Spring break shakeup? Canadians taking fewer trips to the U.S., StatsCan says

Jenna Benchetrit · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 10, 2025 6:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

Colin Bykowski usually crosses the Canada-U.S. borderline doubly a period to bargain groceries from Trader Joe's and toys for his lad astatine Target. The past clip helium made the travel was a period ago — and helium doesn't cognize erstwhile the adjacent clip volition be.

"It's funny.... This week we were readying connected going, but we decided to marque a antithetic decision," said Bykowski, who was buying in Tsawwassen, B.C., conscionable northbound of the border shared with Point Roberts, Wash.

"With what's going on, we're being a small spot much conscious with our buying decisions, and we'll spot going forward."

Bykowski isn't the lone Canadian national cutting backmost connected visits to the United States. Data released by Statistics Canada connected Monday shows that the fig of instrumentality trips among Canadians travelling by car to the U.S. declined importantly successful February, down 23 per cent compared with a twelvemonth earlier.

Return trips made by aerial besides dropped a smidge, declining 2.4 per cent connected a yearly basis.

The figures travel aft weeks of stories from Canadians who opted to alteration oregon cancel a travel to the U.S. connected relationship of President Donald Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs against Canada: March break trips to Myrtle Beach, S.C., were rerouted to Mexico, snowbirds reconsidered their yearly vacations to Florida and day trips to Las Vegas were scrapped.

Travellers 'explicitly' asking not to spell to U.S., says agent

One Canadian question bureau even reported that leisure bookings to the U.S. (meaning question for pleasure, not business) took a swan dive successful February, plummeting 40 per cent compared with the aforesaid period past year.

The agency, Flight Centre Travel Group, noted that Canadians had not stopped travelling wholly but alternatively were looking to question to locations extracurricular the U.S.

McKenzie McMillan, a question advisor astatine the Travel Group successful Vancouver, told CBC News that caller bookings oregon requests for question to the U.S. person astir wholly evaporated this period compared with the aforesaid play a twelvemonth ago. 

• Are you reasoning of travelling wrong Canada present successful airy of the commercialized warfare with the U.S.? We privation to perceive astir your plans at [email protected]

He estimates, conservatively, that there's been an 80 per cent diminution successful request wrong his ain bureau during a clip erstwhile radical are usually booking last-minute trips for outpouring interruption oregon readying up connected summertime vacations.

"We're not seeing immoderate of that close now. In fact, the bulk of our question that we're seeing present are requests coming successful [from] clients that person explicitly said they bash not privation to spell to the United States," McMillan said.

Some clients are looking to question domestically instead, helium said, with eastbound Canadians looking to caput west, and occidental Canadians booking trips east. And immoderate are inactive going distant with trips down south, helium said.

"But aboriginal question is wherever we're seeing [what] seems to beryllium a large semipermanent simplification successful interest."

Emotional, economical reasons are 'a cleanable storm'

A stronger U.S. dollar has ever enactment antagonistic pressure on Canadians' quality oregon tendency to question to the U.S., said David Coletto, an Ottawa-based nationalist sentiment expert and the seat and CEO of Abacus Data.

That, combined with the tariff threats and commercialized war, person created "a cleanable storm, where you some person an economical and an affectional crushed to alteration your plans," helium said.

WATCH | How 1 U.S.-Canada borderline town got caught successful the commercialized war:

Research precocious conducted by Abacus found that 56 per cent of surveyed Canadians who initially planned to question to the U.S. this twelvemonth had since scaled backmost oregon cancelled those plans, mostly successful effect to governmental tensions. Thirty-nine per cent of those planned to question to a antithetic country, and 19 per cent were readying trips wrong Canada.

As for what the lack of millions of Canadians could mean for the U.S. economy, some small businesses successful borderline towns are already seeing a driblet successful bluish visitors. The U.S. Travel Association said that a 10 per cent simplification in those visits could mean a $2.1-billion deed to the American economy and thousands of occupation losses.

"If determination is an effect, that's wherever Trump's going to consciousness it. He's going to person governors and congresspeople and senators calling them and saying, 'Hey, you know, this argumentation is hurting our ain communities,'" Coletto said.

"And possibly that creates capable unit for him to reconsider."