Travel between Canada and other countries, January 2026

Released: 2026-03-23

Highlights

In January, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States (-22.0%) and trips to Canada by US residents (-0.3%) were both down year over year.

Meanwhile, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from overseas increased 10.6%, while the number of trips to Canada by overseas residents decreased 2.1%, compared with the same month a year earlier.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad (from the United States and overseas countries) was down 2.2% in January. US-resident arrivals (+4.7%) went up, while overseas-resident arrivals (-2.4%) decreased.

Trips abroad by Canadian residents continue to decrease

Canadian residents returned from 3.6 million trips abroad in January 2026, down 11.0% compared with January 2025.

In January 2026, Canadian residents returned from 2.1 million trips to the United States, representing a 22.0% decrease from the same month a year earlier and marking the 13th consecutive month of year-over-year decline. Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile declined 26.3% to 1.3 million in January. Of these arrivals, 67.5% were same-day trips. Meanwhile, the number of return trips by air from the United States (753,400) decreased 12.8% compared with January 2025.

In contrast, Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries (1.5 million) were up 10.6% in January 2026 compared with January 2025. This level exceeded the number of return trips from the United States by automobile (1.3 million) for the first time since the digital Frontier Counts records began in 1972 (excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period).

Chart 1 
Year-over-year change in the number of Canadian residents returning to Canada from trips abroad, January 2026

Trips to Canada by United States residents slightly decrease

In January 2026, US-resident trips to Canada (1.1 million) edged down 0.3% from the same month in 2025.

Arrivals by automobile (812,700) were down slightly (-0.8%) year over year in January 2026, with 59.2% of these arrivals being same-day trips. Meanwhile, arrivals by air (262,100) increased 2.7% year over year.

Chart 2 
Year-over-year change in the number of US visitors entering Canada, by province or territory of arrival, January 2026

Trips to Canada by overseas residents decrease

In January 2026, 303,200 overseas residents arrived in Canada, down 2.1% from the same month a year earlier, marking the first decline since March 2025. The majority (89.4%) of these arrivals were by air.

By volume, arrivals from Asia (-19,700, -18.6%) accounted for the overall decline in January. The decrease was partially offset by increases in arrivals from the Americas (excluding the United States) (+6,600; +10.9%) and Europe (+4,700; +4.6%).

In January, the top three countries of residence for overseas visitors were Mexico, the United Kingdom and France, accounting for 28.2% of all overseas arrivals in Canada.

Chart 3 
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to January 2026

Seasonally adjusted arrivals

Tourism is influenced by seasonal and calendar effects. All statistics in this section are based on seasonally adjusted data (for more information, see the Note to readers).

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad decreased 2.2% in January, driven by declines in Canadian-resident return trips by air both from the United States (-4.6%) and overseas (-2.0%).

Chart 4 
Canadian residents returning to Canada and non-resident visitors entering Canada, January 2019 to January 2026, seasonally adjusted data

The overall number of arrivals in Canada by US residents was up 4.7% in January 2026 on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, driven by increases in arrivals by automobile (+3.9%) and by air (+5.4%).

In January, the number of overseas-resident arrivals in Canada declined by 2.4% on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, attributable to fewer visitors from all continents except for Oceania (+0.7%): Asia (-4.2%), Europe (-1.1%), Africa (-8.1%) and the Americas (excluding the United States) (-2.1%), ordered by volume. At the country level, the overall monthly decrease in January was driven by fewer visitors from India, Italy, and France.

Chart 5 
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to January 2026, seasonally adjusted data

Chart 6 
Travel between Canada and the United States, by air and by automobile, January, 2024 to 2026

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 available.

The StatsCAN Plus article "Canada's cruise industry even keeled in 2025" 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).