Americans’ interest in Canada travel has surged — Here’s where Canadians are going instead

With trade tensions between Canada and the US still simmering, you might expect travel between the two countries to be cooling off on both sides. But it’s not exactly the case.

According to FlightHub’s newly released Unveiled 2026 report, which tracks booking and search data from October 2025 through August 2026, Canadian search interest in US trips grew just 2% year-over-year. American search interest in Canada, meanwhile, jumped 16%, eight times the rate.

It’s worth noting this is search interest, rather than completed bookings, and FlightHub’s own report doesn’t attribute the gap to any specific cause.

Where Americans are looking

When it comes to visiting Canada, Toronto leads the pack, with search interest up 20.2% year-over-year. Vancouver isn’t far behind at 20%, and Montreal rounds out the top three with an 18.5% jump.

Victoria (+16.3%), Calgary (+11.5%), Halifax (+8.9%), and Ottawa (+7.7%) all saw solid gains too, while Winnipeg (+3.8%) and Edmonton (+1.6%) grew more modestly. Québec City stands out as the lone exception as the only Canadian city on the list that actually saw interest dip, down 0.4%.

What Canadians are doing on the other side

Canadian interest in the US hasn’t collapsed. It just didn’t move much overall, and what growth there was came lopsided.

Washington, D.C. led with a 22.8% jump, followed by Chicago (+17.7%), the Bay Area (+14.1%), and Miami (+13.4%). New York (+4.2%) and Fort Lauderdale (+3.2%) posted smaller gains.

On the other end, Las Vegas took the biggest hit by far, down 18.7%, with Los Angeles (−3.6%), Phoenix (−3.2%), and Orlando (−1.5%) also slipping.

Canadians are travelling internationally more than ever

According to FlightHub, domestic travel’s share of bookings dropped 4.8 percentage points in Canada this year, and even more sharply in the US, down 6.4 points. Travellers on both sides of the border seem to be trading domestic trips for international ones, with Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and Asia-Pacific picking up a lot of that slack.

That shift shows up clearly in Canada’s own top destination rankings. Delhi climbed to the number one spot for outbound international travel, bumping Tokyo down to second, while Cancún and Puerto Vallarta both moved up. Domestically, Montreal actually gained ground too, climbing from fifth to fourth place among Canadian cities, just behind Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary.

Where Canadian travellers get the most for their money

If budget matters more than destination, the data points pretty clearly south of the equator and into the Caribbean.

Nassau topped the list of most affordable international destinations from Canada at $439 per person, followed by Aruba ($526), Cancún ($534), Sint Maarten ($556), and Puerto Vallarta ($556). Rounding out the top 10 were Liberia in Costa Rica, Montego Bay, Belize City, Punta Cana, and Mexico City, all under $635.

Quebec really does travel differently

If you’re wondering whether Quebecers fit into any of this the same way the rest of the country does, the short answer is not really.

Quebec’s domestic travel share is 57.6% lower than the rest of Canada’s, less than half, meaning Quebecers lean far more international than other Canadians when they travel. As for trip lengths, Quebec travellers average 11 nights per trip compared to seven nights for the rest of Canada, and they’re roughly half as likely to book one-way flights.

Quebec’s travel calendar revolves almost entirely around the Construction Holidays in July, with a secondary bump in December and noticeably quieter stretches in spring and October.

And when Quebecers do travel abroad, they’re disproportionately choosing Francophone destinations. Casablanca gets booked roughly 30 times more often by Quebec travellers than by the rest of Canada year-round. Marrakech, Algiers, and Tunis show similarly outsized gaps.

The bottom line

Canadians haven’t exactly turned their backs on the US, with interest in a few cities still climbing. But stack that flat 2% growth against the 16% jump in American interest heading north, and it’s clear something is pulling a lot harder in one direction right now.

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