Canadians, angered by U.S. tariffs and Trump administration talk of turning their country into a 51st state, really do appear to be boycotting the United States. Ticket sales for travel in summer, a crucial season for the industry, are down 21 percent compared with last year.
The decline in Canadian travelers, who make up roughly a quarter of all foreign visitors, is enough by itself to threaten tourism-oriented businesses in Florida, New York, Maine and other popular destinations.
Sometimes, however, the link between politics and personal travel decisions appears unmistakable. Since President Trump stepped up his hostility toward Canada, border crossings have plummeted.
Unlike air travel, land travel often isn’t planned months in advance, so changes reflect a change in sentiment more quickly. Crossings from Canada dropped sharply after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians to “choose Canadian products and services rather than American ones” on Feb. 1.
Traffic at two of the busiest crossings, near Niagara Falls, fell 42 percent in March compared with 2024. And traffic at a busy crossing point between Vancouver and Seattle fell 48 percent.
Glad they look at just non-canadian numbers here. I will, once again, point out the stupidly large amount of money Canadians spend on tourism in the states -
Imagine what that would do if spent in Canada.
We’re going to find out this summer.
I expect the well known tourist destinations here to be packed.
I hope so. It may help the economies of Mexico and Cuba more than anything else.
Keep it up, Canada! If you guys can crash the economy in Florida, and kill the GOP’s stranglehold there, that would be fantastic!
Another factor is snowbirds selling their Florida properties. They are somewhat flooding the market right now which will drive down prices.
Lots of people are moving–or trying to move–because property insurance has gotten so expensive, and you can’t have a mortgage without also having property insurance. But DeSantis and Trump both close their eyes and stick their fingers in their ears when anyone mentions “climate change”.
Honestly, I’m surprised and disappointed that summer bookings from Europe are only down 2%. We’ve just had national headlines regarding the abysmal treatment of a couple of our nationals who came to visit Hawaii.
Bookings are down far more than 2%. That number is for arrivals which is the realization of bookings made months ago. The article itself shows bookings down double digits from many European countries.
The quotes from American airlines say international bookings are ok because those airlines mostly cater to Americans travelling abroad. What do European airlines have to say about traffic to the US? How is the summer looking at Lufthansa?
This article cherry picks data. I feel like it was written to convince us that what we are hearing is false, not to reflect the facts.
In Canada, some airlines have already started to cancel entire routes due to lack of demand.
I agree though, the impact should be greater.
My stepfather works for a company based in the US. They recently had to cancel a conference since it was in Ohio, and nearly all the staff here refused to attend.
This is going to affect more than just tourism.
Most, if not all of the Ontario school boards have canceled their planned trips to the US. They certainly don’t want to take a chance that one of their darker-skinned or foreign exchange students could be whisked off to El Salvador instead of arriving at Disney World.
What trips were they taking to the States? I don’t think I ever had a field trip out of country, though it’s been a while since I graduated. I think the furthest we ever went was Quebec City.
My kids were in their high school band, and every year they would have a trip to New York City, Washington DC, or Disneyworld in Florida.
I never had anything like that, but then again I was in high school in the mid 1970s.
