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1. Recent Travel Planning Patterns: Within the past six months, 18% of Canadian travelers surveyed indicated that they have canceled a previously planned visit. Looking ahead, nearly one in five Canadian travelers (17%) indicated they intended to travel to the U.S. in the next 12 months, but recently canceled their plans, significantly less than April 2025 (36%). While the decline in cancellations is encouraging, it is likely more reflective of a smaller volume of pre-booked trips to the U.S. among Canadians to cancel than existed during the previous survey in April.
2. Policy-Driven Avoidance: A majority of Canadian travelers surveyed (63%) say U.S. policies make them less likely to visit. Leading deterrents include concerns about tariffs and economic policies (80%), as well as political statements by U.S. leaders (71%) that contribute to a less welcoming environment and greater uncertainty around cross-border travel.
3. Domestic Substitution Pattern: When changing U.S. plans, Canadians are choosing domestic alternatives (42%) over international alternatives to the U.S. (30%). We saw a similar pattern in the Spring survey.
4. Alternative Destination Preferences: Europe was the most frequently mentioned alternative, followed by Mexico and the Caribbean. Once again, consistent with what we saw in the Spring.
5. Escalating Political Influence: The impact of political factors on travel decisions increased from April to July. Political statements by U.S. leaders became more influential (+7.4 points), as did overall political discontent within the U.S. (+4.0 points), and sovereignty rhetoric by U.S. leaders (+4.5 points), showing that high-profile political dynamics are increasingly discouraging Canadian visits. But note that 45% say it is the exchange rate between the U.S. and Canadian dollars that are a cause of the travel plans (similar to April)… so a big part of this is also likely economics, and not just policy-driven! (Slide 8)
6. Perception Gap: While 84% of Canadians acknowledge the U.S. offers abundant attractions, only 36% perceive it as welcoming to travelers of diverse backgrounds and 43% feel welcomed as Canadians, revealing a substantial gap remains between destination appeal and hospitality perceptions that emerged in the Spring survey.