Prince George travel to U.S. sees significant drop

This is in line with the national trend of decreased travel, with a Statistics Canada report saying year over year travel to the U.S. dropped by 14% in April, 2025, and 24.2% in May, 2025.

“It only affected one of my business travel plans. We went through Canada instead of through the States. But personally, we had always planned to just go to Europe, we didn’t plan to go to the U.S,” said YXS traveler Jennifer Cole.

This drop is one that some expect to continue as the United States finds itself in increasing turmoil, both geo-politically and within its own borders through the form of protests and tourists reporting being detained at airport and turned away due to materials critical of U.S. President Donald Trump being found on their phones.

“Predictions heading into this summer are as much as a 10 to 15% change in Canadians choosing to travel into the U.S.,” said Prince George Airport Authority Interim CEO Sabrina Angus.

As travel to the U.S. declines, both the country and YXS Airport are reporting gains in other areas as travelers look for other options. The Prince George Airport Authority says domestic advanced bookings as of May 2025 have increased by 18.4% year over year, while YXS to non-U.S. international flights have increased by 5.2% in the same time frame. Nationally, Statistics Canada reports a similar rise.

“Canadian-resident trips overseas continued to rise, increasing by 8.8% year over year. This shifting preference for travel destinations is reflected in the increased proportion of all Canadian-resident trips abroad to overseas destinations, which rose from 26.9% of trips in April 2024 to 36.1% in 2025,” said Statistics Canada’s website.

YXS travelers said they’ve certainly been looking towards other options as well, even though the U.S. may have been the chosen destination in the not-so-distant past.

“I went to Mexico, and then I’m going to be in Europe in September, doing Greece and Turkey. That might not have happened if there was better policies out in the States, and it’s not on my list anymore,” Love said.

“I’m going across Canada and going to Japan actually in July too. So yeah, for sure (I’m looking elsewhere)” Myrvang added.

For some travelers, the U.S. is becoming an increasingly unattractive location due to safety concerns.

“I want to know what my future is going to look like: will I ever be able to go to the U.S. and not feel like I’m going to be in danger? Or like, is it safe to go there when I’m 22 and I just want to go with my friends, is my future going to be different because of things in the U.S. that are happening right now?” said Erica Cole, a traveler at the YXS Airport.

Statistics Canada noted declining travel to the U.S. has also resulted in numbers dropping for abroad trips in general, with an 18.9% year over year decrease in April, 2025.

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by Tommy Osborne

Prince George travel to U.S. sees significant drop

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