Return trips by Canadians from overseas countries rose 9.8% to 1.1 million in May compared to a year ago, according to Statistic Canada, which reports that, at the same time, U.S. returns fell 24.2% year over year to 488,800.

Meanwhile, Canadian resident return trips from the U.S. by automobile totalled 1.3 million, down 38.1% compared with May 2024, to mark the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year declines.

The response has affected the airlines, which have moved to reduce capacity to the U.S. in response to the lower demand.

In March, Air Canada reduced flights by 10% to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona, while rivals WestJet, Flair Airlines and Air Transat also made similar moves.

Air Canada cut its financial forecast for the year last month amid the lower U.S. demand.

The Montreal-based airline has said Canadians’ appetite for travel has shifted partly to domestic destinations, but also Europe as well as Asia and Australia.

According to the preliminary figures Tuesday, Statistics Canada said international arrivals in May, including returning Canadian residents and non-residents combined, by air and automobile totalled 4.8 million, down 16.7% from May 2024.

Non-resident arrivals to Canada by air totalled 894,200 in May, down 1.3% from a year ago. The number of U.S. residents arriving by air totalled 439,800, down 0.3% from a year ago, while the number of overseas residents arriving slipped 2.3% to 454,500.

The number of U.S.-resident trips to Canada by automobile was 1,044,700, down 8.4% from a year ago, to make it the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines, Statistics Canada said.

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