Most Americans who drove to Canada in April came for Good Friday on Easter weekend, according to
preliminary data from Statistics Canada
released on Monday. But overall, fewer Americans travelled to Canada by air and by automobile this April compared to last year.
Traffic data indicated that there was a daily average of 13,300 U.S.-resident arrivals by air on April 17 to April 18, which was Good Friday, this year. That was 27.6 per cent higher than the average for other Thursday-Friday periods of the month, according to Statistics Canada.
By vehicle, the highest number of American travellers coming to Canada was on April 18 — at 51,400 U.S. residents. That was an increase of 23.4 per cent compared to other Fridays in April.
Overall, the number of non-resident arrivals to Canada by air was in decline, at 632,600 travellers, down from 1.2 per cent year over year since 2019. Of those, U.S. residents made up 289,300 travellers — down by 5.5 per cent since last April.
By vehicle, there were 820,700 American travellers who came to Canada this April, a decline by 10.7 per cent from the same month last year. This was the third consecutive month of year-over-year declines for such travellers since 2019.
In total, there were 4.5 million travellers (Canadian residents and non-residents combined) who returned to Canada last month, down by 15.2 per cent compared to last April. It was the third consecutive month of such year-over-year declines.
Fewer Canadians on return trips from U.S. in April
There were also fewer Canadians returning home from the U.S. last month compared to April 2024 — likely due to fewer Canadians being in the U.S. in the first place. The decline is in line with the rising tension between the two countries. Canadians have been
avoiding travel to its northern neighbour
amid an ongoing trade war and heated rhetoric from U.S. President Donald Trump.
This trend has been supported by other data showing the
decrease in Canadian border crossings to the U.S. in February
, and data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection released in April indicating that
Canadians travelling to the U.S. hit its lowest rate since COVID
.
There were 582,700 Canadian residents who returned from the U.S. on a plane this April, down by 19.9 per cent from the same month last year. There was also a decrease in Canadian residents returning home from the U.S. by vehicle. In April 2025, there were 1.2 million such Canadians, a “steep decline” by 35.2 per cent from last year.
April marked the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines since 2019 for Canadians returning from the U.S. by vehicle, according to Statistics Canada.
Last month, most Canadians travelling by vehicle returned on Easter Monday, which was April 21. There were 72,900 Canadian residents who made the trip — 90.2 per cent higher than the average for other Mondays that month.
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