Holiday travel: FlightHub reveals where Canadians are flying (and how much they’re paying)

How is this winter’s holiday travel season taking shaping?

FlightHub’s latest data shows how travel habits have been shifting year-over-year, both at home and abroad, revealing that falling fares and changing destination preferences are redefining how Canadians will travel this festive season.

The data draws from bookings as of October 3, for travels around the holiday period from December 20 to January 4, 2025 versus 2024.

Domestic travel, for one, is booming, the OTA's data shows. these bookings are up 12 percentage points year-over-year, with more Canadians choosing to stay within the country.

British Columbia now tops the list of provinces (28%), overtaking Alberta for the first time, while Toronto remains the country’s busiest seasonal hub.

The most popular route for the 2025 holidays is Vancouver (YVR) > Toronto (YTO), according to FlightHub.

Gen Zers booked over a third of the domestic travels with the OTA for the season (35%).

Lower domestic fares are also fuelling demand, the company says.

The average domestic ticket prices dropped 18.9 per cent nationwide from $413 in 2024 to $335 in 2025. Prices dropped across all major cities, the company adds.

International travel shifts

International travel, meanwhile, remains steady, but is shifting.

Overall, international holiday bookings show a slight set back of four percentage points, yet destination trends are evolving.

The U.S. lost its long-held top holiday spot for Canadians (down from 25% to 18%) while the Philippines surged to 17 per cent, nearly tied for first place, according to FlightHub.

This time, it’s Gen X Canadians who are making up for the most international holiday bookings (32%). 

Western Canada is driving more global travel. The most popular route changed from Toronto-Manila to Calgary-Manila, showing stronger outbound demand from the west.

Fares abroad are falling, too, FlightHub says. Ticket prices declined across major destinations, including a nine percentage points drop to the Philippines, six points to India, and five points to the U.S.

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