Desjardins Finds Canadians Avoiding U.s. Travel Fell 25 Per Cent
Canadians avoiding u.s. travel helped push cross-border trips down 25 per cent in 2025, according to a new Desjardins Group study. The decline amounted to 10 million fewer trips to the United States, while more money stayed in Canada and went into domestic tourism.
Kari Norman, a Desjardins senior economist, said, "In 2025, tourism trends were defined less by where Canadians chose to go than by where they chose not to go". She added that "much of the spending diverted from cross-border travel stayed in Canada" and supported domestic operators.
Desjardins Group study
The study said political tensions between the United States and Canada persuaded many Canadians to spend at home. That shift showed up first in the travel totals: Canadians cut U.S. travel by a quarter, and the lost volume translated into 10 million fewer border crossings in 2025.
Norman's comment points to the part of the shift that matters most for tourism businesses inside Canada. The question was not only whether Canadians stayed away from the United States, but whether the money followed them home.
Canadian domestic tourism spending
In the first three quarters of 2025, spending on domestic tourism rose 10 per cent. Canadians also made almost 6 million more day trips within Canada and 2.6 million more overnight stays during the same period.
The study said Canadians stayed longer and spent more on domestic trips than they did a year earlier. For domestic operators, that means the gain was not limited to a higher number of visits; it also showed up in longer stays and higher spending per trip.
Spending stayed in Canada
Norman called the pattern encouraging for domestic operators because much of the spending that would have gone to cross-border travel stayed in Canada. The practical result is a reallocation of travel dollars toward hotels, attractions and other businesses serving trips inside the country.
For Canadians planning where to travel next, the numbers show that home-country trips carried more weight in 2025 than they did a year earlier. The study's message is simple: the clearest change was not just fewer trips to the United States, but a larger domestic market absorbing the spending instead.
