Travel Trends: Canadian Travellers Are Looking Beyond Canada This Fall

After a summer when domestic travel held a particularly strong position, Canadians are widening their horizons again this fall. Canada still leads, but Mexico and other international destinations are drawing more interest, putting Canadian destinations in a more competitive field.  

The picture is broader than destination choice alone: Canadians are travelling with value in mind, hesitation around the United States remains, and AI is becoming a more established planning tool. Together, these shifts point to a traveller weighing more options, more trade-offs and more information before deciding where to go.  

• 50% of Canadians plan to take a leisure trip this fall, down significantly from 56% in Summer 2026 and 55% in Spring 2026.

• Among Canadians planning a fall trip, 61% intend to travel within Canada, down from 77% this summer. Meanwhile, 9% plan to visit Mexico and 23% another international destination, up from 4% and 15%, respectively.

• Among Canadians who are less likely to travel to the U.S., 63% say they are more likely to travel within Canada instead, down significantly from 77% this summer. 15% say they are unlikely to travel at all, up from 11%.

• 60% of Canadians say they are less open to travelling to the U.S. than at any point in the past year. If current Canada-U.S. trade tensions were reduced or resolved, 43% say their likelihood of visiting would remain about the same, while 28% would be more likely to go.

• 22% of Canadians have used AI tools for leisure travel planning, booking or management, more than double the 10% recorded in Spring 2025. 34% say they are likely to use AI to plan their next leisure trip

The summer concentration on domestic travel is starting to loosen. Canadian destinations still have the advantage, but they are now competing more directly with Mexico and other international options for fall travellers.  

For Canadian destinations trying to stay in travellers’ consideration set, value is part of the answer. 31% of Canadians say they are looking for deals, discounts or packages more often when they travel compared with a few years ago. About one in five are also choosing destinations closer to home, travelling during less busy periods, opting for lower-cost accommodations or planning farther ahead.  

Value may help get a destination into consideration, but the experience still gives travellers a reason to go. When Canadians are asked what would motivate them to explore a destination in Canada they have never visited before, deals and packages lead at 41%, followed by unique attractions or experiences (29%), road trips or scenic drives (28%), recommendations from friends or family (27%), and outdoor or nature experiences (25%).  

The United States presents a more nuanced picture as travel intent begins to recover from the lows recorded in 2025. But that gradual rebound has not yet translated into broader openness toward travelling there.  

For the relatively small group of Canadians who say they have become more open to U.S. travel, the reasons are mostly practical and personal. Convenience leads at 31%, followed closely by a desire not to let political tensions dictate personal travel choices at 30%. Visiting friends or family and wanting to experience specific U.S. places or attractions each follow at 28%.  

That suggests rebuilding U.S. travel consideration will take more than an easing of political or trade tensions. Practical and personal ties still matter: convenience, visiting friends and family, and experiences travellers feel are difficult to replace elsewhere all continue to give Canadians reasons to consider a U.S. trip.  

That mix of familiarity and hesitation also echoes themes we have seen in our broader Canada-U.S. research. B oth populations most often described the relationship as one between neighbours, while Canadians were more likely than Americans to emphasize differences between the two countries. 

For U.S. destinations, that context matters. The country remains familiar and accessible to many Canadians, but familiarity alone is not currently enough to erase wider hesitation.  

As Canadians weigh destination, price, timing and experience, more are turning to AI to help sort through those choices and build the trip that fits them best.

AI adoption is no longer concentrated solely among the youngest travellers. While Canadians aged 18 to 34 remain the most likely to have used AI for leisure travel, use has also reached 26% among those aged 35 to 54 and 10% among those 55 and older.

And travellers are increasingly using AI at the very beginning of the decision-making process. Among Canadians who have used these tools for travel, 51% have used them for destination suggestions or recommendations and 47% for itinerary planning, both significantly higher than in Spring 2026. Another 35% have used AI to help find cost savings.

Those behaviours echo what we have seen in our broader research on How AI Is Reshaping the Travel Industry, where travellers showed particular interest in AI as a tool for search, discovery and planning.

For destinations, the implication is increasingly practical: being discoverable by travellers may also mean being understandable to the AI tools helping them decide where to go.

This online survey was conducted from September 4 to 6, 2026, among 1,538 Canadian residents aged 18 and older, recruited through LEO’s online panel. Results were weighted by age, gender, region and incidence of leisure travellers to ensure the sample was representative of Canadian leisure travellers, based on Statistics Canada’s latest census data.

A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size would yield a margin of error no greater than ±2.50 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Explore the full report for more findings on Canadian travel intentions, destination choices, affordability, U.S. travel and the growing role of AI in trip planning.