Statistics Canada has released its complete international travel numbers for June, offering a fresh look at travel between Canada and the United States.
Canadians are heading to the U.S. more than last year, but cross-border travel remains well below where it stood before recent political and trade tensions.
The new numbers show Canadian return trips from the U.S. have increased for three straight months after falling year over year for 15 consecutive months.
But travel south of the border remains almost one-quarter below its 2024 level.
Canadians returned from 2.3 million trips to the U.S. in June, up five per cent from the same month last year.
That was still down 24.6 per cent from June 2024.
The increase has been driven by road travel.
Canadians returned from 1.7 million U.S. trips by vehicle — up 7.6 per cent — and about two-thirds of those were same-day trips.
Air travel continued to fall, down 1.2 per cent to 546,500 trips.
Cruise travel rose 13.6 per cent but accounted for a much smaller 20,000 trips.
People CTV News spoke with Wednesday had mixed feelings on Canada-U.S. travel.
“I think we should have good relationships, and I’m not particularly excited by what’s going on,” said one person.
“I am travelling to the U.S. for a wedding, but otherwise, I would not be,” said another.
NYC incentivizing Canadian tourists
American destinations are aiming to speed up the tourism slump.
New York City is the latest to launch a discount program specifically for Canadian travelers.
“We want to just to show a little warmth and welcome and just remind Canadian travelers that we would love to see them back in New York City,” said Nancy Mammana, the CEO of New York City Tourism + Conventions.
A ‘Northern Neighbour’ deal program offers 30 per cent off for Canadians at dozens of New York City hotels, restaurants, attractions and Broadway shows.
“This program is really meant to welcome, and in many cases, welcome back our friends in Canada,” Mammana said to CTV News.
Canadians are the second biggest tourist market for NYC after visitors from the United Kingdon, she explained.
A years-long trade war between the two countries and a lagging loonie has seen Canadian tourism to New York City drop in the last two years.
“Certainly with the headwinds we had going on, we saw that number dropping and we just wanted to do whatever we could to make it a little bit more encouraging and welcoming for our travelers, because it’s just a very, a big market for us,” Mammana added.
Canadians are still traveling, said Calgary travel expert Onanta Forbes, but they’re thoughtful about where they’re going.
“The U.S isn’t off the market, it’s just that people are being more intentional about where they’re traveling to and about where they’re going to spend their vacation dollars. There’s a lot of choice out there,” Forbes told CTV News.
The Canadian tourism rebound to the US has been gradual so far, but incentives can make a difference.
“I think price will always intrigue people. If it’s a good deal, people are going to be interested in scooping it because they don’t want to miss out,” Forbes said.
More Americans are also coming north.
U.S. residents made three million trips to Canada in June, up 6.1 per cent from last year and the fifth straight month of growth.
Again, the increase came mainly by road, while arrivals by air fell slightly.
Canadians returned from just over 906,000 overseas trips in June, essentially flat from last year.
But the number of overseas visitors coming to Canada rose 3.4 per cent to 811,000.
The biggest percentage increase came from Oceania, up more than 16 per cent.
Statistics Canada says that coincided with the World Cup, when Australia and New Zealand played matches in Vancouver.
Arrivals from the 15 overseas countries that played World Cup matches in Canada were up nearly 29 per cent from last June.
