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

Canadian travel to the United States continued to decline in January, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. 

Return trips from the U.S. last month fell sharply to 1.6 million, a 24.3 per cent decrease from January 2025, the agency reported on Feb. 11. Compared with January 2024, prior to the 2025 trade conflict with the U.S., this marks a 28.2 per cent drop.

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

In contrast, travel to overseas countries by air increased 11.1 per cent, totalling 1.4 million trips in January 2026.

Total Canadian-resident return trips from abroad (from both the United States and overseas countries) stood at 3.1 million in January 2026, a decline of 11.0 per cent from the same month one year earlier, StatCan says.

U.S.-resident travel to Canada: shift from car to air

Meanwhile, U.S. residents made 919,900 trips to Canada in January 2026, a slight 0.5 per cent decline from the previous year, according to StatCan.

Automobile trips decreased 1.5 per cent to 696,600, whereas air travel increased 2.5 per cent, reaching 223,300 trips.

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