OTTAWA — Outbound travel from Canada to the U.S. continues its downward slide, as always fuelled by big drops in the drive market.

The latest numbers from Statistics Canada show the number of Canadian-resident return trips by car from the U.S. in January 2026 totalled 1.1 million, down 27% YOY and continuing a long month-by-month decline that began early in 2025, when the U.S. administration’s ’51st state’ rhetoric ramped up.

The dip in the drive market is still firmly in the double-digits, however the 27% is a slight improvement compared to higher drops in April 2025 (-35%), May 2025 (-38%) and September 2025 (-35%).

The number of returning Canadian-resident trips by air from the U.S. declined 18% to 493,400.

Overall, Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. by air and car was 1.6 million in January 2026, down 24% YOY.

Meanwhile outbound travel from Canada to non-U.S. countries continues to chart double-digit increases. The number of returning Canadian-resident trips from overseas countries by air increased 11% to 1.4 million in January 2026

For inbound U.S. travel into Canada, in January 2026 the number of arrivals to Canada by U.S. residents by air was up 2.5%, while arrivals by car decreased 1.5%.