by Natasha Lair
Last updated: 3:00 PM ET, Fri February 28, 2025
Canadians are hitting the skies in growing numbers, with domestic travel leading the charge.
According to a Statistics Canada report, in January, 4.3 million pax were recorded passing through pre-board security screening at checkpoints operated at Canada's eight largest airports.
Domestic air travel saw the biggest jump, with 2.7% more pax flying within Canada in January 2025 compared to January 2024.
This number still falls 3.6% short of pre-pandemic levels from January 2020.
International travel beyond the U.S. is seeing steady growth. The number of pax flying overseas increased 1.2% over January 2024, surpassing January 2020 levels by nearly 6%.
Travel to the U.S. increased more modestly, 0.6% year-over-year, but remains 5.1% below 2020 figures.
Smaller Airports Lead Growth
While Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary continue to handle the bulk of Canada’s air traffic, the smaller airports are seeing the most growth.
Winnipeg’s numbers jumped 9.2%, Ottawa saw a 7.8% increase, and Edmonton followed closely with a 7.2% rise compared to last year.
Halifax and Calgary stand out for their post-pandemic recovery, with passenger counts exceeding 2020 numbers by 6% and 4.6%, respectively.
Canadians Were On the Move in Q3 2024
A recent StatsCan Q3 2024 travel survey also highlights a growing appetite for travel.
Canadians travelled more in the third quarter of 2024, taking 105 million trips both within Canada and abroad—up 5.3% from the same period in 2023 and 3.4% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Domestic travel
Most trips (nearly 90%) were domestic, with 94.3 million Canadians travelling within the country. That’s a 3.9% increase from 2023. More than one-third (36.7 million) were overnight trips, while the rest were same-day getaways.
The most common reasons for travel were vacations or leisure (47%), followed by visiting friends and family (35%).
Canadians spent $27.4 billion on domestic travel, with accommodations, transportation, and dining making up the biggest expenses.
Travel to the U.S.
Travel to the U.S. jumped 16.1%, with 8 million trips recorded between July and September 2024. More than half of these trips were for vacations, while others visited friends or made shopping trips.
Canadian travellers' spending in the U.S. reached $6.4 billion, up 5.7% from 2023. On average, they spent $804 per trip, with accommodations and dining being the biggest costs.
Boom in overseas travel
Canadians took 2.6 million trips overseas, a 31.8% increase from 2023. Italy, France, and the UK were the top destinations.
Spending on overseas travel hit $6.8 billion, a nearly 20% jump from the previous year. The average trip lasted over two weeks, with accommodations and dining making up most of the expenses.
Cruise travel made waves
Cruise vacations saw the biggest spike, with Canadians spending $203.6 million on cruises to the U.S. and other destinations—up 68.3% from last year and more than double the spending in 2019.
Early 2025 Sees Decrease in Canada-U.S. Travel
StatsCan reports that road trips to the U.S. saw its first decline since 2021.
In January 2025, the number of Canadian residents returning from trips to the U.S. by car declined by 0.9% compared with the same month one year earlier, the first decline since March 2021.
StatsCan continues to monitor for similar changes in screened passenger airline traffic between Canada and the U.S.
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