Canadian Gaming

Canadian Travel to U.S. Rebounds in September, But Remains Well Below 2024 Levels

Posted on: October 19, 2026, 01:23h.

Last updated on: October 19, 2026, 01:23h.

Written by

Mark Keast Mark is a long-time, seasoned journalist, as a writer and editor, working for several Toronto daily newspapers, then moving over to the digital arena, covering both sports and business. Over the past few years he moved over to the gaming arena, specifically covering the igaming industry in Canada for several platforms, as well as writing on sports betting.

Key Points

Canadian trips to the U.S. rose 6.8% in September but remained below 2024 levels
Automobile travel remained particularly weak, with Canadian return trips down 31.1% from September 2024
Canadians increasingly spent on domestic tourism and overseas destinations, while Las Vegas suffered declining visitation

Overall trips by Canadians to the United States are growing slowly in 2026, but still lag behind historical levels, according to new data released by Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada reports a slight increase in the number of Canadians who travelled to the U.S. in September (Image: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

Canadian-resident return trips by automobile and air in September were 6.8% higher than the previous year, at 1.9 million. That marked the sixth straight month of annual increases, Statistics Canada said.

Canadian Travel Shows Modest Recovery

However, while return trips from the U.S. by automobile in September rose 5.6% from September 2025, they were 31.1% lower than in September 2024.

And in September 2026, return trips from the U.S. by air increased 11.6% compared to the previous year but were 18.7% below their September 2024 levels. The figures suggest that Canadian travel to the U.S. has yet to recover from the sharp declines recorded amid political and trade tensions between the two countries.

American Visits to Canada Increase

U.S. residents made 1.8 million trips to Canada by automobile or air in September, up 17.2% year over year, marking an eighth consecutive month of increases. Statistics Canada attributed part of September’s sharp increase in American visitors to the timing of Labor Day, which fell one week later in 2026 than in 2025.

Spending on domestic leisure-related travel rose 8.1% in 2025, pushing domestic expenditures to $81.3 billion.

Leisure travel to destinations outside the U.S. drove $50 billion in tourism spending outside Canada in 2025, according to Statistics Canada.

Las Vegas Tourism Feels Impact

Christopher Whyte, a travel agent with Freestone Travel in Beamsville, Ontario, pointed to the ‘significant’ lag in air travel to specific U.S. hubs, like Las Vegas, compared to 2024 levels.

“Airline data and academic tracking (including University of Toronto cell-data studies) highlight that key U.S. metro destinations like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Orlando experienced steep double-digit drops in Canadian passenger volume through early 2026,” he said.

Canadian visits to Las Vegas fell 17.4% in 2025 from the previous year, to just under 1.2 million tourists, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).

Mark is a long-time, seasoned journalist, as a writer and editor, working for several Toronto daily newspapers, then moving over to the digital arena, covering both sports and business. Over the past few years he moved over to the gaming arena, specifically covering the igaming industry in Canada for several platforms, as well as writing on sports betting.