Statistics Canada’s latest Frontier Counts release shows that 609,200 overseas residents entered Canada in May 2026, an 11.7 percent jump over May 2025 and the strongest year-on-year gain since last autumn. Growth was driven mainly by Europe (+31,000 travellers, +12.3 %) and the Americas outside the United States (+10,300, +12.1 %), more than offsetting a 4.5 percent slide in arrivals from Asia following new visa requirements for several countries earlier this year. Canadian residents also travelled abroad in greater numbers: 3.9 million return trips were recorded, up 7.4 percent year on year, with U.S. land crossings accounting for two-thirds of the total. Business-classifying travellers made up an estimated 14 percent of the flow, consistent with pre-pandemic seasonal patterns. The data, released July 23, incorporate real-time feeds from the Canada Border Services Agency’s Integrated Primary Inspection Line (IPIL-Air) system, now fully rolled out at all major airports. For global-mobility professionals, the trend confirms that demand for Canadian long-haul travel continues to recover despite currency weakness and ongoing U.S. tariff uncertainty. Destination marketing organisations expect the upswing to accelerate during the August-October conference season, traditionally the busiest period for corporate meetings in Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver. Analysts caution, however, that traffic from China remains 32 percent below 2024 levels, limiting inbound volume for regions heavily reliant on that market such as British Columbia’s hospitality sector.
Source: Statistics Canada – The Daily
