Canadians persist as US travel woes intensify

Anywhere but the US

Cross-border travel from Canada to the United States continues to drop, with November data revealing a significant decrease in the number of Canadians returning from the U.S. This ongoing decline is further straining an already beleaguered tourism sector, which has faced numerous challenges in recent times.

Another month of travel declines

Another month of falling year-over-year Canadian trips to the United States should have been expected. Canadians have been shunning travel south of the border since Donald Trump began attacking Canada’s economic security and sovereignty upon his return to office in January. 

What the latest data revealed

According to data from Statistics Canada relayed to CBC News, between February and October, Canadian air travel return trips from the United States dropped by a whopping  21% while land travel return trips plunged by an even more staggering 33.5%. 

November was another hard month

Preliminary data on Canadian return travel numbers from the United States in November follow the same pattern as previous months. Air travel returns reportedly fell by 19.3% to just 465,800. The travel decline was even worse when it came to automobile returns. 

The 11th month of travel decline

Statistics Canada reported that the preliminary numbers for Canadian automobile return trips from the United States revealed a steep decline to 28.6%, with just 1.3 million returns made, when compared to November 2024. This was the 11th consecutive month of automobile returns decline. 

A reaction to Donald Trump

This reaction from Canadians makes sense in the face of Trump’s tariff attacks and his repeated musing about his desire to see Canada become the 51st US state. However, the loss of so many Canadian travelers is having a major impact on the United States. 

Border states have been hit hard

A recent report from the Joint Economic Council found that border states were being hit hard by falling Canadian travel. On average, border states have seen a 20% drop in passenger vehicle crossings, with some US states experiencing declines of 27%. 

The overall decline of Canadian travel

Data from the US National Travel and Tourism Office showed that Canadian travel to the United States fell by 24% in the first six months of 2025. However, it isn’t just the federal government tracking the declines in Canadian travel to the US. 

What another report revealed

According to the US Travel Association, inbound Canadian travel to the United States between January and October was down 23% and equaled a roughly $4 billion dollar loss compared to other years. This figure makes sense based on other important data. 

Canadians are very important for the US tourism sector

The US Travel Association previously noted in February 2025 that Canadians were the top source of international visitors to the United States in 2024. 20.4 million Canadians visited the US in 2024, generating 20.5 billion in spending and supporting 140,000 jobs. 

A warning to Trump in February

In February, the US Travel Association warned that even a 10% drop in the number of Canadians visiting the United States could cost the country dearly. “A 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean 2.0 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses,” the association explained in a press release. 

How bad will things get?

The travel boycott of the United States has seen Canadian visitors fall by far more than 10%. How low the number will go before the end of the year isn’t clear. However, what is clear is that Canadians aren't traveling less; they’re just choosing other destinations. 

Breaking travel records at home

Canada’s tourism sector “achieved a record-breaking summer in 2025,” according to Destination Canada, which reported that between May and August, domestic travel revenue reached nearly $60 billion, or a roughly 6% increase year over year.

Driven by domestic tourism

“The record revenue was driven by a strong base of Canadian travellers who chose to explore our country like never before, with the highest domestic growth coming from Canadians travelling outside of their home province,” Destination Canada explained.  

A massive year-over-year increase

Data from Statistics Canada on second-quarter travel numbers showed that Canadians took 90.6 million trips that included a domestic visit in the country in the second quarter, which was up by a whopping 10.9% year-over-year. However, Canadians aren’t just traveling a lot more at home. 

Canadians are still traveling abroad a lot

The same second-quarter data revealed Canadians took 8.9 million trips that included a visit abroad. This was down by 12.1%, but the drop was mainly a result of lower trips to the United States, which totaled 5.6 million and decreased by 26.1% year over year. 

Mexico has been the biggest winner

According to the data, Canadians took 3.3 million trips that included an outbound visit to an overseas country in the second quarter; this figure was up by 10.4% year over year. Interestingly, Mexico was the most visited country, with 471,000 visits.