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.
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.