New Statistics Canada data released Monday shows Canadian travel to the United States declining for the 13th consecutive month, while a shift in overseas travel marks a milestone not recorded in over half a century of data.
As reported by Statistics Canada, Canadian residents returned from 3.6 million trips abroad in January 2026, down 11.0 percent compared with January 2025. The decline was driven by a continued retreat from U.S. travel. Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 2.1 million in January, a 22.0 percent year-over-year decline. Return trips by automobile fell 26.3 percent to 1.3 million, while return trips by air declined 12.8 percent to 753,400.
The longer trend reinforces the scale of the shift. Comparing January 2026 to January 2024, before the current period of Canada-U.S. political tension driven by U.S. tariffs and annexationist rhetoric from the U.S. President, Canadian trips to the United States have fallen 23.2 percent, with automobile trips down 25.9 percent and air travel down 18.1 percent. As Statistics Canada directly noted, travel trends shifted alongside political tensions between the two countries beginning in early 2025.
The rise in overseas travel tells the other half of the story. Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries reached 1.5 million in January 2026, up 10.6 percent from January 2025, and that figure exceeded the number of return trips from the United States by automobile. This is notable, as it’s the first time this has occurred since Statistics Canada’s digital Frontier Counts records began in 1972, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period.
On the inbound side, US residents took 1.1 million trips to Canada in January, edging down just 0.3 percent year over year but up 21.0 percent compared with January 2024. Overseas arrivals to Canada dipped 2.1 percent to 303,200, the first year-over-year decline since March 2025, driven largely by fewer arrivals from Asia, partially offset by gains from Europe and the Americas outside the United States.
That Canadians are travelling overseas in growing numbers reflects a country expanding its relationships and deepening its presence in the broader world. And the sustained pullback from a neighbour whose government has chosen threats and economic coercion over partnership is a clear sign Canadians are deciding, with our time and our dollars, that respect must run in both directions.
Spencer Fernando
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