Canada-U.S. travel falls further for 5th straight month: StatCan – National
The number of Canadians returning from travel to the U.S. by land and air continues to decline, according to new data released by Statistics Canada.
The data showed that return trips made by Canadians in May dropped for the fifth consecutive month compared with last year, with trips north by Americans also dropping.
In May, 1.3 million Canadians made a return trip by car from the U.S., a drop of 38.1 per cent compared with the same month in 2024.
Just a month earlier, there was a decline of 35.2 per cent compared with April 2024, with 1.2 million return trips.
Air travel also saw a decline in May, with Statistics Canada reporting Canadian return trips fell 24.2 per cent compared with the same month in 2024.
This marks an even steeper decline than in April, when the number of Canadians who returned by air dropped 19.9 per cent compared with a year earlier.
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Fewer Americans also made their journey to their northern neighbour, with data showing 1,044,700 trips by automobile were made, an 8.4 per cent decline compared with last year.
Air travel to Canada by Americans also fell slightly compared with 2024, dropping by 0.3 per cent.
Travel has continued to drop since the beginning of the year amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and rhetoric of making Canada the “51st state,” as well as a weakened Canadian dollar.
The drop has had a ripple effect on airlines, with some reducing the capacity of their flights to the U.S. to respond to lower demand.
In March, Air Canada reduced flights by 10 per cent to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona, and WestJet, Flair Airlines and Air Transat made similar moves.
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