A car passes through Canmore, Alta., on the Trans-Canada Highway. Concerned about flight prices and weary of friction with the U.S., some Canadians plan to hit the road for shorter domestic trips.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Susan Beiderwieden, a retired nurse educator in Victoria, is trying to come up with a Plan C for her vacation after the crisis in the Middle East forced her to pivot.
She initially tried to organize a house exchange in England for this fall and changed her mind because fuel surcharges increased the cost of overseas flights. Ms. Beiderwieden revised her plans to travel to Montreal, but after struggling to find someone to house swap with, and concerns that even air travel within the country could be risky, she decided against it.
She’s now looking for her Plan C.
Ms. Beiderwieden is not alone. The war in Iran has raised fuel prices and is causing people to rethink travel spending.
In late April, flight costs increased by an average of $65 domestically and $122 internationally compared to the same period a year ago, according to data from Kayak.
For ground trips, the national gas price average is about 186.2 cents per litre, up 41 per cent from 131.2 cents per litre a year ago, according to the Canadian Automotive Association (CAA).
Canadians are reconsidering their plans, travel experts say. Not only are people concerned about fuel prices and flights, they are still weary of tensions with the U.S. And some are looking to take shorter domestic trips.
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Wayne Smith, director of the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at Toronto Metropolitan University, said Canadians started to change the way they travel when tensions with the U.S. began more than a year ago. That led to Canadians taking more frequent, shorter vacations within an eight-hour drive of where they live.
And with the current crisis, he expects that trend to grow.
Ms. Beiderwieden and her husband, who are used to planning longer trips, are now looking to do shorter trips.
“With the rising gas prices, we’ve decided that we’ll just do microadventures closer to home,” Ms. Beiderwieden said. “We haven’t locked into any kind of trip, specifically. But when we do, it will be small.”
Domestic tourism rose 2.7 per cent year over year in 2025 and spending on vehicle rentals increased by 4.9 per cent, according to an RBC Insights report released in April. The number of Canadian trips to the U.S. fell by 25.4 per cent in the same period.
Mr. Smith said more Canadians are forgoing the U.S. and international travel and opting for domestic trips.
Destination Canada, a Crown corporation that promotes tourism, expects the trend to continue, projecting $140.9-billion in total tourism spending in the country in 2026. That’s a 6 per cent increase from 2025, with domestic spending highlighted as a key driver.
“Canadian tourism had a record year last year, especially domestically,” Mr. Smith said in an interview. He expects the trend to continue due to the relative affordability of domestic travel.
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Vanessa Lewis, a sales professional based in Toronto, is used to going on multiple trips each summer. This year, she will not pay for gas at all. She replaced her SUV – which would have cost her about $500 in fuel to cover a single trip – with an electric vehicle.
Since buying an EV, Ms. Lewis said she feels liberated to do even more and added a new road trip to Quebec to her summer itinerary.
CAA spokesperson Kristine D’Arbelles said costs are influencing how and where Canadians travel.
Adriana Paolella and her family enjoy driving their RV to regional destinations.Adriana Paolella
People are making the most out of loyalty programs, such as PC Optimum or Scene+ points on the road, she said. In addition, she noted using fuel-efficient driving techniques, like accelerating slowly and avoiding idling, could reduce fuel consumption by as much as 25 per cent, according to the federal government.
Adriana Paolella tries to go to Europe with her family every other summer, but this year she also decided against going abroad because of rising costs. Instead, Ms. Paolella’s family is opting to stay closer to their Brampton, Ont., home and drive their RV to regional destinations like Pinery Provincial Park near Grand Bend on Lake Huron.
Ms. Paolella said that unlike typical road trips or vacations, travelling with an RV offers her family a greater degree of control on how much they spend on food and accommodation.
“If you’re someone that values travel, I think you’ll find a way to do it.”
