The report provides some of the clearest measures yet of the economic cost to the US tourism industry after trade tensions, tariffs and President Donald Trump's repeated "51st state" comments led many Canadians to vacation elsewhere.

"Following the change in the US administration in early 2025 and the implementation of America First policies, Canadian travel sentiment shifted abruptly," the report says, Axios reported.

Statistics Canada says Canadians' return trips from the US declined year over year for 11 consecutive months in 2025 — the longest sustained decline outside the pandemic since digital records began in 1972.

Canada has traditionally been the largest source of international visitors to the US.

Canadians spent C$3.3 billion ($2.3 billion) less on trips to the US in 2025, with lower leisure travel accounting for most of the decline, according to Statistics Canada.

Travel spending on visits to the US fell to C$18.8 billion, down from C$22.1 billion in 2024, per the report.

Spending on overseas leisure trips, meanwhile, rose C$3.6 billion to C$22.8 billion, accounting for just under half of Canadians' total spending on trips abroad, the report says.

Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Canadians largely redirected their travel rather than staying home, replacing many US trips with domestic vacations or overseas travel, the report says.

The 7.1 million fewer trips to the US in 2025 were offset by 5 million more domestic trips and 1.3 million additional overseas trips.

Statistics Canada data from April through June suggest the decline in Canadian travel to the US may be easing after the sharp drop in 2025. The increase has been driven by automobile travel, while travel by air continues to lag.

Canada is only one piece of the US tourism market. Upcoming US visitor data should help show whether increased arrivals from elsewhere — including visitors drawn by the World Cup — offset some of the decline in Canadian visitors.