Canadian travel to U.S. declines for 7th consecutive month: StatCan

For the seventh month in a row, Canadians opted to spend their tourism dollars outside the U.S., steering clear of trips south of the border in July 2025.

According to a new Statistics Canada report released Tuesday (Sept. 23), 2.6 million Canadian residents returned from the United States in July, a 32.4 per cent drop compared with the same month in 2024.

At the same time, 3.3 million U.S. visitors came to Canada in July, a modest decline of three per cent from last year.

This represents only the second month since June 2006—excluding August and September 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic—when more Americans travelled to Canada than Canadians did to the U.S.

Meanwhile, Canadians increasingly looked abroad, with trips returning from overseas rising 8.3 per cent.

Trips to the U.S. made up 65 per cent of all Canadian travel abroad, leading to an overall 24.2 per cent drop in total travel by Canadians, including trips to the U.S.

In contrast, Canada saw an increase in visitors from overseas, with trips by international tourists rising 10.3 per cent.

In July, 1.9 million Canadians traveled to and from the U.S. by car, marking a 35.8 per cent drop compared with July 2024. About 60 per cent of these journeys were same-day trips.

Meanwhile, 563,500 Canadians returned from the U.S. by plane, down 16.2 per cent from the same month last year.

In July, Canada welcomed 999,600 visitors from overseas, with most—81.7 per cent—arriving by air.

Only three countries—the United Kingdom (134,700), France (104,100), and India (68,300)—accounted for nearly a third (30.7 per cent) of all overseas arrivals in Canada.

According to the report, the year-over-year growth in overseas visitors was driven mainly by travellers from Europe and Asia.

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