Canadian Tourism to New England Is Still 23% Below 2024 Levels as U.S. Businesses Try to Win Canadians Back

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Canadian travellers are beginning to return to northern New England, but the comeback remains incomplete. In August 2026, roughly 297,000 arrivals from Canada were recorded through ports of entry in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. That was 6% higher than a year earlier, yet still 23% below August 2024. The distinction matters: the figure measures arrivals through those three border states rather than every Canadian trip to all six New England states.

For hotels, campgrounds, restaurants and attractions that historically depended on visitors from Quebec, Ontario and Atlantic Canada, even a partial recovery can make a visible difference. Businesses are responding with Canadian-specific discounts, marketing campaigns and direct appeals, while newer data suggest the resistance to U.S. travel is easing without disappearing.

The 23% Gap Is Real, but the Direction Has Changed

August delivered one of the clearest signs yet that Canadian travel into northern New England is recovering from its 2025 slump. Approximately 297,000 arrivals from Canada passed through ports in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data reported by New Hampshire Public Radio and the Concord Monitor. That represented a 6% increase from August 2025. July had been slightly busier, with about 298,000 arrivals, while April produced 186,000 arrivals and a 13.4% year-over-year increase.

The encouraging year-over-year comparisons come with an important warning, however. August traffic remained 23% below the same month in 2024, before the most severe decline occurred. National Canadian travel data tell a similar story. Statistics Canada reported that Canadian-resident return trips from the United States rose 8.8% year over year in August 2026. Automobile trips increased 9.9%, but remained 27.4% below August 2024, while air trips were still 22.7% lower than two years earlier. Recovery, in other words, is happening from a dramatically depressed base.

The 2025 Collapse Created a Difficult Benchmark

The comparison with 2025 can make almost any increase in 2026 look unusually strong. Discover New England reported that Canadian arrivals to the region finished 2025 about 26.1% below 2024 levels. That decline stood out sharply from the overseas market, where New England arrivals were only about 2.8% lower than in 2024. The region therefore did not simply suffer from a general disappearance of international tourists. Canadian travel changed far more dramatically.

Statistics Canada reached a similar conclusion when examining Canadian travel to the United States nationally. Total Canadian-resident return border crossings from the U.S. fell 25.4% in 2025 compared with 2024. Excluding the pandemic period, the agency described the run of year-over-year declines as the deepest and most sustained recorded since its digital border-count records began in 1972. By July 2026, trips to the United States were increasing again, but they remained 25.6% below July 2024. That history helps explain why New England businesses are treating today’s gains as a recovery rather than a return to normal.

Border Communities Feel Every Missing Canadian Customer

The regional percentages become much more tangible in places where Canadians once represented a large share of summer business. At Wakeda Campground in Exeter, New Hampshire, Canadian guests traditionally accounted for roughly one-quarter of customers during July and August. Owner Amanda Allen estimated that the Canadian segment fell by about 90% in 2025. The campground responded in 2026 by directly emailing Canadian customers and offering discounted early-season reservations.

Other New Hampshire businesses faced similar exposure. State park camping reservations made by Canadians dropped from about 3,400 in 2024 to just over 1,200 in 2025, according to state figures reported by the New Hampshire Bulletin. At the 25-room Emerald Isle Inn near Hampton Beach, the owner said Canadian guests historically made up about half of the clientele during parts of the season, yet almost disappeared during the downturn. These are relatively small businesses, but that is precisely why a few dozen rooms or campsites can matter. A missing family also means fewer restaurant meals, retail purchases, attraction tickets and fuel stops elsewhere in the community.

Businesses Are Putting Canadian Discounts Into the Sales Pitch

Winning Canadian travellers back has moved beyond general messages about being welcome. Some operators are attaching actual dollar savings to the invitation. Wakeda Campground’s direct campaign was one example, while Vermont’s official tourism directory now includes a dedicated filter for deals available to Canadian residents. The listings range across lodging, shopping, attractions and resorts, effectively giving Canadian travellers a way to search specifically for businesses courting their return.

Individual offers show how targeted the strategy has become. The Brass Lantern Inn in Stowe has advertised 10% off stays of at least two nights for Canadian residents through the end of 2026. Cabot’s Vermont retail stores have offered Canadian visitors a 10% storewide discount on eligible purchases. Topnotch Resort has promoted 15% off stays plus a nightly resort credit. Other properties and attractions have created their own Canadian promotions. The incentives cannot erase every reason someone may be reluctant to cross the border, but they demonstrate how seriously parts of the tourism economy are treating the lost Canadian market.

Maine Is Seeing More Canadian Traffic Without Returning to 2024

Maine provides one of the clearest examples of a rebound that still has considerable distance to cover. More than 306,000 travellers crossed into Maine from Canada in July 2026, according to CBP data cited by the Portland Press Herald. That was roughly 11% higher than the 275,000 recorded in July 2025. Yet July 2024 had brought nearly 383,000, leaving the newest total well short of its earlier level. Canadian visitors represented 5.4% of Maine visits in 2024 but only 3.6% in 2025.

The effect is particularly visible around Old Orchard Beach, a destination with long-standing ties to Quebec tourists. Local tourism operators reported more Canadian licence plates and customers this summer, while one campground said the Canadian share of its reservations had risen from about 7% last year to 10% in 2026. That still does not replicate the earlier market. The importance is substantial: Maine officials have said nearly 800,000 Canadian visitors came to the state in 2024 and spent approximately $497.7 million. Recovering even part of that spending can be meaningful for coastal towns built around a short summer season.

Vermont’s Spending Numbers Show How Partial the Rebound Remains

Vermont’s newest transaction data capture both sides of the story particularly well. Canadian credit-card spending in the state rose 28% in August 2026 compared with August 2025, according to the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing’s Canadian visitation dashboard. Year-to-date Canadian card spending through August was 18% higher than during the same period of 2025. Passenger traffic at Vermont border crossings was moving in the same direction, with approximately 280,000 passenger crossings in July, up about 20% from the previous July.

Yet the state cautions against interpreting those percentages as a complete recovery. Canadian credit-card spending in Vermont had fallen 47% in 2025 compared with 2024, while the number of Canadian cards detected in the data fell 46%. The latest gains are therefore being measured against an exceptionally weak year. Vermont also notes that card transactions capture only a portion of visitor activity and are best treated as an indicator rather than a complete tourism count. Even with those limitations, the data explain why businesses notice more Canadians while still reporting that traffic does not feel like it once did.

Canadian Interest in the U.S. Is Rising, but Hesitation Remains

The change is not limited to border counts. Longwoods International’s July 2026 tracking study found that 28% of Canadian travellers surveyed had visited the United States during the previous six months, compared with 23% a year earlier. Another 49% said they intended to visit the U.S. during the next 12 months, up from 43% in April. The study surveyed 1,000 Canadian adults between July 9 and 14 and was weighted to reflect national demographics for age, gender and province.

Those numbers still reveal significant resistance. Although 91% of respondents agreed that the United States has plenty to see and do, 56% said U.S. government policies, trade practices and political statements made them less likely to visit. Only 37% agreed that the U.S. was a safe place to visit in that survey. The results should be viewed as measurements of sentiment rather than confirmed bookings, but they help explain the uneven recovery. Attractions remain appealing to many Canadians; the harder challenge for destinations is converting that interest into an actual border crossing.

Fall Will Show Whether the Recovery Can Continue Beyond Summer

New Hampshire is already treating the improving Canadian numbers as an important part of its fall outlook. The state’s Division of Travel and Tourism Development expects approximately 3.9 million visitors during the 2026 fall season, with visitor spending projected at roughly $2 billion. Those estimates would represent increases of 3% in visitation and 5% in spending compared with the previous fall. State officials specifically pointed to three months of year-over-year improvement in U.S.-Canada border crossings as a positive indicator.

The marketing strategy also shows where New Hampshire sees opportunity. Its current fall campaign includes Greater Montreal alongside domestic markets such as Massachusetts, Connecticut, eastern New York and eastern Pennsylvania. Canadian travellers are therefore being pursued as part of a broader effort rather than treated as a market that will automatically return. Foliage, scenic drives, hiking, farms and small-town destinations give northern New England a strong autumn product, but the two-year comparisons show why businesses remain cautious. Canadians are crossing the border in greater numbers again. Rebuilding the traffic lost since 2024 is proving to be a much slower process.

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