Alberta travellers lead Canada on plans to visit U.S. amid tariff tension
A U.S.-led tariff war may hurt Alberta badly, but a new survey shows travellers in the province leading Canada in the choice to travel south this year regardless.
Results from Abacus Data revealed that as tensions between the U.S. and Canada have escalated and the threat of Canada becoming a 51st State, 56 per cent of those who initially planned to visit the U.S. have either cancelled or changed their travel plans.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2025, only nine per cent of Canadians intend to visit the United States, suggesting a significant decline in U.S.-bound travel. In contrast, domestic travel is more appealing, with 44 per cent planning to travel to provinces outside their home province, 38 per cent intending to travel within their home province, and 10 per cent considering a staycation.
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“This shift in travel preferences highlights a broader trend of Canadians opting for local destinations, further distancing themselves from U.S. travel due to ongoing political and economic concerns,” Abacus Data stated.
When asked about thinking about travel for the rest of 2025, Alberta led the country when it came to travel to the U.S., with 16 per cent of Albertans planning to travel there, followed by B.C. at 13 per cent.
Alberta also leads the country when it comes to planning to travel within Canada this year, at 57 per cent, followed by Ontario at 48 per cent.
Abacus Data
The survey was conducted with 1,500 Canadian adults from Feb. 20 to 25, 2025. A random sample of panellists were invited to complete the survey from a set of partner panels based on the Lucid exchange platform. These partners are typically double opt-in survey panels, blended to manage out potential skews in the data from a single source.
The data was weighted according to census data to ensure that the sample matched Canada’s population according to age, gender, educational attainment, and region.