Canadian travel to the United States and international visitor arrivals to Canada both increased in May, extending a recent rebound in cross-border travel, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The agency reported Canadian residents made 3.7 million return trips from abroad during the month, up 7.8 per cent from May 2025, while travel to Canada by U.S. residents rose 13.0 per cent and arrivals from overseas countries increased 6.2 per cent.
The figures suggest continued growth in cross-border travel after a prolonged period of declines in Canadian trips to the United States, although Statistics Canada noted that comparisons were influenced by a weak base in May 2025.
Canadian residents returned from 2.6 million trips to the United States in May, marking a 9.9 per cent increase from the same month a year earlier. It was the second consecutive month of year-over-year growth following 15 straight months of declines.
Statistics Canada said the increase was partly the result of a base-year effect, as Canadian travel to the United States had fallen sharply in May 2025.
Automobile travel accounted for most of the increase. Canadians made 1.8 million return trips by car, up 17.7 per cent from a year earlier, with same-day travel representing 65.5 per cent of those trips.
Return trips by air declined 3.2 per cent year over year to 703,700, while Canadians returning by cruise ship increased 10.6 per cent to 37,200.
Travel from destinations outside the United States also continued to grow. Canadian residents made 1.2 million return trips from overseas countries in May, an increase of 3.3 per cent compared with the same month in 2025.
Travel into Canada also strengthened during the month.
Statistics Canada said U.S. residents made 2.2 million trips to Canada in May, up 13.0 per cent from a year earlier and marking the fourth consecutive month of annual increases.
Automobile arrivals reached 1.3 million, a 13.6 per cent increase, with just over half of those trips classified as same-day visits.
Air arrivals from the United States rose 6.0 per cent to 510,000, while the number of U.S. cruise passengers disembarking in Canada climbed 24.5 per cent to 244,900.
Canada also welcomed 665,300 visitors from overseas countries in May, an increase of 6.2 per cent from the same month last year.
Most overseas visitors — 80.2 per cent — arrived by air.
Statistics Canada said the annual increase was driven primarily by higher numbers of visitors from Europe and the Americas, excluding the United States. Arrivals from Europe increased by 31,000, or 12.3 per cent, while visitors from the rest of the Americas rose by 10,300, or 12.1 per cent.
Those gains more than offset a decline of 9,800 visitors, or 4.5 per cent, from Asia.
The United Kingdom, India and France were the three largest overseas source countries in May, accounting for 30.2 per cent of all overseas arrivals.
Seasonally adjusted data also pointed to continued monthly growth in travel activity.
Canadian residents made 1.0 per cent more return trips from abroad in May than in April. While return travel from overseas countries declined 1.9 per cent during the month, that decrease was offset by a 2.5 per cent increase in return trips from the United States.
Arrivals by U.S. residents increased 6.9 per cent on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, led by gains in automobile travel and other transportation modes, including cruise ships, ferries and trains.
Overseas arrivals rose 4.3 per cent from April, with Europe accounting for much of the monthly increase. Statistics Canada said higher numbers of visitors from the United Kingdom, Germany and Israel offset lower volumes from India.
The agency said seasonally adjusted figures for February through April 2026 were revised, while unadjusted data remained unchanged.
Statistics Canada also noted that travel data for 2025 and 2026 are not directly comparable with earlier years because of the integration of information from the Canada Border Services Agency's Integrated Primary Inspection Line–Air system into the Frontier Counts program beginning in 2025.
The agency said its next monthly report on travel between Canada and other countries, covering June, is scheduled for release on Aug. 20.