Canadians spent more on entertainment in 2025, with increased spending on dining out, concerts, sports games, and other experiences amid a slowdown in travel, particularly to the U.S., according to new data from TD Economics.
Entertainment spending expanded roughly 10.2 per cent from January to November, making it the fastest-growing category of consumer expenditure in Canada, according to a report on TD credit and debit card spending. Entertainment also accounted for 16.7 per cent of total spending.
Typically, entertainment and travel spending move in tandem, says TD economist Maria Solovieva. If there is a rise in one category, the other usually sees growth as well. That pattern held early in 2025, but diverged later in the year as trade relations between Canada and the United States became strained, Solovieva says.
In November, for example, Canadian residents’ return trips from the U.S. by air fell 19.3 per cent year-over-year to 465,800, according to Statistics Canada.
Solovieva says the divergence likely led to a shift in how Canadians allocated discretionary spending this year, especially as overall consumer spending remains resilient.
“What potentially could have happened is that people were [mostly] travelling domestically or just spending more time at home and spending more of a share of their spending on going out locally, going to restaurants, or going to sports events,” she said.
Lower interest rates also played a significant role in fuelling entertainment spending this year, Solovieva adds, making it more resilient than expected, given trade headwinds.
The Bank of Canada began cutting interest rates in the latter half of 2024 — these effects typically don’t play out right away, and the lag effect was seen this year, she says. Discretionary spending, which includes entertainment expenses, receives a significant boost when interest rates are lower.
Solovieva also points out that household net worth is growing, even if not across all demographics, which contributes to a larger share of discretionary spending and ultimately entertainment spending. Canadian households grew their wealth to a record high of $18.4 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, marking a two-year streak where net worth has climbed for eight consecutive quarters.
While 2025 has been a resilient year for consumer spending, it’s expected to see a more modest increase of 1.2 per cent in 2026, compared to a projected 2.5 per cent this year, the report says.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source ca.finance.yahoo.com ’
