With more and more Canadian travellers opting to stay in Canada, finding new spots to enjoy our country’s diverse natural beauty is top of mind. And we aren’t the only ones eyeing nature-focused destinations in B.C. A new report by the Mastercard Economic Institute (MEI) names several Canadian cities in B.C., Alberta, and Quebec as top travel destinations for travellers across North America this year.
Top travel destinations in Canada
According to the report, B.C. destinations make up the majority of the top trending summer destinations within Canada for domestic travellers, snagging eight out of 10 spots on the list of growing destination cities.
Places like Bella Coola, Powell River, and Tofino are experiencing some of the largest increases in year-over-year bookings from Canadians, accompanied by Dawson City, Yukon Territory, and Mont-Joli, Quebec.
The top themes of the 2025 travel economy include summer’s top travel destinations, currency swings and cross-border travel, wellness and wilderness, sports tourism, business travel, and avoiding scams, all of which the report analyzes using aggregated Mastercard data. To compile the ranking, MEI also looked at cross-border spending, which revealed that travellers are choosing to invest in wellness, wilderness, and dining.
Top international destinations
According to MEI’s analysis, Tokyo and Osaka are the top trending tourist destinations this summer, with a large increase in tourism demand compared to previous years.
The 2025 report names the following global destinations as the emerging spots for travellers from Canada and the U.S. to visit between June and September:
- Tokyo, Japan
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Kahului, Hawaii
- Paris, France
- Punta Cana, Mexico
- Calgary, Canada
- Reykjavik, Iceland
- Orlando, U.S.
- New York, U.S.
- Tulum, Mexico
- Montego Bay, Jamaica
- Nashville, U.S.
- Osaka, Japan
- Cairo, Egypt
- Shanghai, China
Of note, Calgary is the only Canadian city to make the global list of emerging destinations.
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