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Did Canadians Cancel U.S. Trips in Protest? What the Travel Data Show

Some Canadians canceled U.S. bookings, but official data count trips rather than cancellations. Here is what the 2025 travel decline and the U.S. Travel Association’s scenario actually show.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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Some Canadians canceled booked U.S. trips in early 2025, but there is no national count showing that thousands canceled specifically in protest. Later official data do show a sharp fall in Canadian trips to the United States: Statistics Canada counted 23.1 million Canadian-resident trips including a U.S. visit in 2025, down 23.5% from 2024. That decline is not the same as a tally of canceled reservations, and it does not by itself establish why travelers changed plans.

Did Canadians cancel trips to the U.S. in protest?

Some did, according to Associated Press reporting from February 2025, which described individual travelers who canceled booked U.S. trips and included accounts from a travel consultant. Those examples establish that cancellations occurred; they do not establish a nationally representative count or show that protest was the only reason for cancellations.

Statistics Canada’s official travel releases count trips, returns and expenditures—not canceled reservations or travelers’ motives. Its annual review recorded 23.1 million Canadian-resident trips that included a visit to the United States in 2025, 23.5% fewer than in 2024 and 26.7% fewer than in 2019. The figure counts trips, not unique people or canceled bookings. No national published count of Canadian reservations canceled specifically as a protest is established by the cited sources.

Early cross-border data captured the downturn as it unfolded. Statistics Canada reported that Canadian return trips by automobile from the United States were down 38.1% year over year in May 2025, following a 35.2% decline in April. In May, same-day automobile returns fell 40.3% and overnight returns fell 34.3%. These are historical monthly comparisons, not current rates or cancellation totals; at the time, the agency said it was unclear whether the change would prove temporary or more permanent.

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What did the U.S. Travel Association actually warn?

In a February 2025 statement, the U.S. Travel Association described Canada as the leading source of international visitors to the United States and set out a conditional scenario. Its 2024 baseline and modeled impact were:

Measure 2024 baseline reported by the association Association’s scenario for a 10% reduction in Canadian travel
Visits 20.4 million 2.0 million fewer visits
Spending $20.5 billion $2.1 billion in lost spending
American jobs 140,000 supported jobs 14,000 job losses

The 10% reduction was a modeled condition, not a recorded decline, a cancellation tally or a forecast that the reduction would necessarily happen. The $2.1 billion and 14,000-job figures therefore describe the association’s scenario, not losses shown to have occurred. The association also identified Florida, California, Nevada, New York and Texas as the five most visited U.S. states by Canadians, and said retail and hospitality could be affected; it did not provide an independently measured state-by-state loss estimate.

What do the later numbers say about travel and spending?

Statistics Canada’s 2025 annual figures show that travel to the United States fell while visits to domestic and overseas destinations rose. These measures describe completed travel and spending, not why people made their choices.

Canadian-resident travel measure 2025 result Change from 2024
Trips including a U.S. visit 23.1 million Down 23.5%
Spending on U.S. visits $18.8 billion Down 15.1%
Domestic visits 342.0 million Up 1.5%
Domestic tourism spending $81.3 billion not stated (Statistics Canada’s 2025 annual review)
Overseas visits 14.3 million Up 10.2%
Spending on overseas visits $31.3 billion Up 17.5%

Statistics Canada also reported that 2025 spending on U.S. visits was 2.0% above 2019, even as the number of such trips was 26.7% below 2019. Comparing trips with spending helps show why one measure cannot stand in for the other: fewer trips do not imply an equal percentage fall in spending.

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The increases in domestic and overseas travel are consistent with some travel being redirected as well as reduced. Annual totals do not prove that a particular traveler who skipped the United States chose Canada or another country instead.

Are Canadians choosing trips within Canada instead?

A Longwoods International survey update published in February 2026 provides evidence about stated attitudes and intended choices, not completed travel. The survey was fielded January 8–10, 2026, among a national sample of 1,000 Canadian adults drawn from a consumer panel and described as representative of Canadian demographics for age, gender and province.

  • 59% said U.S. government policies, trade practices and political statements made them less likely to travel to the United States in the next 12 months.
  • Among respondents whose travel was influenced by U.S. policies, 45% said they would replace U.S. travel with domestic Canadian trips, 24% said they would choose other international destinations, and 11% said they would cancel trips.

These percentages are survey responses about reported influence and future intentions. They are not a count of trips completed, bookings canceled or people who actually switched destinations. Amir Eylon, Longwoods International’s president and CEO, said, “Political disputes between the U.S. and Canada continue to be a headwind for Canadian visitation to the U.S.”

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How should newer cross-border figures be read?

Travel direction matters. Statistics Canada reported that U.S. residents made 3.6 million trips to Canada in the first quarter of 2026, up 3.4% year over year, and spent $3.0 billion, up 16.5%. Those figures measure inbound U.S. travel to Canada, not Canadian travel to the United States, so they cannot be used as a recovery measure for Canadian outbound trips.

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Likewise, an annual total, a single month’s automobile returns, and a survey about the next 12 months answer different questions. For an economic-impact claim, identify whether the figure concerns completed trips, expenditures, a modeled scenario or stated intent—and keep the geography and period attached to it.

Sources and what each establishes

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