Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, July 2026
Released: 2026-08-11
2,277,054
July 2026
10.2% 
(12-month change)
988,884
July 2026
-1.4% 
(12-month change)
2,663,946
July 2026
6.5%
(12-month change)
863,649
July 2026
5.7%
(12-month change)
In July, 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 6.8 million, up 6.3% from the same month in 2025.
Chart 1
International arrivals to Canada, July, 2024 to 2026
Canadian-resident return trips from the United States increase, while those from overseas decrease
Canadian-resident return trips from abroad by automobile and air (from the United States and overseas countries) stood at 3.3 million in July, up 6.4% from the same month one year earlier.
In July, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 2.3 million, up 10.2% from the same month in 2025. This marked the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year growth. The increase in July 2026 is largely due to a base-year effect, as Canadian-resident trips to the United States declined sharply in 2025 following geopolitical tensions. While return trips from the United States by automobile rose 12.8% from July 2025 to July 2026, they were 28.9% lower than in July 2024. At the same time, return trips from the United States by air decreased 1.4% from July 2025 and were 26.8% below their July 2024 level. For more information on changing Canadian-resident travel patterns, read "Canadian-resident travel to the United States: A year in review."
Gordie Howe International Bridge
On July 27, 2026, the Gordie Howe International Bridge opened, spanning the Detroit River between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. It adds to Windsor's existing two border crossings, the Ambassador Bridge and the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel, which, together, are Canada's busiest land crossings.
From July 27 to 31, the Gordie Howe International Bridge was used for 18,900 Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile and 18,100 US-resident trips to Canada by automobile. During the same period, there were 31,500 return trips by Canadian residents and 21,200 arrivals to Canada by US residents via the other Windsor crossings.
The number of commercial transport trucks entering or returning to Canada via the Gordie Howe International Bridge totalled 4,100 for the five-day period.
Chart 2
Percentage of Canadian and US residents entering or returning to Canada at Windsor ports of entry by automobile, July 27 to July 31, 2026
Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 988,900 in July 2026, a decrease of 1.4% from the same month one year earlier.
Chart 3
Canadian-resident return trips, July, 2024 to 2026
In July, the highest number of return trips from abroad by Canadian residents (189,000) was observed on Sunday, July 5, and the lowest was seen on Thursday, July 9 (80,200).
Infographic 1
International arrivals to Canada, July 2026
United States-resident trips to Canada increase by automobile and by air
US-resident trips to Canada increased 6.5% in July, reaching 2.7 million. This marked the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year increase.
In July, US residents made 1.9 million trips to Canada by automobile (+7.2%) and 749,000 trips by air (+4.8%).
The highest number of daily arrivals (140,400) for July was observed on Friday, July 3, over the Independence Day long weekend in the United States. The lowest number was seen on Tuesday, July 28 (60,700).
Chart 4
United States-resident trips to Canada, July, 2024 to 2026
Overseas-resident trips to Canada increase
Overseas-resident trips to Canada were up 5.7% in July from the same month one year earlier. More overseas residents arrived in Canada by air (779,600; +6.8% year over year) than by automobile (84,000; -3.4% year over year) in July.
The highest number of arrivals per day of overseas residents (31,600) in July was observed on Friday, July 24, and the lowest was seen on Tuesday, July 28 (22,700).
Chart 5
Overseas-resident trips to Canada, July, 2024 to 2026
World Cup
Together, Canadian host cities Vancouver and Toronto were home to three FIFA World Cup matches in July 2026. Teams from five overseas countries played in these matches. Total air arrivals from these five countries were up 18.7% (+6,700) in July 2026 compared with one year earlier.
Notably, air arrivals by Colombian residents peaked on Monday, July 6, the day before their World Cup match in Vancouver, while air arrivals by residents of Switzerland peaked on Sunday, July 5, ahead of their match in Vancouver. Air arrivals by Portuguese and Croatian residents peaked on Wednesday, July 1, before their World Cup match in Toronto on July 2.
Infographic 2
Overseas-resident arrivals in Canada by air from countries playing in Canada during the World Cup, July 2026
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 by air and automobile in July 2026. Complete counts will be available with the release of "Travel between Canada and other countries" on September 22.
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.
Data availability – Gordie Howe International Bridge
The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which crosses between Windsor and Detroit, opened on July 27. The July 2026 reference month of "Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada" and data tables 24-10-0057, 24-10-0058 and 24-10-0059 includes data on Gordie Howe International Bridge arrivals for July 27 to 31. Preliminary data on daily arrivals for the full month will be available as of the August 2026 reference period.
Next release
The Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada for August 2026 will be released on September 11.
Products
The product "Frontier Counts: Interactive Dashboard," part of the Data Visualization Products series (71-607-X), is available.
The article "Canadian-resident travel to the United States: A year in review" is available.
The StatsCAN Plus article "The World Cup: Soccer stats versus StatCan stats" 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.
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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