Over the past year, something remarkable has happened in Canada.

We cheered on the Toronto Blue Jays during their World Series run, welcomed the world for the FIFA World Cup, rallied behind our athletes and embraced the importance of supporting Canadian businesses. National pride became more than a slogan — it became a mindset.

The question is whether this is a passing response to circumstance or something more enduring.

I believe it is an awakening. And if Canadians are serious about celebrating what makes this country extraordinary, tourism should be the next frontier.

For generations, many of us instinctively looked elsewhere when planning a vacation. The farther from home, the more foreign, the better. But today’s travellers are beginning to rewrite that script.

Whether it is checking a Canadian destination off the bucket list, discovering a world-class food and wine experience close to home or finding greater value as travel costs rise, more Canadians are choosing Canada; not as a compromise, but as the vacation they have been looking for all along.

The numbers tell an encouraging story. Leger’s 2026 travel outlook found that 77 per cent of Canadians planning a summer vacation intend to travel within Canada. Destination Canada estimates that Canadians redirected $1.5 billion in travel spending back into our economy in 2025. International interest is growing, too — Statistics Canada reported 5.5 million international arrivals by air and automobile in June, up 3.6 per cent from last year.

Canadians are not losing their desire to travel. They are reconsidering what makes a vacation worthwhile.

With airfare and accommodation costs continuing to climb, families want vacations that stretch every dollar without diminishing the experience. Depending on the trip, RV vacations can cost nearly 60 per cent less than flying and staying in hotels, while allowing families to stay longer, discover more places and travel at their own pace.

But affordability is only part of the story.

After years of notifications, news cycles and calendars filled with obligations, Canadians are craving something money cannot buy — time that genuinely restores them.

Our research shows that nearly two-thirds of Canadians want a break from screens and the relentless pace of daily life. Seven in 10 wish they could spend more time with family, while three-quarters say being outdoors makes them happier.

That desire is not about escaping life. It is about reconnecting with it. We call that feeling Wildhood.

Wildhood is not a destination you enter into a GPS. It is the freedom to reconnect with who you want to be. It is gathering around a campfire after an unplanned detour, watching your children skip rocks instead of scrolling through screens, or discovering a small town you never intended to visit but never want to leave.

More than two million RVs are already on Canadian roads. That is likely because RVing offers more than a traditional vacation — it brings together affordability, flexibility, family time, the outdoors and the freedom to explore beyond familiar destinations.

RVing is not the only way to experience Canada, but it may be one of the best.

Canada’s greatest attraction has never been a single landmark or postcard destination. It is the freedom to wake up beside a mountain one day, a lake the next and a small town you have never heard of the day after that.

The pride Canadians have shown should not stop at what we cheer for or what we buy. It should extend to where we choose to go.

Somewhere between the open road, the campfire and the unexpected detour is the Canada we have been celebrating, and a reminder that this remarkable country is worth our wild.

Chris Mahony is president of Go RVing Canada, a not-for-profit association that aims to inform and inspire Canadians around the RV lifestyle.