Canadian travel to the U.S. increases for 3rd month in a row

Canadian residents returned from 2.3 million trips to the United States in June, signifying the third consecutive month of growth following 15 consecutive months of year-over-year lows before that.

However, Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. are still 24.6 per cent below their June 2024 level, according to data released by Statistics Canada.

Return trips from the U.S. via automobile rose 7.6 per cent compared to June 2025, hitting 1.7 million in June 2026, a little more than 66 per cent of which were same-day trips.

Return trips by air continued to fall, down 1.2 per cent from June 2025, settling at 546,500. At the same time, return trips by cruise ship rose 13.6 per cent to 20,700.

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Americans are also continuing their travels to Canada, as U.S.-resident trips to Canada equalled three million in June, up 6.1 per cent from June 2025 and marking the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year increases.

Most notably, the number of American residents who disembarked in Canada from cruise ships rose 20.5 per cent since June 2025. Arrivals by automobile rose 8.1 per cent year over year, while arrivals by air decreased 1.3 per cent.

In June, 811,000 overseas residents arrived in Canada, up 3.4 per cent from the same month one year earlier.

The top three countries of residence for overseas visitors in June were the U.K., India and France, which together accounted for 27.7 per cent of all overseas arrivals in Canada.

In addition, arrivals from Europe (+23,900), the Americas (excluding the U.S., +9,800) and Oceania (+7,900) drove the year-over-year increase in overseas-resident arrivals.

For Oceania, this marked the largest year-over-year increase for June since 2010, which Statistics Canada says excludes the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Statistics Canada cited this gain to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, during which Australia and New Zealand played three matches in Vancouver.