Solely 10% of Canadian boomers say they’ll journey to U.S. this winter: survey – National

As Canada grapples with U.S. President Donald Trump’s commerce battle, many Canadian snowbirds are altering their plans of travelling south this winter, a brand new survey exhibits.

The Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA) on Friday launched its 2025 Winter Smart Traveller Survey, which revealed a “ dramatic shift in Canadian travel trends for the upcoming 2025–26 winter season.”

The survey discovered most Canadians are going to be skipping U.S. journey this winter, with solely 26 per cent saying they’ll head south this winter – a 37 per cent drop from final 12 months.

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The pullback is sharpest amongst child boomers, historically the snowbird era, with solely 10 per cent planning U.S. journeys, the report mentioned, noting that it is a 66 per cent decline in contrast with final 12 months.

“Gen Z and millennials are not avoiding the U.S. with the same ferocity as older Canadians are,” says Will McAleer, govt director on the THIA.

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Younger Canadians mentioned they’re extra prone to journey to the U.S., with 44 per cent of Gen Z respondents saying they’d achieve this.

However, even amongst Gen Z, the determine was down 18 per cent from final 12 months.

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While 40 per cent cited political tensions with the U.S. among the many causes they’re avoiding travelling south, probably the most cited cause (41 per cent) was the rising price of journey.

The Trump administration’s border insurance policies have additionally brought about concern amongst worldwide travellers to the U.S., some specialists say.

“There is a somewhat anti-U.S. sentiment (among tourists). There’s also a certain fear because of the border security issues that the Trump administration has imposed,” Marion Joppe, professor emerita on the University of Guelph’s School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, mentioned.

This comes as U.S. authorities mentioned any overseas nationals, together with Canadians,  must register with the federal government as a way to keep away from penalties.

This has led to some “inconsistent experiences” on the border for Canadian travellers, the Canadian Snowbird Association mentioned in a press release earlier this month.

“Despite recent claims from U.S. authorities that fingerprinting and photographing Canadian travellers, staying in the U.S. for 30 days or more, is part of a new policy, our members have reported inconsistent experiences at various land border crossings,” the group mentioned.

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With the decline in journey to the U.S., Joppe expects a lift for home Canadian tourism this winter.

“We knew that domestic tourism would be increasing quite substantially and we’ve always said Canada is a wonderful country, incredibly diverse, but a lot of Canadians have never explored Canada,” she mentioned.

— with recordsdata from Global’s Touria Izri

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