Canadian Travel To US Slumps for 12 Months Straight

New data released by Statistics Canada shows that Canadians remain hesitant to travel to the United States, marking the 12th consecutive month of declining travel activity between the two countries.

Sharp drop in Canadian returns from the US

The most notable decline came from trips between Canada and the US.

In January 2026, 1.6 million Canadian residents returned from the US. This is 24.3 percent fewer than in January 2025. When compared with January 2024, before the trade conflict between the two countries began in 2025, the drop is even larger at 28.2 percent.

Automobile travel played a major role in this contraction. Return trips by car from the US fell 26.8 percent year over year, totaling 1.1 million in January 2026. Air travel also declined, although less sharply. Approximately 493,400 Canadians flew back from the US, representing a 17.8 percent decrease from the previous year.

US travel to Canada shows mixed results

Travel in the opposite direction showed relative stability. In January 2026, US residents made 919,900 trips to Canada, a slight decrease of 0.5 percent compared with January 2025.

Breaking this down further, automobile trips from the US to Canada dropped 1.5 percent to 696,600. However, air travel from the US increased modestly. There were 223,300 US-resident arrivals by air, up 2.5 percent year over year. This suggests that while cross-border road travel has softened, air travel demand has shown limited resilience.

For a deeper understanding of the forces behind these trends, including the role of US trade and political policies, see our detailed explainer on Trump’s impact on the travel industry.

Photo by David Valentine on Unsplash