Statscan reports Canadian trips to the US were up

In May, the preliminary number of international arrivals to Canada (Canadian-resident return trips, combined with US-resident and overseas-resident arrivals) by air and automobile totalled 5.2 million, up 7.6% from the same month in 2025. May 2026 also marked the second year-over-year increase in international arrivals since January 2025.

Canadian-resident return trips from abroad by automobile and air (from the United States and overseas countries) stood at 3.1 million in May 2026, up 7.0% from the same month one year earlier.

In May, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 1.9 million, up 9.5% from the same month in 2025. Driven by an increase in return trips by automobile (+15.1%), the increase in overall return trips from the United States in May 2026 marked both the second consecutive month of year-over-year increases and the second increase since December 2024.

In contrast, return trips from the United States by air in May decreased 5.5% from May 2025.

Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.1 million in May 2026, up 3.0% from the same month one year earlier.

In May, the highest numbers of return trips from abroad by Canadian residents were observed over the Victoria Day long weekend, from Sunday, May 17 to Monday, May 18 (318,400 over the two days). The lowest was seen on Wednesday, May 13 (72,400).?

US-resident trips to Canada increased 10.1% in May, reaching 1.6 million and marking the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year increases.

In May, US residents made 1.2 million trips to Canada by automobile (+12.7%) and 456,600 trips by air (+3.8%).

The highest numbers of daily arrivals for May were observed over the Memorial Day long weekend in the United States, on Friday, May 22 and Saturday, May 23 (229,500 over both days).

Overseas-resident trips to Canada totalled 513,500 in May, up 3.7% from the same month one year earlier. A greater number of overseas residents arrived in Canada by air (472,700; +4.0% year over year) than by automobile (40,800; -0.3% year over year) in May.

The highest number of arrivals per day for May of overseas residents was observed on Saturday, May 23 (21,700).

Starting in early 2025, travel trends among Canadian residents shifted alongside the political tensions between Canada and the United States.

In May 2026, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States increased 9.5% from the same month in 2025, marking the second month of year-over-year increase since December 2024.

The increase in May was due to a base-year effect. When comparing the number of trips in May 2026 with May 2024, a decline of 28.7% was observed, driven by fewer trips by automobile (-28.7% from May 2024) and by air (-28.4% from May 2024).

Meanwhile, the number of arrivals to Canada by US residents increased 10.1% in May 2026 from the same month in 2025. Arrivals by automobile increased 12.7% while arrivals by air increased 3.8%.