Canadian trips from U.S. rise 3% in October, StatCan says

Canadian-resident return trips from the United States rose 3.0 per cent in October from a year earlier to 1,880,915, Statistics Canada said Thursday, the seventh straight month of year-over-year growth, though the total is still well below October 2024.

The agency’s preliminary leading indicator, released Nov. 12, also showed that U.S. residents made 1,537,039 trips to Canada by air and automobile, up 8.1 per cent from October 2025 and the ninth consecutive monthly increase.

Canada News Media’s calculation from those figures shows Canadians still made about 344,000 more return trips from the U.S. than Americans made trips to Canada in October, a ratio of roughly 1.22 to one. Working back from the published growth rates, the gap was about 404,000 a year earlier, so it has narrowed by roughly 60,000 trips, or about 15 per cent, because U.S. arrivals are growing faster than Canadian returns.

Statistics Canada said return trips from the U.S. by automobile rose 2.2 per cent and by air rose 5.6 per cent compared with October 2025. Both remain far below October 2024, down 29.0 per cent by automobile and 19.6 per cent by air.

Return trips by Canadian residents from overseas countries by air totalled 968,528, up 0.5 per cent. Combined, Canadian-resident return trips from abroad reached 2.8 million, up 2.2 per cent.

U.S. residents made 1.1 million automobile trips to Canada, up 8.7 per cent, and 414,400 trips by air, up 6.5 per cent. Overseas residents made 465,296 trips to Canada, up 5.0 per cent, with 417,000 arriving by air and 48,300 by automobile.

All told, international arrivals to Canada by air and automobile totalled 4.9 million in October, up 4.2 per cent from the same month last year, the agency said.

The busiest day for Canadians returning from abroad was Thanksgiving Monday, Oct. 12, with 172,900 return trips, while the quietest was Wednesday, Oct. 28, with 66,700. For U.S. residents, the busiest arrival day was Friday, Oct. 9, with 102,100, ahead of the Columbus Day long weekend, and the lowest was Tuesday, Oct. 27, with 24,800.

The figures are preliminary. Statistics Canada said complete counts will be published in its Travel between Canada and other countries release on Dec. 21. The agency also said it can now include travellers processed through the CBSA’s NEXUS Highway system, which improves coverage at the Stanstead and St-Armand/Philipsburg crossings in Quebec.

The numbers follow a 6.8 per cent rise in September and our earlier report that Canadian trips to the U.S. sit far below 2024 levels. Border services also changed hours at 26 western crossings, as we reported in CBSA changes hours at 26 western border crossings Nov. 1. Travellers heading south can also read our guide on whether U.S. border officers can search your phone.

Source: Statistics Canada, The Daily, Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, October 2026, released Nov. 12, 2026 (Table 24-10-0056-01).

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