Travel arrangement services, 2025

Released: 2026-10-05

Revenue of travel arrangement and reservation services records steady growth in 2024 and 2025

The operating revenue of the travel arrangement and reservation services industry group rose 8.8% to $18.3 billion in 2025. This follows an increase of 9.3% in 2024. Although operating revenues of these industries posted slower growth in 2025, they still topped the high of $16.8 billion recorded the previous year.

In 2025, operating revenue of the industry group was up 24.9% from 2019, while the Consumer Price Index—which represents changes in prices as experienced by Canadian consumers—rose 20.7% over the same period.

In 2025, the number of return trips from the United States by Canadian residents fell 25.4% year over year. This continues a series of 11 consecutive months of decreases. As a result, at the end of 2025, return trips from the United States represented two-thirds of all return trips from abroad, compared with three-quarters of return trips from abroad in 2024.

The travel arrangement and reservation services industry group is composed of three industries: travel agencies, tour operators, and other travel arrangement and reservation services. Tour operators generated the biggest share (60.3%) of sales in 2025, up 1.2 percentage points from 2024.

For tour operators, over four-fifths of their revenue comes from packaged and group tours

In 2025, the operating revenue of tour operators rose 10.9% to $11.0 billion, while their operating expenses increased 10.5% to $10.7 billion. The cost of goods sold (84.3%) accounted for most industry expenses.

Most sales revenue of the industry in 2025 came from packaged (63.2%) and group (21.0%) tours, with foreign destinations other than the United States accounting for 82.7% of all destinations.

The operating profit margin for tour operators edged up from 2.5% in 2024 to 2.9% in 2025, as operating revenue outpaced operating expenses.

For travel agencies, airline seats and packaged tours account for more than three-fifths of their revenue

The operating revenue of travel agencies rose 3.8% to $3.0 billion in 2025, while their operating expenses increased 4.0% to $2.6 billion. Salaries, wages, commissions and benefits (51.0%) made up the largest share of industry expenses.

Airline seats (35.0%) and packaged tours (25.2%) represented the biggest share of sales revenue of the industry in 2025. Trips to international destinations other than the United States generated the largest share of revenue (60.8%).

The operating profit margin of travel agencies fell from 14.5% in 2024 to 14.3% in 2025.

Other travel arrangement and reservation services post a more modest increase than in 2024

After posting the largest increase of the three industries in 2024 (+12.3%), the operating revenue of the other travel arrangement and reservation services industry rose 7.1% to $4.2 billion in 2025.

This industry comprises a variety of businesses, but automobile clubs, ticket service companies and travel wholesalers accounted for the biggest share of sales.

Operating expenses of other travel arrangement and reservation services increased 8.1% to $4.0 billion in 2025, with salaries, wages, commissions and benefits accounting for 18.2% of total expenditures. The bigger growth in expenses resulted in a lower operating profit margin, which fell 0.8 percentage points year over year to 5.7% in 2025.

Looking ahead to 2026

From January to June 2026, Canadian-resident return trips from the United States fell 4.6% from the same period one year earlier, while return trips from other countries rose 4.8%. Return trips from the United States by air (-8.5%) posted a larger decline than return trips by land (-2.6%). This is likely to dampen tourism activity, as travellers from the United States make up a significant share of the clientele of many industry group businesses.

Financial estimates for the 2026 reference year, to be published next year, will confirm the degree of the impact on this industry group.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).