Canadian return trips from the U.S. rise 6.8 per cent in September but car travel stays 31 per cent below 2024 as Las Vegas feels the pullback

OTTAWA — Canadians made more trips home from the United States in September than a year earlier, but cross-border travel remains far below where it was two years ago, according to Statistics Canada’s leading indicator of international arrivals released Tuesday. Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. by car and plane totalled about 1.9 million, up 6.8 per cent from September 2025 and the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year growth.

The longer view is less rosy for U.S. tourism. Return trips by automobile rose 5.6 per cent from September 2025 but were 31.1 per cent lower than in September 2024, the agency said. Return trips by air climbed 11.6 per cent year over year yet remained 18.7 per cent below September 2024. Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air rose 3.2 per cent to about 1.0 million, bringing all Canadian-resident return trips to 2.9 million, up 5.6 per cent.

Travel into Canada grew faster. U.S.-resident trips to Canada by car and air rose 17.2 per cent to 1.8 million, the eighth straight yearly increase, though Statistics Canada said much of September’s jump reflected Labour Day falling a week later in 2026 than in 2025. Overseas-resident arrivals rose 7.3 per cent, and total international arrivals reached 5.3 million, up 9.5 per cent. The agency also cautioned that it has begun adding NEXUS Highway traveller data, so comparisons from September 2026 onward should be made with care.

Las Vegas is one of the clearest examples of the pullback. Canadian visits to the city fell 17.4 per cent in 2025, one of the sharpest declines on record, and Harry Reid International Airport data compiled by CBC News shows Canadian airlines are carrying even fewer passengers there this year. Visitor numbers, airport arrivals and hotel occupancy fell again in August, when barely half of downtown Las Vegas hotel rooms were occupied, CBC reported on Oct. 13.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority chief executive Steve Hill told Nevada’s state revenue forecasters in September that Canadian tourism, long the city’s largest source of international visitors, is down 30 per cent from 2019. The authority’s estimates show Canadian arrivals fell by 252,400 in 2025 to 1,196,300, the Las Vegas Sun’s Vegas Inc reported. “It is a big portion of what’s missing in Las Vegas here right now,” Hill said.

The slump has become a campaign issue in the swing state. Nevada Democrats and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents about 60,000 casino and hospitality workers, blame U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and threats toward Canada. “Canadians are our biggest customer,” union president Diana Valles told CBC. MGM Resorts chief executive Bill Hornbuckle said on a recent earnings call that “if you look at a place like Canada, we are off considerably,” and a Vegas Golden Knights home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs failed to sell out for the first time in the franchise’s nine-year history.

Some casinos are courting Canadians with better offers. A Winnipeg traveller told CBC he has been flooded with offers of complimentary hotel nights, and some casinos have accepted the Canadian dollar at par. Airfares are another factor: fares to Las Vegas have risen more than 20 per cent since March, according to U.S. Department of Transportation figures cited by Vegas Inc. Statistics Canada will publish complete September travel counts on Nov. 23 and its October leading indicator on Nov. 12.

This article is general information for Canadian readers and is not investment advice.

Sources: Statistics Canada, The Daily: Leading indicator of international arrivals to Canada, September 2026 (Oct. 13, 2026); CBC News (Oct. 13, 2026); Vegas Inc / Las Vegas Sun (Sept. 13, 2026).