After a year and a half of reduced travel to the U.S., Canadian residents are slowly resuming their trips across the border. In June, the number of Canadians returning from the U.S. increased by 3.2% compared to the same period last year, as per the latest data from Statistics Canada.
This marks the third consecutive month of growth in inbound travel from the U.S. by Canadians, following increases of 9.5% in May and 1.4% in April.
The rise in travel was primarily driven by a surge in car travel, with 5.2% more Canadians returning from the U.S. by car in June compared to the previous year. On the other hand, air travel from the States saw a 3.8% decrease year-over-year.
Despite the slight increase in car travel, Canadian tourism to the U.S. remains significantly below pre-2024 levels, indicating that while there is optimism in the U.S. tourism sector, a substantial recovery may not be imminent.
Compared to June 2024, Canadian return travel from the U.S. last month was down by a substantial 28.7%, a stark contrast to the period before trade tensions and annexation threats pushed Canadians to reconsider their U.S. travel plans.
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Wayne Smith, director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research, views the recent uptick in Canadian travel to the U.S. as a modest “normalization” rather than a complete shift in trends.
Smith believes that the current rate of travel to the U.S. represents the “new normal,” as the number of Canadians visiting the U.S. has remained consistently lower over the past year and a half.
Canadian travel to the United States has dropped since President Donald Trump retook