Travel between Canada and other countries, April 2026
Released: 2026-06-23
3,776,851
April 2026
2.1% 
(12-month change)
1,886,926
April 2026
3.4%
(12-month change)
3,653,329
April 2026
0.9%
(monthly change)
2,488,097
April 2026
-1.5% 
(monthly change)
Highlights
In April, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States increased 1.8% year over year, while trips to Canada by US residents were up 6.9%.
Meanwhile, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from overseas rose 2.7% in April compared with the same month a year earlier, while trips to Canada by overseas residents declined 6.7%.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad (from the United States and overseas countries) (+0.9%) and overseas-resident arrivals (+0.3%) edged up in April. The number of US-resident arrivals fell 2.1%.
Trips abroad by Canadian residents increase, following an extended downward trend
Canadian residents returned from 3.8 million trips abroad in April, an increase of 2.1% year over year. This marks the first year-over-year monthly increase since February 2025.
In April 2026, Canadian residents returned from 2.4 million trips to the United States, an increase of 1.8% from the same month one year earlier and the first rise since January 2025. This was driven by return trips by automobile (+8.1% to 1.5 million), of which 65.0% were same-day trips. Meanwhile, return trips by air decreased 7.1% year over year to 805,900, and return trips by cruise ship fell 38.5% year over year to 3,900.
By contrast, Canadian residents made 1.4 million return trips from overseas countries in April, up 2.7% year over year.
Chart 1
Year-over-year change in the number of Canadian residents returning to Canada from trips abroad, April 2026
Trips to Canada by United States residents increase
In April, US-resident trips to Canada totalled 1.5 million, rising 6.9% from the same month in 2025 and marking the third consecutive monthly year-over-year increase.
Arrivals by automobile (1.0 million) were up 6.8% year over year in April 2026, with 56.2% of these arrivals being same-day trips. Air arrivals increased by 7.8% to 366,600. Meanwhile, the number of US residents who disembarked in Canada from cruise ships (22,100) was down 10.8% compared with the same month in 2025.
Chart 2
Year-over-year change in the number of United States visitors entering Canada, by province or territory of arrival, April 2026
Trips to Canada by overseas residents decrease
In April 2026, 432,700 overseas residents arrived in Canada, down 6.7% from the same month one year earlier. The majority (87.9%) of these arrivals were by air.
By volume, the year-over-year decrease in arrivals by overseas residents in April was driven by fewer arrivals from Europe (-20,800; -10.2%) and Asia (-8,200; -6.2%).
Despite fewer visitors in April, the United Kingdom remained the top country of residence for overseas visitors to Canada. Together, the United Kingdom, France and Mexico accounted for 30.4% of all overseas arrivals in Canada.
Chart 3
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to April 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 up 0.9% in April. Although Canadian residents made fewer return trips from overseas (-0.9%) in the month, this was offset by an increase in return trips from the United States (+1.8%).
Chart 4
Canadian residents returning to Canada and non-resident visitors entering Canada, January 2019 to April 2026, seasonally adjusted data
The overall number of arrivals in Canada by US residents decreased 2.1% on a monthly basis in April, driven by a decrease in arrivals by automobile (-2.5%).
In April, the number of overseas-resident arrivals in Canada edged up 0.3% on a monthly basis, attributable to more residents of the Americas (excluding the United States) (+3.8%) and Africa (+6.4%), offsetting the decline in arrivals from Europe (-1.2%). At the country level, the overall monthly gain in April was driven by a higher number of visitors from Brazil, Iran and Poland, offsetting lower volumes of visitors from the United Kingdom and Germany.
Chart 5
Overseas visitors entering Canada, by continent of residence, January 2019 to April 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 April 2026, Canadian residents returned from 2.4 million trips to the United States, representing a 1.8% increase from the same month in 2025 and the first year-over-year monthly gain since January 2025. When comparing the number of trips by Canadian residents to the United States in April 2026 with April 2024, a steep decrease of 26.7% is observed, driven by fewer trips by automobile (-30.2%) and by air (-16.9%).
Meanwhile, US residents took 1.5 million trips to Canada in April 2026, up 6.9% from the same month in 2025. Yet, compared with April 2024, the number of trips was down slightly (-1.5%), mainly because of a decrease in trips by automobile (-2.2%).
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, April, 2024 to 2026
Explore tourism data
To further explore current and historical data in an interactive format, see the product 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.
Revisions
Seasonally adjusted data for January 2025 to March 2026 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 Integrated Primary Inspection Line – Air (IPIL Air) system into the Frontier Counts. Users are advised to exercise caution when comparing 2025 and 2026 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.
Next release
The release "Travel between Canada and other countries" for May will be released on July 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).
- Date modified: