Travel between Canada and other countries, August 2025
Released: 2025-10-22
4,037,165
August 2025
0.8% 
(12-month change)
4,169,178
August 2025
-21.5% 
(12-month change)
2,403,512
August 2025
-0.1%
(monthly change)
3,390,196
August 2025
0.1%
(monthly change)
Highlights
In August, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States was down 29.7% year over year, while the number of trips to Canada by US residents decreased 1.4%. This marked the third time since June 2006 (excluding August and September 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic) when more US residents made trips to Canada than Canadian residents travelled to the United States.
Meanwhile, in August 2025, the number of trips to Canada by overseas residents was up 9.2% from August 2024, and the number of Canadian-resident return trips from overseas increased 8.6%.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad was up slightly by 0.1% in August 2025. US-resident arrivals edged down 0.3%, while overseas-resident arrivals increased 0.5%.
Chart 1
Canadian residents returning to Canada from the United States and US residents visiting Canada, January 2019 to August 2025
Trips to Canada by US residents continue to decrease
In August, US-resident trips to Canada (3.2 million) declined year over year for a seventh consecutive month, down 1.4% from the same month in 2024.
Arrivals by automobile (2.0 million) were down 3.2% year over year in August 2025. Over half (54.5%) of these arrivals were overnight trips. Meanwhile, air arrivals (655,500) declined by a modest 0.5% year over year. The number of US residents who disembarked in Canada from cruise ships was 330,800 in August, up 7.0% from the same month in 2024.
Chart 2
Year-over-year change in the number of US visitors entering Canada, by province or territory of arrival, August 2025
Trips to Canada by overseas residents increase
In August 2025, 886,000 overseas residents arrived in Canada, up 9.2% from the same month in 2024. The majority (76.6%) of overseas-resident arrivals were by air in August 2025.
An increase in arrivals from Europe (+7.9%) and Asia (+8.4%)—the top two source markets for overseas visitors to Canada—was the primary contributor to the year-over-year growth in overseas-resident arrivals in August.
The top three countries of residence for overseas visitors were the United Kingdom (136,900), France (102,700) and Germany (63,300), accounting for 34.2% of all overseas arrivals in Canada in August.
Chart 3
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to August 2025
Trips abroad by Canadian residents continue to decrease
Canadian residents returned from 4.2 million trips abroad in August, down 21.5% compared with August 2024.
Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile declined by 32.6% to 2.2 million in August 2025. Of these trips, 57.6% were same-day trips.
In August, the number of Canadian-resident return trips by air from the United States (608,800) decreased by 17.0% compared with the same month a year earlier. Meanwhile, Canadian-resident return trips by air from overseas countries (1.2 million) increased 9.1% compared with August 2024.
Chart 4
Canadian residents returning to Canada from trips abroad, August 2024 to August 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 decline
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the overall number of arrivals in Canada by US residents was down 0.3% in August 2025. Decreases in arrivals by air (-1.9%) and by automobile (-0.4%) were the main contributors to the overall monthly decline.
Trips to Canada by overseas residents increase
In August, the number of overseas-resident arrivals in Canada edged up by 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, led by residents of Oceania (+7.6%) and Africa (+2.9%). By volume, visitors from the United Kingdom (+2.0%) and Germany (+5.0%) were the largest contributors to the overall monthly increase.
Chart 5
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to August 2025, seasonally adjusted data
Canadian-resident return trips from abroad edge up
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad edged up (+0.1%) in August. This modest growth was driven by an increase in Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile (+0.6%) and from overseas by air (+0.4%).
Chart 6
Non-resident visitors entering Canada and Canadian residents returning to Canada, January 2019 to August 2025
Enhancements—Integrated Primary Inspection Line – Air integration
Starting with the release of the July 2025 reference month for "Travel between Canada and other countries" on September 23, Statistics Canada integrated information about travellers processed through the Canada Border Services Agency's Integrated Primary Inspection Line – Air (IPIL Air) system into the Frontier Counts. The unadjusted data series from January to June 2025 were also updated during the July release.
This new data source improves the accuracy of Frontier Counts by addressing existing data gaps at some ports of entry. IPIL Air data also replace information from E311 declaration forms at other ports of entry.
Users are advised to exercise caution when comparing 2025 reference months and onwards with previous years. For more information on concepts, definitions, data sources and methods, refer to Frontier Counts.
Focus on Canada and the United States
In August 2025, Canadian residents returned from 2.9 million trips to the United States, representing a 29.7% decrease from the same month in 2024 and accounting for 70.2% of all trips abroad taken by Canadian residents during the month.
Meanwhile, US residents took 3.2 million trips to Canada in August, down 1.4% from the same month in 2024 and representing 78.1% of all non-resident trips to Canada in August 2025.
In August 2025, for the third time since June 2006 (excluding August and September 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic), more US residents made trips to Canada than Canadian residents travelled to the United States.
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socio-economic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage.
Explore tourism data
To further explore current and historical data in an interactive format, see Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard.
For more current estimates of international arrivals to Canada, please see the release, "Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada."
For other tourism-related information, see the Travel and Tourism Statistics portal.
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Note to readers
Unless otherwise specified, this release uses unadjusted (raw) data.
Seasonal adjustment
Tourism is influenced by seasonal effects (e.g., holidays such as Canada Day and Thanksgiving) and calendar effects (e.g., number of weekends in a month). Seasonally adjusted data are data that have been modified to eliminate the effect of seasonal and calendar influences to allow for more meaningful comparisons of economic conditions from period to period. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Revisions
Seasonally adjusted data for May to July 2025 have been revised. No revisions were made to the unadjusted data.
Canada Post service disruptions
Statistics Canada will monitor the impacts of Canada Post service disruptions on future releases.
Next release
"Travel between Canada and other countries" for September will be released on November 20.
Products
The product "Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard," part of the Data Visualization Products series (71-607-X), is available.
The article "Recent changes in Canadian-resident travel to the United States" is available.
Episode 27 of the Eh Sayers podcast, "Canadians just aren't California Dreamin' these days," is available.
The infographic "Tourism activity, 2024" 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).
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