Travel between Canada and other countries, December 2025
Released: 2026-02-23
2,069,120
December 2025
-3.0% 
(12-month change)
3,457,147
December 2025
-15.0%
(12-month change)
2,527,957
December 2025
1.4% 
(monthly change)
3,662,204
December 2025
0.3%
(monthly change)
Highlights
In December, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States was down 25.0% year over year, while the number of trips to Canada by US residents decreased 7.5%.
In contrast, both the number of Canadian-resident return trips from overseas (+12.9%) and the number of trips to Canada by overseas residents (+14.1%) increased compared with the same month a year earlier.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad edged up 0.3% in December. Meanwhile, both US-resident arrivals (+1.5%) and overseas-resident arrivals (+1.2%) saw increases.
Trips to Canada by US residents decrease
In December 2025, US-resident trips to Canada (1.6 million) decreased 7.5% from the same month in 2024.
British Columbia saw the largest year-over-year decline, partially because of a base-year effect from a higher number of visitors in December 2024 that coincided with a series of high-profile concerts in Vancouver.
Arrivals by automobile (1.1 million) were down 7.5% year over year in December 2025, with just over half (50.7%) of these arrivals being same-day trips. Meanwhile, air arrivals (395,800) decreased 4.6% year over year.
Chart 1
Year-over-year change in the number of US visitors entering Canada, by province or territory of arrival, December 2025
Trips to Canada by overseas residents continue to increase
In December, 509,500 overseas residents arrived in Canada, up 14.1% from the same month a year earlier, with the majority (90.7%) of arrivals by air.
Increases in arrivals from Europe (+8.7%), Asia (+15.9%) and the Americas (excluding the United States) (+19.7%) were the primary contributors to the year-over-year rise in overseas-resident arrivals in December.
The top three countries of residence for overseas visitors were the United Kingdom (59,600), France (52,700) and Mexico (47,200), accounting for 31.3% of all overseas arrivals in Canada in December.
Chart 2
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to December 2025
Trips abroad by Canadian residents continue to decrease
Canadian residents returned from 3.5 million trips abroad in December, down 15.0% compared with December 2024.
Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile declined 30.2% to 1.5 million in December 2025. Of these arrivals, 68.4% were same-day trips.
In December, the number of Canadian-resident return trips by air from the United States (718,400) decreased 11.0% compared with the same month a year earlier. Meanwhile, Canadian-resident return trips by air from overseas countries (1.2 million) were up 13.3% compared with December 2024.
Chart 3
Canadian residents returning to Canada from trips abroad, December 2024 to December 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 was up 1.5% in December 2025, driven by increases in arrivals by air (+4.2%) and by automobile (+1.1%).
Trips to Canada by overseas residents increase
In December, the number of overseas-resident arrivals in Canada rose by 1.2% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, led by residents of the Americas (excluding the United States) (+6.5%) and Asia (+3.1%), offsetting the decreases in arrivals from Europe (-1.7%) and Africa (-3.6%). The overall monthly gain in December was driven by higher numbers of visitors from India (+15.8%) and Brazil (+24.2%), which offset the largest declines in arrivals from the United Kingdom (-4.6%) and Germany (-5.6%).
Chart 4
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to December 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 rose slightly (+0.3%) in December, driven by an increase in Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by air (+1.1%).
Chart 5
Non-resident visitors entering Canada and Canadian residents returning to Canada, January 2019 to December 2025
2025 in review
International arrivals to Canada (non-resident visitors and returning Canadian residents) totalled 72.9 million in 2025, down 10.9% from 2024—a setback in the recovery that had shown steady gains since the COVID-19 pandemic. The year-over-year decrease occurred alongside continued political tensions between Canada and the United States and is the first annual decline since 2016 (excluding during the pandemic). Moreover, when compared with pre-pandemic levels, international arrivals to Canada in 2025 represented 82.3% of the figure observed in 2019.
In 2025, US-resident arrivals to Canada (22.8 million) decreased by 2.9% year over year. This decline was driven by a decrease in the number of arrivals by automobile (-4.9%). US-resident arrivals to Canada in 2025 represented 91.3% of the pre-pandemic level of 2019.
Meanwhile, overseas-resident arrivals in Canada reached 6.8 million in 2025, up 7.5% from 2024. Despite the year-over-year increase, overseas-resident arrivals to Canada in 2025 represented 91.4% of the figure observed in 2019, similar to the proportion observed for US-resident arrivals.
Canadian-resident trips abroad totalled 43.3 million in 2025 and were down 16.7% year over year. Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 29.1 million, down 25.4%. By contrast, overseas trips by Canadian residents were up 9.2% compared with 2024, to 14.2 million in 2025. Canadian-resident return trips from the United States represented two-thirds (66.4%) of the figure observed in 2019, while return trips from overseas countries surpassed the pre-pandemic level (+14.9% in 2025) for the second consecutive year.
In 2025, the number of international cruise ship passengers in Canada (1.9 million) was down 1.5% year over year. Disembarkations in Canada by US residents edged up (+0.9%) from 2024 and were largely offset by the decline in disembarkations by Canadian residents (-17.2%) and overseas residents (-4.9%). International cruise ship passengers in Canada surpassed the 2019 pre-pandemic level (+31.4% in 2025) for the third consecutive year.
Chart 6
Non-resident visitors entering Canada and Canadian residents returning to Canada, annual, 2010 to 2025
Focus on Canada and the United States
In December 2025, Canadian residents returned from 2.2 million trips to the United States, representing a 25.0% decrease from the same month in 2024 and accounting for 64.9% of all trips abroad taken by Canadian residents in December 2025.
Meanwhile, US residents took 1.6 million trips to Canada in December 2025, down 7.5% from the same month in 2024 and representing 75.4% of all non-resident trips to Canada in December 2025.
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.
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 January to November 2025 have been revised. No revisions were made to the unadjusted data.
Integrated Primary Inspection Line – Air integration
In 2025, Statistics Canada integrated information about travellers processed through the Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA) Integrated Primary Inspection Line - Air (IPIL Air) system into the Frontier Counts. Users are advised to exercise caution when comparing 2025 reference months with previous years since published data before 2025 do not include IPIL Air.
For users who would like to make year-over-year comparisons, selected supplementary time series with IPIL Air data for reference years 2023 and 2024 are available, upon request.
Upcoming enhancements — additional electronic data sources
With the upcoming release of the January 2026 reference month for "Travel between Canada and other countries," Statistics Canada will integrate information on travellers processed through the CBSA's Next Generation Handhelds, as well as implement Operational Reporting Application and the second phase of IPIL Air for selected ports.
This integration will improve the accuracy of Frontier Counts by addressing existing data gaps for travellers at some ports of entry. It also eliminates the reliance on paper E311 declaration forms.
Additional related details will be provided with the March 23 release of January 2026 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 January will be released on March 23.
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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