In Brief: Canadian travel to the United States has weakened sharply, while domestic tourism and overseas travel have gained ground, suggesting a broader rebalancing of Canadian travel demand rather than a simple pullback.
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Statistics Canada reported that Canadian residents took 90.6 million trips within Canada in the second quarter of 2025, up 10.9% year over year, while domestic travel spending rose 13.5% to $20.3 billion. – Image Credit Ocean Wahl
Published April 27, 2026 | By HNR News Staff Reporter
Canadian Travel to the U.S. Declines
Canadian travel to the United States has remained under pressure following a period of heightened political and trade tension between the two countries.
According to RBC Economics, 29.1 million Canadian residents returned from the United States in 2025, down 25.4% from 2024. The weakness continued into early 2026, with January travel to the U.S. down roughly 23% year over year. RBC noted that “travel by Canadians is not weakening—but it is being redirected.”
Statistics Canada data show the decline has continued. Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by air and automobile were down 7.6% year over year in March 2026, following a 17.6% year-over-year decline in February for air travel.
Domestic Tourism Benefits
At the same time, domestic tourism has strengthened. Statistics Canada reported that Canadian residents took 90.6 million trips within Canada in the second quarter of 2025, up 10.9% year over year, while domestic travel spending rose 13.5% to $20.3 billion (see quarterly tourism data).
For all of 2025, tourism spending in Canada by Canadian residents increased 2.5%, according to Statistics Canada’s annual tourism report.
Overseas Travel Also Gains Share
The shift is not limited to domestic travel. In the third quarter of 2025, Canadian residents took 3.3 million trips to overseas destinations, up 7.1% year over year. Overseas travel spending rose 4.2% to $6.9 billion during the same period (see travel spending data).
By contrast, Canadian-resident trips that included a visit to the United States fell 34.7% year over year in the third quarter, while spending in the U.S. declined 24.0% to $4.2 billion.
Sentiment Reinforces the Shift
The travel shift has also been shaped by consumer sentiment. The “Elbows Up” movement, which emerged during the 2025 trade dispute, encouraged some Canadians to redirect spending domestically and reconsider travel to the United States.
Coverage from Reuters and CBC News described the campaign as part of a broader consumer response to political and economic tensions.
Implications for U.S. Hotels
For U.S. hotels, the trend is most relevant in markets that have historically relied on Canadian demand, including border states, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and major gateway cities such as New York.
“Canada remains one of Florida’s top international markets, and fluctuations in Canadian visitation can have a measurable impact on overall tourism performance,” according to Visit Florida.
Other U.S. destinations are also adjusting their strategies in response to changing Canadian travel patterns. In Las Vegas, tourism officials have introduced promotional campaigns aimed at Canadian travelers, including offers that effectively treat the Canadian dollar at par with the U.S. dollar to offset currency disadvantages.
Canada has historically been one of Las Vegas’ most important international feeder markets, and targeted promotions reflect the continued importance of that segment for hotel occupancy and visitation levels.
The data suggest the issue is not that Canadians have stopped traveling, but that more demand is being redirected toward domestic and overseas alternatives. That shift can affect occupancy, seasonal demand, and leisure mix in U.S. markets with meaningful Canadian feeder traffic.
Outlook
The decline in Canadian travel to the United States may not be permanent, but the scale and persistence of the pullback indicate that sentiment, cost, and destination substitution are now influencing cross-border travel patterns.
For U.S. hotel operators, the challenge is not simply to restore demand but to rebuild the value proposition for Canadian travelers at a time when domestic and overseas alternatives are gaining momentum.
