By Aditi Roy

With the holiday break approaching, many Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students are rethinking how far they can afford to go. Some say the rising cost of day-to-day life has made them turn travelling into a careful financial calculation. 

Domestic students cite high airfares, rising living costs and uncertain work as reasons to stay in Toronto, while international students are weighing the financial strain of long flights against seeing family. Affordability, not destination, is shaping holiday plans, with experts noting that students are increasingly opting for short local trips or choosing not to travel at all. 

According to the 2025 Blue Cross Travel study, 81 per cent of Canadian travellers have changed their habits to account for the rising cost of living and tightening budgets.

Fourth-year domestic business technology management student Mohammed Rayed noted how commitments to part-time jobs and co-ops can be a hindrance to travel plans. “If [I] were to take a day off, [I’ll] be risking the job.”

He reflected the heightened pressure to retain these employment opportunities in times of uncertainty in the job market. Rayed added that due to rising costs, “people are just trying to…stay home and save up.”

Julliane Macarandang, a fourth-year media production student, will be taking a cruise in the Caribbean with her family during the break.  Macarandang said she believes on her own, she lacks the savings to travel abroad. “Two part-time jobs are still…not enough, because I’m still a full-time student,” she said.

For international students, the hefty price of overseas tickets appears to be worth it to spend time with their family. 

Second-year architecture student Zainab Dhanani said she feels compelled to return to Tanzania this winter, both for her sister’s wedding and because work and co-op commitments will likely prevent her from going again for some time. 

“This is the last year that I’d be able to see them all together, and then the year after, I’d be doing co-op, so I won’t be able to go back home.”

She noted that home provides a kind of support and comfort she can’t find while studying abroad. “Having my parents there is definitely helpful, because I think your parents are a different kind of support.”

Dhanani said she avoids high airfares by booking in advance or choosing less popular dates, such as special holidays.  “Nobody wants to travel on New Year’s, so if you’re okay with missing New Year’s, then go on a plane on New Year’s. I tend to do that.”

Wayne Smith, a hospitality and tourism management professor at TMU, is noting an emerging pattern of domestic travel among youth. 

“We’re seeing a lot of interest from youth in the cultural centres of Canada,” he said. Tourists have taken an affinity to destinations like Halifax and Quebec on the east coast and Okanagan and Vancouver on the west coast, he said. 

Smith added that this increase in domestic travel could significantly boost Canada’s tourism economy, enabling students to travel at a significantly lower cost by using transportation options such as Via Rail.

TMU hospitality and tourism adjunct professor Walter Jamieson reflects on how the change in youth unemployment has drastically changed the ability for young Canadians to travel. 

“When I graduated from university and for several generations after, there was never any worry about getting a job—it was, what job am I going to take?” he said. 

Jamieson expressed that he feels sorry for the students of this generation, seeing their inability to travel as a hindrance to their learning experience. He urges students to make the most of the resources they have and travel within Canada if possible. 

“Go to Quebec for a week and meet Francophone students and find out what, why and where they are—I think that’s important,” he said.