‘Feels like we’re in the pandemic’: Why most Canadians are limiting or cancelling road trips this summer

Some Canadians say the increase in gas prices are causing them to cancel or limit their summer road trips. Kamil Karamali reports.

Care Murphy’s 2016 Honda Civic has already racked up more than 300,000 kilometres from her road trips across Ontario over the past ten years. But this summer, it isn’t going to get the same mileage it usually does, because her staple summer travels have become unaffordable since gas prices rose more than 0.50 cents a litre in the last three months.

“It’s a bummer, man,” said Murphy in an interview with CTV News Saturday. “We’re so bummed out because this is what we love to do. It’s feels like we’re in the pandemic all over again, because you can’t go anywhere so you just sit at home, and what, play scrabble?”

One of the big trips Murphy, who lives in Kingston, Ont. had planned, was to do an anniversary trip with her husband to Niagara Falls in June. But they have completely scrapped that plan because she says gas for the drive alone and back would cost hundreds of dollars. They also travel to other major cities nearby, like Ottawa and Toronto, for events like concerts.

“All of these plans that we’ve got booked for ourselves are now getting to a point where ‘can we feasibly do this?’” said Murphy. “The concert tickets were already expensive enough, but now we have to throw gas on top of it.”

Murphy also has a wedding DJ business which provides about an hour of free travel for the artist to the wedding venue at no cost to the customer, but now high gas prices are making her reconsider that policy.

“Now, suddenly, can we, as a small business afford to be giving away a free hour of travel to get to somebody’s event? That is a big thing I’ve had to take into consideration coming into this wedding season,” Murphy said. “Can I afford to send myself or my DJs out to go to people’s events and pay for our gas?”

Two-third of Canadian drivers (66 per cent) say high gases will result in them cancelling or limiting road trips this summer, according to a Probe Research survey conducted for the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada which will be published on Monday.

The poll also shows Canadians are limiting or cancelling cross-border trips to the U.S., with 68 per cent not planning a road trip across the border this year.

Gas prices have skyrocketed across Canada, ever since the war between the U.S. and Iran has resulted in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil gets shipped through.

In Ontario, gas prices in February were hovering just over $1.30 per litre, with some areas seeing $1.90 this weekend.

The reduction in road trips has small businesses, who are dependent on highway traffic for customers, worried that the upcoming summer season will see a reduction in revenue.

Betty’s Pies & Tarts is nestled along Highway 2 in Ontario between Port Hope and Coburg and almost exclusively depends on drivers spotting their signs while driving along the highway between destinations.

“We see lots of people driving past and then lots of U-turns, pulling over on the side of the shoulder and then backing up,” the owner, Ali Jiggins told CTV News Saturday.

“We have noticed that there’s been a bit of a shift in travel for sure. It could be seen as a bit of a slower start to the year than what we’re normally used to,” Jiggins added. “I think the fear would be people not getting out as much. If the price of gas continues to climb, it could really affect the business and the customers we do see this summer.”

For Jiggins and other business owners, the hope is that Canadians take part in shorter road trips and daytrips so that they can still see a steady stream of customers coming through their doors.

Methodology:

An online survey of 1,000 Canadian drivers was completed between April 6 and 14, 2026, using a national online panel. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/-3.1%, 19 times out of 20.

With files from CTV News’ Kristen Yu