Canadian travellers was concentrated in day trips (graph 2, right). The sharp fall in car-based trips to the US may point to shifting travel preferences and perhaps a greater inclination to spend and shop within Canada. Some of the remaining day trips may reflect routine cross-border commuting by Canadians living in border communities. Air travel has been far more resilient, suggesting that business-related or essential trips held up better than discretionary leisure travel. With nearly 10M fewer Canadian trips to the US last year, more vacationers appear to have looked overseas—an increase of almost 1.2M as compared to 2024—or chosen to spend their holidays and shopping dollars at home.

Regionally, Ontario remained the top destination for international arrivals in 2025, though even more Ontarians travelled abroad (graph 3). Likewise, more Quebecers travelled abroad than foreigners visited the province. In British Columbia, the flows were nearly balanced, with foreign arrivals roughly matching the number of BC residents heading abroad.

The persistent weakness in cross border travel is influencing Canada’s tourism landscape in subtle but important ways. Fewer Canadians heading abroad could keep more travel related spending within the country, which may provide a lift to domestic destinations and to hospitality and retail businesses that typically compete with nearby US border towns.

At the same time, even a modest decline in US visitors to Canada could create strains for communities that rely heavily on American tourists. This is particularly relevant for Ontario, Quebec and BC, which normally attract the largest share of US arrivals. For now, however, the softness in US travel does not appear to be offsetting the support coming from domestic tourism and rising overseas arrivals—both of which remain positive forces for the sector.