Canadians turn their backs on U.S. travel, as return trips plunge: StatCan

A Canada Border Services officer is handed passports from a visitor entering Canada from Vermont at the Highway 55 Port of Entry in Stanstead, Que., Thursday, March 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

OTTAWA — Canadian visits to the United States plummeted last month amid anger over tariffs and annexation threats from its president, on top of growing fears about treatment at the border.

In March, the number of Canadians returning home by car from the U.S. fell nearly 32 per cent compared to March 2024, the third consecutive month of year-over-year declines and the steepest plunge since the pandemic, according to Statistics Canada.

Return trips by air from the U.S. fell 13.5 per cent year-over-year.

Backlash to tariffs both threatened and real by Donald Trump have prompted many Canadians to turn their backs on stateside excursions, as have belittling -- or menacing -- comments from the American president about Canada as a potential “51st state.”

“There’s a lot of resentment, a lot of anger,” said Martin Firestone, president of Toronto-based insurance firm Travel Secure Inc., in a recent interview.

Flight Centre Travel Group Canada spokeswoman Amra Durakovic has said of the drop-off in visits: “It definitely reflects the time right now, and the sentiment of Canadians.”

Reports of foreigners being sent to detention or processing centres for more than seven days, including Canadian Jasmine Mooney as well as a pair of German tourists and a backpacker from Wales, have sent shivers north of the border, chilling some Canadians’ urge to head down south.

“Even snowbird travellers are going to be treated like aliens,” said Firestone, referring to stricter registration rules for Canadians who stay in the U.S. for more than 30 days. Those new rules take effect Friday.

‘Business as usual’

Last week, Canada updated its advisory to warn residents travelling to the U.S. they may face scrutiny from border guards and the possibility of detention if denied entry.

But Mike Niezgoda, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in New York state, said there is no cause for alarm.

“It’s business as usual here,” he said in an interview Thursday. “There’s no difference ... As long as you’ve got your documents, you’re fine.”

Niezgoda said Canada’s currency may help explain the thinner cross-border traffic.

“My friends in Fort Erie, they’re going, ‘I literally can’t go to the mall because our dollar is just not that valuable at this point,‘” he said.

The loonie has hovered around 70 cents US for the past few months. But it was in similar territory in December -- before the tariff rhetoric ratcheted up -- and Canadians took seven per cent more car trips year-over-year to the U.S. that month, StatCan data suggests.

Americans may not be motivated by the greater mileage their greenbacks get them up north. The number of car trips to Canada by U.S. residents in March fell nearly 11 per cent from a year earlier, the second straight month of year-over-year declines.

Meanwhile, Canadians are warming to regions beyond America.

Return trips from countries other than the U.S. increased about nine per cent year-over-year last month.

By Christopher Reynolds and Jordan Omstead

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2025.