Return trips from U.S. by Canadian residents still down from year ago

Canadian and U.S. flags fly atop the Peace Arch monument at the Douglas-Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, B.C., Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the number of return trips from the U.S. by Canadian residents in September was down 30.9 per cent compared with a year ago, while trips to Canada by U.S. residents fell 2.6 per cent.

The agency said September broke a three-month summer streak that saw more Americans travel to Canada than Canadians headed to the U.S.

Overall, Canadian residents returned from 3.3 million trips abroad in September, down 22.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, while return trips from the U.S. by automobile fell 33.8 per cent to 1.6 million.

The number of Canadian-resident return trips by air from the United States in September totalled 567,100, down 19.3 per cent compared with a year earlier, while Canadian return trips by air from overseas countries increased 6.1 per cent to 997,400.

U.S.-resident trips to Canada in September totalled 2.1 million, including 1.2 million by automobile. The number of trips to Canada by overseas residents in September rose 7.4 per cent to 734,200 as arrivals from Europe gained 5.8 per cent and those coming from Asia climbed 14.6 per cent.

The results for September come after preliminary figures for October released last week showed the number of Canadian residents who returned by automobile from the U.S. fell to 1.4 million for that month, a 30.5 per cent drop from the same period in 2024, while the number of Canadians returning home from south of the border by air sank to 437,300, down 24 per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2025.