The number of return trips Canadians took to the United States was down again in September to 2.3 million, declining by 30.9 per cent compared to last year, according to monthly travel data from Statistics Canada, as residents continue to shun

travelling

to the U.S.

Return trips from the U.S. by automobile by Canadian residents were down 33.8 per cent to 1.6 million trips compared with September 2024. By air, return trips decreased 19.3 per cent to 567,100.

Trips to the U.S. accounted for 69.3 per cent of all trips abroad taken by Canadian residents in that month.

Overall, Canadians returned from 3.3 million trips abroad in September, a 22.7 per cent decline from the same month last year. Return trips by air from overseas countries by Canadians increased 6.1 per cent to 997,400. The number of Canadian return trips from overseas increased 5.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, U.S. residents took 2.1 million trips to Canada in September, down 2.6 per cent, ending a three-month summer streak that started in June where more U.S. residents travelled to Canada than Canadian residents travelled to the United States.

Overseas residents took 7.4 per cent more trips to Canada that month compared to 2024.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the overall number of arrivals by U.S. residents into Canada was up 3.5 per cent, mainly due to increases in arrivals by automobile and by air.

The number of return trips from abroad by Canadians when seasonally adjusted increased 1.8 per cent in September, driven by an increase in Canadian return trips from the United States by automobile and from overseas by air.

Desjardins Group economist Kari Norman wrote in a note that the last time

more U.S. residents travelled to Canada

than Canadians ventured south of the border, outside of the pandemic, was June 2006.

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“The sharp drop in trips by Canadian residents to the U.S. — particularly by car — possibly suggests shifting travel and “

Buy Canadian

” preferences,” Norman said.

She said some of the remaining day trips may represent Canadians living in border towns who work in the U.S. Air travel, by contrast, has held up better, suggesting that business or essential trips may have been less affected than leisure travel, she added.

“With 7.6 million fewer trips from Canadians to the U.S. so far this year, it seems more Canadians are spending their vacation time overseas — up 846,000 as compared to the same period a year ago — or vacationing and shopping at home,” Norman said.

• Email: dpaglinawan@postmedia.com