Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, January 2026
Released: 2026-02-11
1,621,343
January 2026
-24.3% 
(12-month change)
1,436,537
January 2026
11.1% 
(12-month change)
919,912
January 2026
-0.5%
(12-month change)
254,803
January 2026
-2.3%
(12-month change)
In January, 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 4.2 million, down 8.4% from January 2025.
Chart 1
International arrivals to Canada, January, 2024 to 2026
Canadian-resident return trips from United States decline, while trips from overseas are up
Canadian-resident return trips from abroad (from the United States and overseas countries) stood at 3.1 million in January 2026, a decline of 11.0% from the same month one year earlier.
In January 2026, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 1.6 million, down 24.3% from January 2025. When comparing the January 2026 number with January 2024, before the start of the trade conflict with the United States in 2025, a sharper decline (-28.2%) was observed. Automobile return trips from the United States were a key contributor to the overall decrease, declining 26.8% from January 2025 to total 1.1 million in January 2026. In contrast, a smaller proportion of Canadian residents returned from the United States by air (493,400), down 17.8% from a year earlier.
Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.4 million in January 2026, up 11.1% from January 2025.
Chart 2
Canadian-resident return trips, January, 2024 to 2026
In January 2026, the highest number of arrivals per day was observed on Saturday, January 3 (156,900), and the lowest was seen on Wednesday, January 21 (68,700). Inclement weather also led to decreased travel volumes in many parts of the country later in the month.
Infographic 1
International arrivals to Canada, January 2026
United States-resident trips to Canada decrease by automobile but increase by air
In January 2026, US-resident trips to Canada edged down 0.5% from the same month one year earlier to reach 919,900.
Automobile trips to Canada made by US residents decreased 1.5% from January 2025 to 696,600 in January 2026. By air, there were 223,300 trips to Canada, up 2.5% from January 2025.
In January 2026, the highest number of arrivals per day was observed on Friday, January 16 (60,300), and the lowest was seen on Monday, January 26 (14,900).
Chart 3
United States-resident trips to Canada, January, 2024 to 2026
Overseas-resident trips to Canada decrease
Overseas-resident trips to Canada totalled 254,800 in January, down 2.3% from January 2025. A greater number of overseas residents arrived in Canada by air (234,200; +0.8% year over year) than by automobile (20,600; -27.5% year over year) in January 2026.
In January, the highest number of arrivals per day was observed on Saturday, January 17 (10,200), and the lowest was seen on Sunday, January 4 (6,300).
Chart 4
Overseas-resident trips to Canada, January, 2024 to 2026
Focus on Canada and the United States
In January 2026, the number of arrivals to Canada by US residents by air increased 2.5% from the same month in 2025, while arrivals by automobile decreased 1.5%.
Meanwhile, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by air fell 17.8% year over year in January 2026. Canadian-resident return trips by automobile dropped 26.8%.
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 other tourism-related information, see the Travel and Tourism Statistics portal.
Note to readers
This release provides an early indicator of travel based on preliminary data on international arrivals to Canada for January 2026 for air and automobile (including arrivals by automobile made by overseas residents). Complete counts will be available with the release of "Travel between Canada and other countries" on March 23.
For more information on concepts, definitions, data sources and methods, refer to Frontier Counts.
Data sources
All counts of arrivals by air are from commercial aircraft and are produced exclusively using primary inspection kiosk (PIK) data received from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). In 2025, PIKs captured 86.2% of all commercial air arrivals.
Counts of arrivals to the country by automobile through land ports equipped with the CBSA's automated Integrated Primary Inspection Line (IPIL) system represent a subset of all trips by automobile. In 2025, IPIL land ports captured 87.9% of all automobile entries.
Next release
The Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada for February 2026 will be released on March 10.
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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