The Canadian travel boycott shows no signs of slowing down.
The number of Canadians returning from trips to the U.S from land and air has continued to plummet for the fifth consecutive month, marking a sharp decline from 2024. In May, only 1.3 million Canadians made return trips by car—a sharp 38.1 percent drop from the same month last year, according to data from Statistics Canada. The decline worsened from April, which saw a 35.2 percent decrease. Air travel is also down, with return trips to Canada slumping by 24.2 percent compared with the same period last year, while Americans are also making considerably less trips up north. Political tensions between the U.S and Canada stoked by President Donald Trump have been blamed for the drop in travel, in particular his tariff policy and repeated desire to make Canada the “51st State,” along with a weakened Canadian dollar. The downturn has had a knock-on effect on the airline industry with a number of Canadian carriers reducing flights to the U.S. to accommodate for the lower demand. Air Canada reduced the number of flights to Florida, Las Vegas, and Arizona by 10 percent in March, with other airlines also scaling back operations.
