Why Gen Z US Travel Is Defying the Canada Boycott

Gen Z US travel is breaking ranks with one of the biggest travel boycotts in North American history. Among Canadians planning trips this year, the youngest adult cohort is by far the most likely to put the United States on the itinerary — far ahead of Millennials, Gen X and Boomers, according to Travel Industry Today's reporting on the Smart Traveller survey. The unofficial boycott began in early 2025 after trade disputes and annexation threats from Washington, and it has dragged overall Canadian visits southward for months. Yet younger Canadians keep booking trips anyway. The reason most stay home has little to do with politics: rising costs are the main barrier, followed by a lack of paid time off.

That split is the headline finding of the survey, conducted by The Harris Poll for the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada. Roughly 63 percent of Canadians plan to travel this year, according to TravelPress — and among those travelers, interest in the United States concentrates almost entirely in the younger generations, even as older Canadians pull back further. Europe now ranks ahead of the United States as the top international destination for Canadians overall at 24 percent, and more than a third of respondents plan to travel exclusively within Canada.

Gen Z US travel by generation

The generational divide is stark, and the numbers below show just how far Gen Z US travel is running ahead of the boycott narrative. Here is how likely each cohort is to visit the United States this year, according to Travel Industry Today:

Looking ahead, the divide holds: 45 percent of Gen Z Canadians say they are likely to travel to the US in 2027, compared with just 8 percent of Boomers, as reported by TravelPress. Real booking data backs the trend. FlightHub figures from the March spring-break window, as reported by TheTravel, showed the United States as the most popular destination among Canadian travelers, with Millennials and Gen X each accounting for 32 percent of booked trips, Gen Z at 22 percent and Boomers at only 13 percent. The boycott's toll is visible at the border too: Canadian visits to the US fell 7 percent in one recent month, marking the 14th straight month of year-over-year declines, according to Statistics Canada figures cited by TheTravel.

Why Gen Z US travel plans come down to money

Ask younger Canadians what keeps them home, and the answer is the budget. Rising costs are the top barrier for 36 percent of Gen Z travelers, with lack of paid time off close behind at 22 percent. That is a very different calculation from their grandparents' generation: political tensions between Canada and the US are a top barrier for 51 percent of Boomers. In other words, Gen Z US travel is limited more by wallet than by worldview. Skyscanner data cited by TheTravel suggests the squeeze is real — 56 percent of Gen Z had to make financial sacrifices for their last vacation, with many saying they would skip meals out or cut spending on new clothes to fund a trip.

THIA spokesman Will McAleer summed up the split by saying that, despite ongoing political tensions, younger Canadians still show strong interest in US travel, while older travelers remain deterred by cross-border political uncertainty. His warning for the younger cohort was practical rather than political: with the youngest generation leading the trip south, he says, understanding travel health insurance coverage matters more than ever — because the United States combines some of the highest medical costs in the world with a generation that travels hard.

The insurance gap nobody posts about

That is the part of Gen Z US travel that deserves a second look before booking. According to TravelPulse Canada's reporting on the survey's companion research, Gen Z is the generation most likely to take part in risky travel activities, with one in four saying they would try an extreme sport while traveling — and 40 percent say they would travel without buying travel health insurance at all. Nearly half say they trust travel health information they find on social media, a habit McAleer called a credibility gap for the generation most likely to travel.

The math is unforgiving, and the risk is growing in lockstep with Gen Z US travel itself, which keeps climbing into a country with some of the world's most expensive hospital bills. An unexpected emergency room visit in the United States can cost more than the vacation itself, and bills can follow travelers home long after the trip ends. Anyone heading south should check what coverage they already carry — through a parent's credit card or a workplace benefits plan — and fill the gap before crossing, because the United States does not discount hospital care for visitors. For more on how young travelers are reshaping the industry, see our report on the Gen Z travel surge rewriting who gets to fly, and browse the latest stories on the travel topic page.

The boycott is not over

Gen Z US travel enthusiasm should not be mistaken for the end of the standoff. Overall, 43 percent of Canadians say they are less likely to visit the US this year than last, as reported by TheTravel — and younger travelers' smaller budgets may not make up for the spending power of the older Canadians who are staying away. Florida alone drew 500,000 fewer Canadian visitors in 2025, and US tourism officials have been flying north to win travelers back, with Las Vegas and Florida trade groups hosting events in Canada to reassure potential visitors.

So the cross-border map is now drawn in generational lines: older Canadians are choosing Europe or staying home, while the youngest adults keep the southbound lanes busy. Whether Gen Z US travel can hold steady through 2027 — when nearly half of the generation still expects to head south — may say less about politics than about paychecks. If costs keep climbing, the generation most willing to travel could be priced out of the trip anyway.