As Canadian visits to the U.S. continue to decline, American visits to Canada fall 7.5%, says Statistics Canada
According to new report from Statistics Canada the number of trips to Canada by U.S. residents dropped 7.5 per cent in December 2025 compared to December a year earlier. That translates to a total of 1.6 million visits to Canada.
The number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States continues to slide. That number was down 25 per cent year-over-year.
British Columbia saw the largest decline in American visits. That’s partly, says StatCan, due to a high number of visitors in December 2024, coinciding with “a series of high-profile concerts in Vancouver.” (Taylor Swift had three concerts in early December 2024, as reported by the Vancouver Sun .)
Arrivals to Canada by automobile (1.1 million) were down 7.5 per cent year-over-year in December 2025. A little more than half (50.7 per cent) of the arrivals were same-day trips, says StatCan.
Meanwhile, air arrivals (395,800) from the U.S. fell 4.6 per cent.
Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile declined 30.2 per cent to 1.5 million. Most of those trips (68.4 per cent) were day trips.
The number of Canadian-resident return trips by air from the United States (718,400) fell 11 per cent.
Visits to Canada from overseas countries reflect a cheerier picture.
The number of trips to Canada by overseas residents (509,500) increased 14.1 per cent in December, compared with the same month a year earlier. The majority (90.7 per cent) arrived by air.
Visitors from Europe increased 8.7 per cent and Asia up 15.9 per cent. Travellers from the Americas (excluding the United States) climbed 19.7 per cent. Theses groups were the primary contributors to the year-over-year jump in overseas-resident arrivals. The top three countries of residence for overseas visitors were the United Kingdom (59,600), France (52,700) and Mexico (47,200). They accounted for 31.3 per cent of all overseas arrivals.
Meanwhile, Canadian-resident return trips by air from overseas countries (1.2 million) were up 13.3% compared with December 2024.
Tourism is influenced by seasonal activity (actual seasons and holidays), says StatCan, so it looks at the numbers on that basis too. The agency says there were slight uptick in Christmas holiday visitors from the U.S. (1.5 per cent) and overseas (1.2 per cent).
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