Canadians have overtaken Americans as leading int’l visitors to Cancun

Recent data from multiple sources indicates that Canadians, rather than Americans, have become the leading international visitors to Mexico’s top tourist region along the Caribbean coast.

For the first time, the Cancun–Toronto flight route was the busiest international connection into Mexico, according to the Mexican Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).

Among the 10 busiest international routes to the Mexican Caribbean last year, six routes from the United States saw declining passenger numbers, while two Canadian routes recorded strong growth.

As reported by Mexico News Daily, research by the Centre for Advanced Research in Sustainable Tourism (STARC) at Anáhuac University’s Quintana Roo campus found that travel from Toronto rose 26.1 per cent compared with 2024.

The increase has pushed aside the traditionally dominant Texas routes — Dallas–Cancun and Houston–Cancun. Passenger numbers on Dallas–Cancun flights dropped 4.5 per cent from the previous year.

READ MORE: Travel from Canada to U.S.: car trips fall 27%, air travel declines 18%

Other major U.S. routes also declined, including Chicago–Cancun, which fell 11.7 per cent, and Atlanta–Cancun, which decreased by two per cent.

Meanwhile, the Montreal–Cancún route saw a sharp 24 per cent increase.

U.S. travel redirected

According to the STARC report, the surge in Canadian travel to Mexico may be partly driven by tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose tariff policies and suggestion that Canada could become the 51st state have sparked backlash.

Many Canadians have now spent a year avoiding U.S. destinations, resulting in an estimated US$4.5 billion loss to the American economy.

The boycott appears set to continue into 2026, with travel to the U.S. already declining in January.

Canadian resident return trips from the U.S. last month fell sharply to 1.6 million, a 24.3 per cent decrease from January 2025, Statistics Canada recently reported.

Compared with January 2024, prior to the 2025 trade conflict with the U.S., this marks a 28.2 per cent drop.

Automobile travel in accounted for the majority of the January decline, decreasing 26.8 per cent to 1.1 million trips, while air travel fell 17.8 per cent to 493,400 trips, StatCan reported.

As reported by CBC News, resorts in Mexico are seeing a bump in Canadian visitors as sun-seekers spend their money elsewhere.

Across its eight Mexican resorts, Meliá Hotels International has recorded a 22 per cent rise in Canadian visitors compared with 2024.

"I do think that there is a Trump effect, but I don't think it's only a Trump effect. I think that definitely Mexico is an attractive possibility for Canadians to come, and we see that reflected in the numbers," said Sara Ranghi, marketing director for Meliá, told CBC in December. 

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