StatsCan March figures show cross-border travel continues to decline

Statistics Canada is reporting that in March 2025, 719,500 Canadian residents flew back from the United States, representing a 13.5% decline from the same month in 2024.

March 2025 also saw a 31.9% (to 1.5 million) decline of Canadian residents making return trips by automobile from the United States. This was the third consecutive month of year-over-year decline.

However, the number of arrivals to Canada by US residents by air in March 2025 increased 1.2% compared to the same month in 2024, while arrivals by automobile decreased 10.6%. (https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/topics-start/canada-united-states)

Statistics Canada also reported that in March 2025, the preliminary number of international arrivals (returning Canadian residents and non-residents combined) to Canada by air and automobile was 4.9 million, down 14.0% from March 2024. This was the second consecutive month of year-over-year decline and the second decline observed since March 2021.

In March 2025, non-resident arrivals to Canada by air totalled 532,900, down 7.4% year over year. There were fewer arrivals by residents of countries other than the United States (245,900; -15.8%) from the same month in 2024, while arrivals by residents of the United States posted a modest gain (287,000; +1.2%).

Also in March, Canadian-resident return trips by air from both the United States and countries other than the United States stood at 2.2 million, a slight increase of 0.5% from the same month one year earlier which was driven by an increase (+9.1%) in return trips from countries other than the United States.