Travel between Canada and other countries, March 2026
Released: 2026-05-21
4,214,270
March 2026
-2.8% 
(12-month change)
1,662,215
March 2026
4.7% 
(12-month change)
3,603,591
March 2026
-0.5%
(monthly change)
2,541,795
March 2026
-0.1%
(monthly change)
Highlights
In March, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States decreased 6.4% year over year, while trips to Canada by US residents increased 4.4%.
Meanwhile, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from overseas (+3.5%) and trips to Canada by overseas residents (+5.6%) increased in March compared with the same month one year earlier.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad (from the United States and overseas countries) (-0.5%) and overseas-resident arrivals (-1.6%) decreased in March. US-resident arrivals (+0.4%) were slightly up.
Trips abroad by Canadian residents continue to decrease
Canadian residents returned from 4.2 million trips abroad in March, down 2.8% compared with the same month in 2025.
In March 2026, Canadian residents returned from 2.6 million trips to the United States, a contraction of 6.4% that marks the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year decline. Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile decreased 3.3% to 1.6 million, of which 63.7% were same-day trips. Return trips from the United States by air fell 10.8% year over year to 934,100.
In contrast, Canadian residents made 1.6 million return trips from overseas countries in March, up 3.5% year over year. This level exceeded the number of return trips from the United States by automobile (+19,400) for the third consecutive month, marking the third time this has happened 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, March 2026
Trips to Canada by United States residents increase
In March, US-resident trips to Canada totalled 1.3 million, rising 4.4% from the same month in 2025 and marking the third year-over-year increase following a downward trend that began in February 2025.
Arrivals by automobile (923,600) were up 4.7% year over year in March 2026, with 56.3% of these arrivals being same-day trips. Air arrivals increased by 3.0% to 340,900.
Chart 2
Year-over-year change in the number of United States visitors entering Canada, by province or territory of arrival, March 2026
Trips to Canada by overseas residents increase
In March, 349,100 overseas residents arrived in Canada, up 5.6% from the same month one year earlier. The majority (89.6%) of these arrivals were by air in March 2026.
By volume, arrivals from Europe (+16,100; +13.2%) drove the year-over-year increase in overseas-resident arrivals in March. The top three countries of residence for overseas visitors were the United Kingdom, Mexico and India, accounting for 31.1% of all overseas arrivals in Canada.
Chart 3
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to March 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 monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad edged down 0.5% in March because of fewer return trips from overseas (-0.7%) and the United States (-0.4%).
Chart 4
Canadian residents returning to Canada and non-resident visitors entering Canada, January 2019 to March 2026, seasonally adjusted data
The overall number of arrivals in Canada by US residents edged up 0.4% on a monthly basis in March, driven by increases in arrivals by automobile (+0.4%) and by air (+0.3%).
In March, the number of overseas-resident arrivals in Canada decreased 1.6% on a monthly basis, as there were fewer visitors from all continents, except for Oceania (+2.3%). At the country level, the overall monthly decrease in March was driven by fewer visitors from Brazil, South Korea and France, offsetting higher volumes of visitors from Mexico and Germany.
Chart 5
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to March 2026, seasonally adjusted data
Focus on Canada and the United States
Starting in early 2025, travel trends among Canadian residents shifted alongside the political tensions between Canada and the United States. In March 2026, Canadian residents returned from 2.6 million trips to the United States, representing a 6.4% decrease from the same month in 2025 and marking the 15th consecutive month of year-over-year decline. When comparing the number of trips in March 2026 with March 2024, a steeper decrease of 28.0% is observed, driven by fewer trips by automobile (-33.7%) and by air (-15.3%).
Meanwhile, US residents took 1.3 million trips to Canada in March 2026, up 4.4% from the same month in 2025. When comparing March 2026 with March 2024, the number of trips was down slightly (-1.7%), mainly because of a decrease in trips by automobile (-4.3%).
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.
Chart 6
Travel between Canada and the United States, by air and by automobile, March, 2024 to 2026
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.
For more information on concepts, definitions, data sources and methods, refer to Frontier Counts.
Seasonal adjustment
Tourism is influenced by seasonal effects (e.g., actual seasons and 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 Seasonal adjustment: Concepts and interpretation, 2026.
Data source upgrade: Deployment of Primary Inspection Kiosks at John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport
Primary Inspection Kiosks were deployed at John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport on February 3, 2026, replacing the Integrated Primary Inspection Line – Air (IPIL Air) system as the main data source for this port of entry. This change is reflected in "Travel between Canada and other countries" starting with the February 2026 reference month and has minimal impact on the data.
Revisions
Seasonally adjusted data for January 2025 to February 2026 have been revised. No revisions were made to the unadjusted data.
Next release
The release "Travel between Canada and other countries" for April will be released on June 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.
The StatsCAN Plus article "Canada's cruise industry even keeled in 2025" and its accompanying infographic "Cruise ship tourism in Canada, 2025" are available.
Episode 27 of the Eh Sayers podcast, "Canadians just aren't California Dreamin' these days," is 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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