Travel spending to U.S. fell by $3.3B in 2025 amid ‘Buy Canadian’ push

Canadian spending on travel to the U.S. declined by $3.3 billion in 2025 amid the ‘Buy Canadian’ movement, new data shows.

Data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday states that in 2025, “Canadians shifted outbound leisure travel away from the United States (-21.5 per cent; -3.2 million visits) in favour of overseas options (+12.2 per cent; +1.1 million visits).”

Travel to visit family and friends in the U.S. also declined nine per cent in 2025.

In total, Canadian travel spending to the U.S. equaled $18.8 billion in 2025, while spending on overseas travel came to $81.3 billion.

A large part of the decrease in spending on travel to the U.S. was due to the “Buy Canadian” movement amid the American administration’s trade war against Canada and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to make the country into the “51st state.”

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As a result, Canadians boycotted travel to the U.S., with Statistics Canada reporting the first increase happening this April, with the number of return trips from the U.S. for Canadian residents increasing 1.8 per cent year over year.

Cross-border travel via automobile drove this uptick, with return trips by automobile hitting 8.1 per cent, 65 per cent of which were same-day trips.

“The United States has long been Canada’s primary international travel destination, partly because of its proximity and warmer climate,” a Statistics Canada article reads.

“Following the change in the U.S. administration in early 2025 and the implementation of America First policies, Canadians’ travel plans shifted abruptly.”

2:26
Canadian travel to US down nearly 15 per cent: StatsCan

The number of passengers who boarded and landed at Canadian airports on flights to and from the U.S. fell 7.9 per cent year over year to 29.4 million in 2025. Meanwhile, airports saw higher demand for domestic air travel (+2.9 per cent) and an even greater increase for other international air travel outside the United States (+5.1 per cent).

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In response, several airlines “cancelled transborder routes and began offering new routes to other international destinations,” according to the agency.

What is spiking overseas travel?

Statistics Canada reported that the majority (54 per cent) of Canadian-resident travel abroad was taken for “holiday, leisure and recreation purposes” in 2025.

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Spending on leisure-related visits to the U.S. fell by $2.2 billion to $12.1 billion, which is cited as “the driving force behind this decline.”

However, spending on leisure-related visits overseas grew by $3.6 billion in 2025 to $22.8 billion, accounting for just under half of overall expenditures abroad.

“Leisure-related travel to destinations other than the United States was a driving force behind the $50 billion in tourism spending outside Canada in 2025,” the article states. “Early data for 2026 suggest that the steep decline in stateside border crossings is persisting.”

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4:50
Packing your bags just got a lot easier for a long trip

Overseas resident trips to Canada were up 5.1 per cent this past June from the same month a year prior.

In addition, more overseas residents arrived in Canada via air than by automobile during that time, a 5.8-per cent year-over-year increase. The peak of this travel came on June 26, amid the 13 FIFA World Cup matches in Toronto and Vancouver from June 11 to July 2.

Total air arrivals from the 15 overseas countries that played in Canada were up 32.5 per cent in June compared to the same time last year.

Particularly, air arrivals by Australian residents peaked on June 12 ahead of their World Cup match in Vancouver, while air arrivals by Panamanian residents peaked on June 16, the day before their match in Toronto. Panama also played Croatia in Toronto on June 23.

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Air arrivals by German residents also reached their highest on June 19, the day before the country’s World Cup match against Ivory Coast in Toronto.