Canadians are facing more global unrest this March break, but it hasn’t curbed our collective desire to escape after a long, cold winter.
Toronto’s Pearson airport says passenger volume is up this year over last, with some 1.7 million passengers expected to pass through the airport during the break.
Surprisingly, even after advisories from the Canadian government warning travellers to exercise a high degree of caution when visiting Mexico due to “high levels of criminal activity and kidnapping,” Cancun remains one of the most popular sun destinations.
“March break travel is showing a lot of strength with double-digit year-over-year growth for leisure destinations, especially in the Caribbean and Mexico,” said Air Canada’s spokesperson, Peter Fitzpatrick. “Issues in Mexico seem to have decreased, and we have not heard any major concerns or booking pattern changes.”
In fact, Fitzpatrick said Air Canada boosted its March capacity to Mexico’s Cancun by more than 40,000 seats year-over-year, while its capacity to the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana grew by 20,000. Brazil, Bangkok and Florida are also among the most popular spots this March break, he added.
Toronto Pearson Airport is expecting a two- to three-per-cent increase in passenger numbers between March 12 and March 22 compared to the same period in 2025, said airport spokesperson Sean Davidson. The airport will see 160,000 travellers on the busiest day, he added.
Vancouver International Airport is bracing for an average of 70,000 daily passengers between March 13 and 29, marking a year-over-year one per cent increase, said Megan Sutton, the media relations specialist at Vancouver airport Authority.
“A lot of people, they’re still travelling. They’re just sort of being very careful and intentional about where they’re going,” said Amra Durakovic, head of communications for Flight Centre Canada.
Durakovic said spring is typically considered the “shoulder season” for European travel, but booking data from Flight Centre Canada shows Portugal and Italy experienced year-over-year growth in the dollar value of bookings — including flights, hotels, and packages — of 40 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively, this spring.
Those countries follow Japan and Costa Rica, which have seen the greatest increase in transaction values through Flight Centre.
Ottawa resident Scott Wilson and his family made their European travel plans months ago.
“It’s something we had set our heart on doing last November, when it still seemed like, you know, there wasn’t a war,” he told the Star from Pearson International Airport Thursday.
The family’s priority was to avoid the United States, despite a years-long tradition of spending March break with family at a time-share in Florida. The decision was a personal protest against “the Trump philosophy” and it approaching Canada as an “imperialistic bully.”
So when his 15-year-old daughter suggested they go to Amsterdam, that became the family’s plan, and they found a tour that would also take them to Brussels and Paris, he said.
The vacation takes place during the daughter’s break from school and a slower period at his public-service job, Wilson said.
“So you’re sort of forced to go during this period, despite whatever’s going on, and steering where you actually go based on what’s going on,” Wilson said.
A couple sitting next to him was headed to Maldives and concerned because they have a layover in Dubai.
Earlier this week, four people were wounded after two Iranian drones hit near Dubai International Airport. While the airport continues to operate, some airlines have suspended flights, such as Air Canada, which is cancelling flights from and to Dubai until March 28 and Tel Aviv, Israel, until May 2.
Vancouver International Airport told the Star that some snowbirds’ favourite American cities — Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Honolulu — are among the top five sunny getaway destinations this March break.
However, Sutton said travel to the U.S. appears to be following a declining trend, with transborder traffic between Vancouver airport and U.S. destinations declining by 7.1 per cent in 2025.
Steven Dirckze of Mississauga said he would have liked to have taken his four-year-old daughter to the Sesame Street amusement park in Philadelphia for her first March break this year, but he decided early on to opt for a vacation in Canada instead.
“I’m not crossing into the States with I.C.E. going around everywhere,” Dirckze said.
He said the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency under U.S. President Donald Trump “actively makes things feel dangerous,” through the use of excessive force and “no discretion,” especially for non-white people like him.
Instead, Dirckze is planning a trip to Prince Edward Island with his child, though he’s not sure what exactly they’ll get up to yet.
The 35-year-old dad said he has always thought “the entire point of life is to experience everything in as much as you can in the world,” but he’s realizing he hasn’t seen much of the country where he has lived for some 24 years.
“With the world the way it is, it’s started making me look inwards more,” he said. “Nationalism or patriotism would both be the wrong words, it’s more sort of considering what we’ve got.”
