Travel by Canadians to destinations such as Japan increased by nearly 30 per cent year-over-year.PHILIP FONG/AFP/Getty Images
For the past three years, Don Armitage and his wife have spent the month of March in Florida for two reasons: to watch the Blue Jays’ spring training in Dunedin and cycle through the nearby Pinellas Trail, an extensive biking and jogging path wrapped in greenery.
But this year, political tensions and a punishing exchange rate made the trip south stress-inducing for the Ontario couple.
“I was very nervous about coming and almost decided to take the hit on our prepaid accommodation,” Mr. Armitage said in a written response to The Globe and Mail.
He and his wife have decided not to return to Florida next year, opting instead for the Lake Chapala region in northern Mexico.
The couple are among the rising number of Canadians choosing to spend their vacation dollars outside the United States. Canadian tourism to Mexico, Japan and a handful of European destinations, for instance, has surged as much as nearly 30 per cent.
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Though many Canadians are turning their travel dollars to exploring Canada’s backyard, the number of overseas trips are still growing.
Travel by Canadians to Japan increased by 29.7 per cent between January and April, 2025, compared with the same period last year, according to data from the Japan National Tourism Organization.
Portugal, meanwhile, saw an 11.3-per-cent year-over-year spike in Canadian travellers and a 6.4-per-cent rise in overnight stays from January to March of this year compared with the same period last year – their “best year ever,” according to Inês Almeida Garrett, director of Canada Tourism Portugal, in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board of Canada’s April travel intentions survey showed that just 27 per cent of Canadian respondents are considering a trip to the U.S. in the next few years, down from more than 50 per cent in the same survey last year.
“What we’re seeing is sort of all these destinations’ marketing organizations are really taking advantage of the current tone in what’s happening between Canada and the U.S., and they’re increasing all of their marketing for Canadians,” said Amra Durakovic, a spokesperson for Flight Centre Canada.
But some are also gaining momentum from the weakness of the Canadian dollar against the greenback.
“The Canadian dollar is quite strong compared to the yen, so there’s great value to be had,” said Lauren Yakiwchuk, who shares travel tips on her social media and spent two weeks of February travelling through Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima.
After paying $1,500 for flights, she said the average nightly hotel stay in Japan cost her about $250 while a typical meal would set her back $20.
“You can save money by dining at sushi conveyor belt restaurants – one plate of sushi costs around 150 yen,” she said, translating to about $1.50 Canadian.
Affordability is also contributing to growing interest in places like Portugal, with lesser-known towns such as Funchal and Cascais among the trending destinations in Airbnb’s 2025 Canadian summer trends report.
Towns such as Cascais in Portugal are trending vacation destinations.PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images
When it comes to faraway destinations like Japan, the surge in Canadian tourism is also fueled by more connectivity, Ms. Durakovic said. Air Canada recently confirmed it would be resuming and extending its non-stop summer service to Osaka from Toronto and Vancouver, which launched last year. WestJet introduced new direct flights from Halifax to Amsterdam in May.
On this side of the globe, Mexico is also seeing an unprecedented boom in Canadian tourism. Data published by the Mexico Secretary of Tourism showed an 11.8-per-cent spike in Canadian residents flying to the country in the first two months of 2025 from a year earlier.
At Ms. Durakovic’s company, they’ve seen a 500-per-cent spike in bookings for Tulum in the Yucatan region. Data from travel search engine Kayak for summer 2025 also showed surging interest among Canadians in destinations across Africa, such as Tanzania. Search share for the East African country grew 103 per cent.
Canadians planning to boycott cross-border vacations and keep their dollars back home could net the country’s domestic tourism as much as $8.8-billion in extra business this year, according to a Conference Board of Canada report released in May.
“There may be a small percentage of Canadians who will give up the U.S. entirely as a travel destination,” said David Fennell, a professor of geography and tourism studies at Brock University.
But, he said, tourists are motivated by price and so will likely be lured back to the U.S. by good, competitive deals.
