Statistics Canada reports that in May, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from the United States increased 9.9% year over year, while trips to Canada by US residents jumped by 13.0%.
And the number of Canadian-resident return trips from overseas rose 3.3% in May compared with the same month a year earlier, while trips to Canada by overseas residents increased 6.2%.
Using seasonally adjusted data, the number of Canadian-resident return trips from abroad (from the United States and overseas countries) was up 1.0% in May, compared with April. The number of US-resident arrivals (+6.9%) and overseas-resident arrivals (+4.3%) also increased in May.
Statistics Canada reports that Canadian-resident return trips from abroad rose 7.8% to 3.7 million in May, marking the second straight month of year-over-year increases.
In May, Canadian residents returned from 2.6 million trips to the United States, representing a 9.9% year-over-year increase and the second consecutive month of growth following 15 consecutive months of year-over-year decreases. Nonetheless, the growth in May was boosted by a base-year effect, as the month showed a steep decline of 24.6% compared with May 2024.
Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by automobile rose 17.7% compared with the same month a year earlier to 1.8 million in May 2026, with 65.5% of these being same-day trips. Return trips by air decreased 3.2% year over year to 703,700, while return trips by cruise ship increased 10.6% to 37,200.
In all, Canadian residents made 1.2 million return trips from overseas countries in May, up 3.3% year over year.
Also in May, US-resident trips to Canada totalled 2.2 million, rising 13.0% from the same month in 2025 and marking the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year increase.
Arrivals by automobile (1.3 million) were up 13.6% year over year in May, with 52.6% of these arrivals being same-day trips, while arrivals by air increased 6.0% to 510,000. The number of US residents who disembarked in Canada from cruise ships rose 24.5% year over year to 244,900.
In May, 665,300 overseas residents arrived in Canada, up 6.2% from the same month one year earlier. The majority (80.2%) of these arrivals were by air.
By volume, arrivals from Europe (+31,000; +12.3%) and the Americas (excluding the United States) (+10,300; +12.1%) drove the year-over-year increase in overseas-resident arrivals in May, offsetting a decrease in arrivals from Asia (-9,800; -4.5%).
In May, the top three countries of residence for overseas visitors were the United Kingdom, India and France, which together accounted for 30.2% of all overseas arrivals in Canada.
