Still, although southbound numbers have dropped in their major homesite areas – Florida, Arizona, Texas and California – Canadians remain a formidable presence, not to be counted out. In their top-choice location – Florida – Canadian visits over the 2024-2025 “season of discontent” dropped by 6.8 per cent from 3.40 million in 2024 to 3.17 million in 2025. That was a clear shakeup to tradition. We had become used to seeing those numbers rise and rise, without interruption. Those of us on the ground got accustomed to seeing cars from Quebec and Ontario parked in Home Depot lots throughout Florida, just as Arizona-Canadians jockey for position in front of Albertson’s or Safeway supermarkets and big-box stores. To put that 3.17 million visits into perspective: as sharp a drop as that might appear, it still leaves Canadians well placed as the state’s most dedicated foreign visitors; more so than runners-up Brazil, the U.K. and Colombia combined, who came in at 3.16 million in 2025. And these numbers not only reflect three- or four-day weekenders, but also the legions of snowbirds who annually spend at least 30 consecutive nights a year in their Florida house, motor home, condo, rental apartment or hotel; or, at most, six months less a day (in compliance with U.S. immigration rules) over the course of 12 consecutive months in rental homes/apartments, motor homes, resorts or their own homes purchased in the competitive Florida marketplace. In our request for a breakdown of Canadians’ homeowner holdings in Florida, Brad O’Connor, chief economist for Florida Realtors (the state trade group for the industry) referred us to the 2025 Profile of International Residential Transactions in Florida, which showed that international-buyer dollar-volume climbed up to $10.4 billion from a multi-year low of $7.1 billion in 2024. Among those from countries with the highest dollar volume in 2025, Canadians purchased the most in dollar terms by a significant margin. In total, Canadian dollar volume in 2025 was $1.9 billion, a 52% increase from 2024. What it also revealed was that among international Florida homebuyers (from all around the globe), the Canadian position was “Primus inter pares” – first among equals – with international buyers representing a 33% year-over-year increase. It also noted that Canada captured 21% of that activity, maintaining its streak of more than 15 years as the top destination for global homebuyers. Upticks in U.S.-bound travel Though Canadian travellers have cut back on travel to the U.S. during 2024 and 2025 overall, Statistics Canada has reported a sharp uptick in return road traffic this spring. “Driven by an increase in return trips by automobile (+15.1%), the increase in overall return trips from the United States in May 2026 marked both the second consecutive month of year-over-year increases and the second increase since December 2024.” As for cross-border air traffic, Air Canada has announced a new route from Montreal (YUL) to Fort Myers, Florida (two flights per week) beginning in October. Passengers will fly on an Airbus A220 – built in Quebec. Also noteworthy is active solicitation by U.S businesses for Canadian returnees: for example, Myrtle Beach is offering significant discounts to snowbirds, and a number of Las Vegas hotels and restaurants are offering to accept Canadian dollars at par to the greenback. 24 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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