Icy relationship with U.S. beginning to thaw at border, data shows; American visits to Manitoba hit five-year high By: Nicole Buffie Posted: 5:32 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026

As Canadians begin to lower their elbows and start to cross the U.S. border again, Americans are coming to Manitoba in numbers not seen in years.

The latest Statistics Canada data shows Canadians arriving in Manitoba from the U.S. by land was up 16 per cent last month compared to July 2025, and up 59 per cent last month over June’s number.

The figures recorded almost 68,000 crossings by Canadians at Manitoba land borders in July, up from 42,555 in June.

There were 58,282 crossings in July 2025.

The figures don’t include individual travellers, trucks or those using the border for international trade.

The number of Canadian tourists travelling to Minnesota is slowly increasing, according to its tourism board. Lauren Bennett McGinty, executive director of Explore Minnesota, said there was an upward trend in March, and the number of travellers is up 14 per cent from the same time last year.

Bennett McGinty said a weakened U.S. dollar is attracting tourists north of the border, and she’s expecting Canadian shoppers to descend on the Mall of America in the Minneapolis area for back-to-school clothing and supplies.

In an effort to bring Canadians back to the state, Explore Minnesota launched a social media campaign between June 22 and July 31 in specific Canadian markets, including Winnipeg.

Preliminary findings show Canadian traffic to the tourism board’s website went up 654 per cent, from 2,802 visits in July 2025 to 21,721 this year.

“I think just putting out a message that Canadians are welcome and that we want you to visit and experience our neighbourliness has been really helpful to kind of driving that increased interest,” Bennett McGinty said.

New polling data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute found 45 per cent of Canadians view American people positively despite “widespread detestation of their commander-in-chief.” The data shows 79 per cent of respondents view U.S. president Donald Trump unfavourably.

Minnesota tourism officials know only too well that some Canadians adopted an “elbows up” attitude over the past 18 months owing to Trump’s trade war and repeated musings about annexing Canada and making it the 51st American state. Many north of the border have sworn off travelling to the U.S. for good, but economic realities may lead people looking to take a vacation thinking closer to home.

“It does make it a little bit easier to justify if you’re staying closer to home and you’re driving over the border, it’s a little bit more of an affordable option,” Bennett McGinty said.

North Dakota Tourism has been running billboard advertisements in Canada, particularly Manitoba and Saskatchewan, to encourage visitors to visit the state. The ads market North Dakota as “worth the trip, every time” and “close to home, far from ordinary.”

“Our focus is on sustained outreach that reinforces the message that Canadians are always welcome here and that our communities look forward to hosting them year after year,” communications manager Kim Schmidt said in an email.

A recent survey conducted by the tourism board found nearly half of Canadian respondents say they intend to visit the U.S. in the next 12 months, and more than one in four respondents have travelled there in the last six months, an improvement from last year.

Fewer Canadians polled say U.S. policies are discouraging them from travel, and safety perceptions have also improved, Schmidt said.

Nationwide, Canadians crossing the border back home are up 36 per cent from last month, with the data counting 1.9 million crossings, compared to 1.4 million in June, according to the StatCan figures.

On the flip side, the number of Americans travelling to Manitoba is the highest it has been in five years.

StatCan numbers show 38,415 land crossings into Manitoba by U.S. vehicles in July, up from the previous five-year high of 36,442 crossings in July 2023.

While tourism to Manitoba is typically higher in the summer months, Travel Manitoba interim CEO Angela Cassie said the agency has been making a concerted effort to market the province as a four-season destination and it’s starting to pay off.

Targeted campaigns to border states garner thousands of visitors, but there are more tourists from other U.S. regions now.

“We are known for world-class fishing… if you speak to any of our fishing lodges in those fly-in communities, our team is telling us they’re seeing people from Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,” she said. “So, that’s in addition to the areas that we’re emphasizing.”

U.S. visitors make up about three per cent of tourism in Manitoba but generate seven per cent of total spending. Cassie said Americans continue to be an extremely important target market.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca