Global attitudes towards the United States as a tourism destination are plunging. Journey pressures, trade fee shifts and growing financial uncertainty have all broken the repute of the American travel sector.
Canadian travellers are more and more turning to home locations as an alternative of heading south. In July, Canada recorded its seventh consecutive month of declining travel by Canadians to the U.S..
Political tensions look like enjoying a task on this shift.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks about wanting to annex Greenland and make Canada the “51st state” proceed to strain relations between the U.S. and its allies.
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For travellers, these tensions are yet another deterrent for travelling to the U.S. About three-quarters of Canadians say Trump is “dangerous” and beneficial views of the U.S. are at an all-time low.
Influence south of the border
This 12 months, many Canadians reconsidered plans to go to the U.S. for enterprise, leisure or school-related excursions, and a few also boycotted American products.
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A spring 2025 prediction by Tourism Economics anticipated a 20 per cent drop in Canadian travellers to the U.S.. The U.S. Journey Affiliation commerce group warned that even a ten per cent lower would translate to two million fewer visits and US$2.1 billion in lost spending.
By the top of the summer season, year-to-date Canadian visitation numbers to the U.S. had dropped about 25 per cent, confirming that U.S.-inbound journey continues to under-perform.
These decisions additionally mirror nervousness over border-related points. Measures equivalent to selected detainment and asking Canadians to register with Homeland Security in the event that they plan to remain within the U.S. for 30 days or extra has raised issues amongst these accustomed to a much less intrusive cross-border expertise, with some even describing the U.S. as a “hostile state.”
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U.S. border cities really feel the pinch
The results of declining journey are being felt most acutely in U.S. border cities that rely closely on Canadian guests. Canadians are now not “flooding the streets of Seattle,” however as an alternative are supporting their very own tourism economic system.
Cities equivalent to Buffalo, N.Y., hoped to entice Canadians with welcoming billboards and particular incentives over the summer season. However in keeping with Patrick Kaler, CEO of Visit Buffalo Niagara, it was clear their efforts weren’t working, and the customary wave of Canadian guests by no means arrived.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
The ripple results prolong properly past conventional tourism locations as properly. One New York golf membership reported losing US$400,000 in Canadian revenue, as an illustration.
It’s not simply Canadian travellers, both. Whereas Canada has seen an increasing number of European visitors, the U.S. recorded a 17 per cent decline in European arrivals this past spring, additionally doubtless because of the Trump administration’s insurance policies and basic actions.
Canadian tourism grows stronger
Whereas U.S.-bound journey declines, home tourism in Canada is on the uptick. Tourism is the nation’s second-largest service export, bringing $31 billion into the nation final 12 months, in keeping with Destination Canada.
Not like conventional exports, the place items are shipped overseas, tourism brings the world’s travellers to Canada — and more and more, retains Canadians exploring at residence.
Canadians took a complete of 77.4 million trips within Canada within the first quarter of 2025. This shift has been a welcome development to native tourism organizations and companies which were more and more counting on the assist of native travellers.
However the growing worry and uncertainty of American tariffs, insurance policies and bilateral relationships are additionally inflicting unrest amongst Canadian tourism businesses.
The affect from Trump’s tariffs are felt notably strongly by many Indigenous business owners who are actually navigating inflationary pressures and workforce shortages.
Wanting ahead
The downturn in U.S.-bound journey could extend beyond the summer as journey developments proceed to evolve. The statistics underscore the challenges that the U.S. tourism sector is going through and is likely to continue to face in to the future.
With World Tourism Day approaching on Sept. 27, journey and tourism professionals are inspired to mirror on the business’s improvement.
A central goal of World Tourism Day is to encourage “consciousness among the many worldwide group of the significance of tourism and its social, cultural, political, and financial worth.”
As tourism consultants, we proceed to advertise Canadian generosity via professionals and travellers who hold kindness on the centre of their journey — an motion which may be much more vital than many understand.
Intentional journey and tourism can foster each peace and understanding. Whereas the main focus of World Tourism Day and the United Nations World Tourism Group is to carry the world nearer, this 12 months Canadians labored to carry Canada itself nearer collectively.
