TORONTO — Some 70% of Canadian snowbirds say they will keep their U.S. winter travel plans, according to a new survey from Snowbird Advisor.

The survey polled 4,000 Canadian long-stay winter travellers, AKA snowbirds, in late October 2025.

Seven in 10 (70%) of respondents said they intend to spend this winter in the U.S., vs. 82% of respondents who spent last winter in the U.S.

This 12% difference in year-over-year snowbird travel to the U.S. indicates a much smaller decline than other travel segments to the U.S. have reported – and a smaller decline in snowbird travel than some other surveys reported by the media have shown, says Snowbird Advisor.

“We believe the discrepancy in survey results is due to the fact that our survey focused exclusively on snowbirds who travel each winter to their snowbird destinations, while some other surveys included general travel intentions for all travellers, or Baby Boomers who are not necessarily snowbirds”, said Stephen Fine, President, Snowbird Advisor – an online resource for Canadian snowbirds.

Fine added: “We also learned that over 50% of respondents who spent last winter in the U.S. and are not returning to the U.S. this winter said that they would consider returning to the U.S. in the future.”

In addition, the survey also revealed that 23% of respondents intend to spend this winter in international destinations vs. 12% of respondents who spent last winter in international destinations, indicating that year-over-year snowbird travel to international destinations will almost double from last year.

“Clearly, the majority of Canadian snowbirds will still be going to the U.S. this winter,” said Fine. “But it does show significant growth in the number of snowbirds travelling to international destinations such as Mexico, Costa Rica, Portugal, Spain, the Caribbean and others.”

The survey also showed that 62% of respondents said they intend to spend between 3 – 6 months in their winter destinations this year vs. 64% last year, which is virtually unchanged, indicating snowbirds do not intend to shorten the amount of time they spend away this year.