Canadians Lower US Travel by a Quarter and Aren’t Speeding Again

Canadians will not cease giving US journeys the chilly shoulder.

According to Statistics Canada’s National Travel Survey launched Tuesday, Canadian residents took 5.5 million journeys that included a go to to the US within the first three months of 2026, down 10.6% from the identical interval final 12 months.

The figures lengthen a pointy pullback that started final 12 months. A Statistics Canada report launched final month stated that the variety of Canadian residents returning dwelling from journeys to the US fell 25.4% in 2025 in contrast with 2024.

It was the deepest and most sustained non-pandemic decline on report: 11 straight months of year-over-year falls. Border crossings in early 2026 remained round late-2025 ranges, which Statistics Canada stated pointed to a “persistent shift” away from the US.

The pullback started after President Donald Trump imposed broad tariffs on Canada and Mexico in early 2025, prompting requires Canadians to boycott US items and holidays.

Now, the commerce dispute has flared up once more. US-Canada commerce talks broke down final week, and contemporary 50% US tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian imports took impact on Saturday.

Canada has stated it is going to retaliate greenback for greenback from September 8, and on Tuesday introduced a collection of focused tariffs on 700 US merchandise, from metal and aluminum to all forms of contemporary and frozen fish.

That retaliation got here in response to Trump’s announcement on Monday that tariffs on Canadian vehicles, vans, auto components, and metal would rise to 50% from January 1, 2027.

Rachel J.C. Fu, chair and professor within the University of Florida’s Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and director of its Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute, stated the renewed tensions may make a speedy restoration much less possible.

“The 2025 numbers suggest that we are looking at more than a temporary reaction to one political announcement or one round of tariffs,” she stated. “We are seeing evidence of a broader change in Canadian travel sentiment and, potentially, travel habits.”

Canadians discovered different locations to go

Flight Center Travel Group Canada’s knowledge present that US leisure bookings have improved from final 12 months’s lows, however stay beneath their pre-pullback ranges.

New US leisure bookings constructed from January by way of August for journey this 12 months have been down 7.4% from the identical interval in 2025, whereas turnover slipped 1%, Flight Center stated. July bookings rose 5.7% from July 2025 however remained 39% beneath July 2024 ranges.

“We’re seeing improvement from the lows of 2025, but clearing a very weak 2025 bar is not the same as returning to previous travel patterns,” Amra Durakovic, Flight Center Travel Group Canada’s head of communications, advised Business Insider.

Fu stated the actual threat for US locations is that Canadians could have developed new trip habits.

“Once travelers establish new vacation patterns, destinations have to compete to win them back,” she stated.

Domestic journey rose by 5 million visits in 2025, whereas abroad journeys elevated by 1.3 million, Statistics Canada stated, with visits to Europe rising 13.6%, whereas visits to Asia climbed 16.7% final 12 months.

Economic fallout for the US

The shift may carry an outsize price for US tourism companies.

Leisure journeys to the US fell by 21.5% in 2025, or by 3.2 million visits, Statistics Canada stated.

Canadian spending on US journeys fell by $3.3 billion, to $18.8 billion in 2025. Leisure-travel spending fell by $2.2 billion, to $12.1 billion, accounting for many of the general decline.

“Many redirected their travel spending elsewhere,” Fu stated. “This is not simply lost demand; it is demand being captured by competing destinations.”

The results might be felt most acutely in border communities and warm-weather locations that depend upon Canadian holidaymakers, she stated. Those guests assist inns, eating places, sights, retailers, rental-car firms, airways, golf programs, and cruise companies.

Leisure issues particularly as a result of Canadians touring overseas primarily for holidays spent practically 5 instances as a lot as these whose major objective was visiting buddies and kin. Family-related US visits fell 9% in 2025, far lower than leisure journeys, per Statistics Canada.

“In tourism, losing a visitor for one season is a revenue problem,” Fu stated. “Losing that visitor’s habit is a market-share problem.”