Canadians are slowly returning to U.S. travel. Returns to this country by residents surged in May, up 9.5% year over year, building on a bump in April that had ended a 15-month slump, according to Statistic Canada data. In May, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States totalled 1.9 million, driven by an increase in return trips by automobile (+15.1%).
However, return trips from the U.S. by air in May decreased 5.5% from May 2025, while Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.1 million in May, up 3.0% from the same month one year earlier.
The increase in overall return trips from the United States in May 2026 marked both the second consecutive month of year-over-year increases and the second increase since December 2024.
While the tide may be turning, current travel levels to the U.S. remain significantly below the same month in 2024, with Statistics Canada noting that when comparing the number of trips in May 2026 with May 2024, a decline of 28.7% was observed, driven by fewer trips by automobile (-28.7% from May 2024) and by air (-28.4% from May 2024).
Overall travel rising
The agency reported that in May, overall Canadian-resident return trips from abroad by automobile and air (from the United States and overseas countries) stood at 3.1 million, up 7.0% from the same month one year earlier.
In May, the highest numbers of return trips from abroad by Canadian residents were observed over the Victoria Day long weekend, from Sunday, May 17 to Monday, May 18 (318,400 over the two days). The lowest was seen on Wednesday, May 13 (72,400).
U.S. visitors rising
US-resident trips to Canada increased 10.1% in May, reaching 1.6 million and marking the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year increases. In May, US residents made 1.2 million trips to Canada by automobile (+12.7%) and 456,600 trips by air (+3.8%).
Overseas visits
Overseas-resident trips to Canada totalled 513,500 in May, up 3.7% from the same month one year earlier.
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