Those little upticks in cross border travel keep coming, with Statistics Canada data showing the second month in a row of Canada-to-U.S. increases for both car travel and air travel.

The numbers are still a long, long way off 2024 stats – but the small jumps year over year in 2026 vs. 2025 suggest ‘quiet tourism’ from Canada to the U.S. is gaining ground, even with the trade war.

Some U.S. destinations are faring better than others amid ‘Elbows Up.’ According to a new report from the CBC, Canadian visits to Las Vegas dropped 17.4% in 2025 and the decline has become an election issue stateside and a key indicator of the decrease in cross border leisure and discretionary travel for Canadian carriers. 

To all U.S. destinations, StatCan’s latest numbers show that Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S., by car and by air, totalled 1.9 million in September 2026, up 6.8% year over year. It was the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year growth and follows an 8.8% increase in August 2026.

Canadians’ return trips from the U.S. by car in September 2026 vs. September 2025 were up 5.6% (but still 31% lower than in September 2024).

Most importantly for travel advisors and the retail travel trade, Canadians’ return trips from the U.S. by air in September 2026 vs. September 2025 were also up, by 11.6% (and down 18.7% compared to 2024). 

Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1 million in September 2026, a 3.2% increase from the same month one year earlier.