Travel between Canada and other countries, May 2025

Released: 2025-07-23

Highlights

In May, the number of trips to Canada by US residents decreased 5.6% year over year, while for overseas residents, the number of trips fell 6.6%.

The number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States in May was down 31.9% from May 2024, while return trips from overseas increased 8.9%.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, Canadian residents returned from fewer trips abroad for a fifth consecutive month, down 3.1% in May 2025. US-resident arrivals increased 2.1%, while overseas-resident arrivals rose 2.0%.

Trips to Canada by US residents continue to decrease

In May, US-resident trips to Canada (2.0 million) declined year over year for a fourth consecutive month, down 5.6% from the same month in 2024.

Arrivals by automobile (1.2 million) were down 7.0% year over year in May 2025. Over half (51.6%) of these arrivals were same-day trips. Meanwhile, air arrivals (470,100) were down 1.7% year over year. The number of US residents who disembarked in Canada from cruise ships was 196,800 in May, edging up 0.4% from the same month in 2024.

Chart 1 
Year-over-year change in US visitors entering Canada, by province or territory of arrival, May 2025, unadjusted data

Trips to Canada by overseas residents continue to decline

In May 2025, 575,100 overseas residents arrived in Canada, down 6.6% from May 2024, marking the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year decline. In May 2025, the majority (79.8%) of overseas-resident arrivals were by air.

Fewer arrivals from both Europe (-4.1%) and Asia (-11.3%)—the two largest source markets for overseas visitors to Canada—contributed the most to the year-over-year decline in overseas arrivals in May.

In May, the top three countries of residence for overseas visitors were the United Kingdom (78,400), India (61,300) and France (48,600), accounting for 32.7% of all overseas arrivals in Canada.

Chart 2 
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to May 2025, unadjusted data

Trips abroad by Canadian residents continue to decrease

Canadian residents returned from 3.4 million trips abroad in May, representing a 22.5% decrease and marking the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year decline. Of those trips, 53.1% were by air, down 3.1% year over year.

The number of Canadian-resident return trips by air from the United States in May decreased by 17.4% from May 2024. Meanwhile, Canadian-resident return trips by air from overseas countries increased 9.3% in May 2025 compared with one year earlier.

In May, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile declined by 37.4% to 1.5 million. Of these trips, 63.9% were same-day trips.

Chart 3 
Canadian residents returning to Canada from abroad, May 2024 to May 2025

Seasonally adjusted arrivals

Tourism is influenced by seasonal effects (e.g., actual seasons and holidays such as Canada Day and Thanksgiving) and by calendar effects (e.g., number of weekends in a month). All statistics in this section are based on seasonally adjusted data (for more information, see the Note to readers).

Trips to Canada by US residents increase

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the overall number of arrivals in Canada by US residents rose by 2.1% in May. Increases in arrivals by air (+2.5%) and by automobile (+2.7%) contributed to the monthly growth.

Chart 4 
Percent change in US visitors entering Canada, by province or territory of arrival, April to May 2025, seasonally adjusted data

Trips to Canada by overseas residents up

In May, the number of overseas-resident arrivals in Canada increased by 2.0% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, led by residents of Oceania (+11.5%) and Asia (+2.8%). By volume, increases in the number of visitors from Australia (+12.2%) and Japan (+9.1%) helped offset the decrease in the number of visitors from Italy (-22.1%).

Chart 5 
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to May 2025, seasonally adjusted data

Canadian-resident return trips from abroad decline

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, Canadian residents returned from fewer trips abroad for a fifth consecutive month, down 3.1% in May. This decline was the result of a reduction in automobile trips to the United States (-2.2%), which accounted for 43.6% of overall Canadian-resident trips abroad. Trips by air to the United States (-4.2%) were also down, and they accounted for 21.4% of all Canadian-resident trips abroad.

In May, Canadian-resident trips overseas by air, which accounted for 32.9% of all Canadian-resident trips abroad, declined 4.0% compared with April.

Chart 6 
Non-resident visitors entering Canada and Canadian residents returning to Canada, January 2019 to May 2025

Products

The product "Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard," part of the Data Visualization Products series (Catalogue number71-607-X), is available.

The article "Recent changes in Canadian-resident travel to the United States" is also available.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods, or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).