Canadians are traveling to the US at a 'much lower rate,' Airbnb's CFO said
The number of foreigners booking Airbnbs in the US has decreased from last year and earlier this year, with Canadians "traveling at a much lower rate," according to Airbnb's CFO.
CFO Ellie Mertz said during Airbnb's first-quarter earnings call Thursday that US reservations from foreign travelers were down, citing "economic uncertainty" as a factor.
"We absolutely have seen a decline in popularity of foreign travelers coming to the US," she said on the call.
"Guests who would have in a prior year come to the US are simply choosing a different location," she added.
Nights booked by Canadian guests to Mexico increased 27% between March 2024 and March 2025, according to Airbnb's letter to shareholders about first-quarter earnings.
In earnings calls this week, executives at Hilton and Booking Holdings, which owns Booking.com, Priceline.com, and Kayak, said that Canadian travel to the US had flagged, spotlighting Mexico as a place with upticks in Canadian visitors.
On the Airbnb earnings call, Merrtz said that Canadians are traveling more domestically. She also said they visit Mexico, Brazil, France, and Japan.
"In this moment, it's not necessarily that people don't want to travel, they are just using different destinations," Mertz said.
Canadians have expressed dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump's tariffs and remarks about annexing it as another state. Some have boycotted travel to the US.
Mertz also said that even if Canadians and other international travelers are choosing destinations outside the US, foreign travelers to the States only make up about 3% of Airbnb's business.
She said most nights booked on Airbnb in the US are by domestic travelers, and only a "single-digit percentage" of global nights booked come from international travelers to the US.
Shares of Airbnb closed higher by about 1% on Friday after the company reported earnings that were roughly in line with expectations.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told investors and analysts on the earnings call that he believes the booking platform has endured during past periods of economic stress because it offers travelers options at affordable price points.
"We started Airbnb during the Great Recession of 2008. People turned to us for a more affordable way to travel, and they started hosting Airbnb to earn extra income. Then, in 2020, when the pandemic hit, we provided a way for people to travel close to home," he said. "Today, things feel uncertain once again. But just as we've shown in the past, as the world changes, Airbnb will continue to adapt."
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