7 Straight Months Of Tourism Decline: Canadian Car Travel Down 37% YOY in July, 26% Air Travel Drop For The Same Month

[hatrack]

Last edited Tue Aug 12, 2025, 11:48 AM - Edit history (1)

Key Facts

The volume of Canadians taking road trips into the U.S.—the way most Canadians visit—dropped by 37% last month compared to July 2024, according to new data from Statistics Canada, following a 33% drop in June.

There was also a 26% decline in air travelers from Canada year-over-year.

July was the seventh consecutive month of steep declines in inbound Canadian travel, with double-digit year-over-year drops in both car and air travel to the U.S. every month since April. Travel in the other direction is also down, though far less severely, with 7% fewer Americans having traveled to Canada by car in July compared to last year and a slight increase (0.7%) of Americans flying to Canada last month compared to a year ago.

In the first six months of 2025, Canadian travel to the U.S. was down 24% overall, according to Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics—but that’s before factoring in the July numbers. It adds up to an enormous loss for U.S. tourism. In recent years, Canadian tourists have made up roughly one-quarter of all foreign travelers who come to the United States, according to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office , part of the Commerce Department. Last year, Canadian tourists vacationing in the U.S. spent $20.5 billion.

EDIT

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2025/08/11/canadian-car-visits-us-plunge-37-percent/

[JT45242]

1. Will get much worse... non-refundable or work trips would be my guess

My guess is that much of the current travels from Canada were booked long in advance with harsh or no refund policies.

Other option would be work trips that were still needed.

My guess is that next year's number will be down substantially more now that travel booked before mango Mussolini will be complete.

[tanyev]

3. Maybe also some traveling here to sell off vacation properties,

never to return again.

[DFW]

2. The wave of cancellations from Europe will come (or, the people will not come, as the case may be)

Many Europeans book their summer vacations as much as eight months in advance, many of which are non-refundable, or come with a big cancellation penalty. I booked our flights to the USA and South America this summer (some work, some vacation, but same rules for booking the flights) already in the late winter/early spring. I booked my wife's flights early, due to closing windows and disappearing seats. It turned out that I later had to change her flight back to Düsseldorf this Saturday by one day, and that alone cost me €400. So most people take the trips they have booked.

Ergo, this summer, there will be less cancellations from Europe than prevailing sentiment might indicate. However, for winter vacations and reservations for next summer, I think there will be a wave of non-reservations by Europeans to the USA that will be without precedent in the last decades.

[Melon]

4. Spending money on elsewhere

I’m sure the exchange rate is also hurting this.

[fargone]

5. I came back from Canada Saturday afternoon.

That border crossing typically has 10 to 20 cars lined up. There were 0 in front of us.