March Travel Stats: Canadians Still Travelling, But Not to the US

Americans are not avoiding Canada at the same rate we are avoiding their country, but transborder traffic in both directions is faltering. Canadians are instead choosing to go to other countries; that’s the news from Statistics Canada regarding cross border traffic in March.

Data released April 10, 2025 show that the patterns that have become evident since the start of the year are continuing. 

Visits to Canada

U.S. travellers arriving in Canada by air increased modestly (287,000 visitors, or 1.2 percent) when compared with March 2024. Travellers from other parts of the world failed to arrive in the same numbers as they did last year though, falling 15.8 percent, (285,900 people.)

A steeper decline was recorded for land crossings. The number of U.S.-resident trips to Canada by automobile was 770,400, a decline of 10.6 percent from the same month in 2024. 

Canadian Visits to the U.S.

When it comes to Canadians travelling, the numbers tell the story pretty clearly. In March, the number of Canadian-resident return trips by automobile from the United States totalled 1.5 million, a steep 31.9 percent decline compared with March 2024. This month marked the third consecutive month of year-over-year decline. 

Air travel showed a similar, but less drastic decline: return trips that Canadian residents made by air from the United States were 13.5 percent lower than the same month in 2024.

Canadian Visits to the Rest of the World

While Canadians are avoiding the U.S. in ever-increasing numbers, they aren’t avoiding international travel. There was an overall increase in the number of Canadian residents returning home: 2.2 million, or 0.5 percent more than in March 2024. The growth is attributable to travellers returning to Canada from countries that are not the U.S., which were up 9.1 percent year over year.

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