Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, February 2026
Released: 2026-03-10
1,497,232
February 2026
-14.5% 
(12-month change)
1,272,974
February 2026
7.2% 
(12-month change)
959,568
February 2026
6.1%
(12-month change)
288,450
February 2026
10.5%
(12-month change)
In February, 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 4.0 million, down 2.1% from February 2025.
Chart 1
International arrivals to Canada, February, 2024 to 2026
Canadian-resident return trips from the United States decline, while trips from overseas are up
Canadian-resident return trips from abroad (from the United States and overseas countries) stood at 2.8 million in February 2026, down 5.7% from the same month one year earlier.
In February, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 1.5 million, down 14.5% from the same month one year earlier. When comparing the February 2026 figure with that of February 2024, before the start of trade tensions with the United States in early 2025, a sharper decline (-31.5%) was observed. In February 2026, both return trips by automobile (-12.9%) and by air (-17.6%) declined from February 2025.
In contrast, Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.3 million in February 2026, up 7.2% from the same month one year earlier. In February, for the second consecutive month, a greater number of Canadian residents returned from overseas by air (1.3 million) than from the United States by auto (1.0 million).
Chart 2
Canadian-resident return trips, February, 2024 to 2026
In February, the highest number of returns from abroad by Canadian residents was observed on Monday, February 16 (148,300) (Family Day in Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Saskatchewan; Heritage Day in Nova Scotia; Islander Day in Prince Edward Island; Louis Riel Day in Manitoba). The lowest was seen on Wednesday, February 4 (75,200).
Infographic 1
International arrivals to Canada, February 2026
United States-resident trips to Canada increase by automobile and by air
In February, US-resident trips to Canada were up 6.1% from the same month one year earlier to reach 959,600, marking the first increase after 12 consecutive months of year-over-year declines.
In February, US residents made 720,400 trips by automobile (+6.4%) and 239,200 trips by air (+4.9%) to Canada.
The highest numbers of daily arrivals for February were observed on Friday, February 13 and Saturday, February 14 (155,300 over both days), before President's Day in the United States (February 16). The lowest was seen on Tuesday, February 3 (18,100).
Chart 3
United States-resident trips to Canada, February, 2024 to 2026
Overseas-resident trips to Canada increase
Overseas-resident trips to Canada totalled 288,500 in February, up 10.5% from February 2025. A greater number of overseas residents arrived in Canada by air (270,200; +12.6% year over year) than by automobile (18,300; -13.0% year over year) in February 2026.
In February, the highest number of arrivals per day was observed on Saturday, February 14 (16,100), and the lowest was seen on Tuesday, February 3 (7,100).
Chart 4
Overseas-resident trips to Canada, February, 2024 to 2026
Focus on Canada and the United States
In February 2026, the number of arrivals to Canada by US residents by air increased 4.9% from the same month in 2025, while arrivals by automobile increased 6.4%.
Meanwhile, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by air fell 17.6% year over year in February 2026. Canadian-resident return trips by automobile dropped 12.9% due to a base-year effect.
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 February 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 April 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 March 2026 will be released on April 13.
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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