Travel to the U.S. takes another hit in April as Canadians vacation elsewhere

Travel to the United States took another hit in April with booking agents saying an "elbows up" attitude over the trade war has Canadians pulling back. 

Canadian residents returning by automobile from the U.S. in April fell on a year-over-year basis for the fourth consecutive month, preliminary numbers released by Statistics Canada showed Monday. The 1.2 million trips represented a 35.2 per cent drop from the same month in 2024 and 45.1 per cent lower than April 2019, before the pandemic.

In a backlash against U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and "51st-state" threats over the past few months, Canadians have cancelled trips and appear to be stepping back from making future travel plans south of the border. 

This trend in leisure travel is likely to persist, and even ramp up, over the coming months, says Richard Vanderlubbe, president of the travel agency tripcentral.ca. 

"Outright cancellations? We didn't have a lot," said Vanderlubbe of the early months of trade tensions. That's because people would have lost money on their advanced bookings — mostly on non-refundable reservations and deposits made before the tariff threats began — if they decided against the trip. 

"But when it comes to new bookings and new decisions, whether to travel to the U.S., I think that's going to get worse than the numbers that we're observing," he said.

The decline is likely to come from people deciding among their social networks to boycott the U.S. as they map out their future vacation plans, Vanderlubbe anticipated. 

Canadian residents returning by air from the United States in April totalled 582,700, down 19.9 per cent from a year ago, even as return trips from overseas went up.

The change came as overall Canadian-resident return trips by air edged down 1.7 per cent to 1.8 million as return trips from overseas countries rose 9.9 per cent compared with April 2024.

Overall international arrivals, including both Canadian residents and non-residents, by air and automobile totalled 4.5 million in April, down 15.2 per cent from the same month last year, Statistics Canada said. 

Flight Central is seeing similar drops in bookings to the U.S. among its clients.

Bookings to the U.S. in April declined 53 per cent at the travel agency, said Amra Durakovich, spokeswoman for Flight Central Travel Group Canada. 

But she said she doesn't think the decline signals a permanent pullback.

"It's more a recalibration," Durakovich said. "The fact is that once there's uncertainty, that definitely impacts travel demand."

Durakovich said Canadians are looking to Europe, Asia and South America. She said there are a higher number of bookings to Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Colombia. 

Canadian airlines are also watching the travel trends closely. 

In March, Air Canada reduced flights by 10 per cent to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona — usually go-to hot spots during spring break season. Competitors WestJet, Flair Airlines and Air Transat made similar moves.

Last week, Air Canada also announced a 16 per cent capacity increase into Latin America starting in October.

"What we're seeing is Canadians — they're really travelling with more intention," Durakovich said. "If they're going to go to the U.S., they're simply going to go, but those who don't want to go, they're just not going."

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck