Highlights
- Canadian visitation to Arizona fell 22% in 2025, to about 664,000 travelers, per Arizona Office of Tourism preliminary data.
- Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce points to the weak Canadian dollar as the primary driver of the decline.
- Arizona's overall international visitation still rose 1.2% to nearly 5.5 million, buoyed by new Sky Harbor routes to Taiwan, China, and France.
- State tourism officials do not expect Canadian visitation to fully rebound until 2029.
Canadian visitors to Arizona dropped 22% in 2025, costing the state roughly 188,000 travelers from its most consistent international market, according to preliminary data from the Arizona Office of Tourism reported by The Arizona Republic and confirmed by Axios Phoenix and Arizona PBS.
About 664,000 Canadians visited Arizona last year, down from the prior year's figure. Mike Huckins of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce told KTAR News 92.3 FM that currency is the central issue: "Canada has a weak dollar right now, and so everything's more expensive, from flights to housing to cost of living. If there's one issue that you can sort of point to, I believe that's the main one right now, just the cost of travel."
Huckins also cited political friction between Washington and Ottawa during the early months of the Trump administration as a secondary factor, noting that travelers weigh geopolitical sentiment when deciding where to spend money. Several Canadian airlines have reportedly reduced service to U.S. destinations while expanding flights to Mexico and the Caribbean, where Canadian demand has grown.
Arizona is not alone. Visits by Canadians to major U.S. cities have dropped 42% during President Donald Trump's second term, according to research cited by KTAR. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has publicly warned that his country's economic ties to the U.S. have become a vulnerability, pointing to tariffs on Canadian goods and repeated suggestions that Canada become the 51st state.
Despite the Canadian decline, Arizona's broader international tourism picture held up. The state drew nearly 5.5 million international travelers in 2025, up 1.2% from 2024, and ranks fifth nationally for international visitation behind California, New York, Florida, and Texas, according to Tourism Economics figures cited in the KTAR report. Huckins credited new international routes at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, including service to Taiwan, China, and France, for offsetting the Canadian shortfall.
State tourism officials told The Arizona Republic they do not expect Canadian visitation to fully recover until 2029.
Sources
Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.
- ktar.com retrieved 12/05/2026 21:40
Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 12/05/2026 21:40. Every claim traces to a source.
