US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs and suggestions that Canada should be annexed have angered Canadians, who are expressing their anger in different ways. New travel bookings to the neighbouring country have declined by 20% since February 1.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that the carrier has adjusted its capacity after seeing a big drop in passenger arrivals from Canada.
Allyson C, a Vancouver resident who cancelled her family’s summer vacation to Washington, said the family has lost a lot of interest in going to the States in general. He cited the frequent tariff disputes with the Trump administration and fluctuations in the US exchange rate as reasons, reported Reuters.
The US Travel Association estimated that a 10% drop in Canadian travellers could cost $2.1 billion in consumer spending in the US. The States recorded 20.4 million visits in 2024. Arrivals were already at 90% of pre-pandemic levels and a drop further worries the local travel industry.
Jan Freitag, director of U.S. hospitality at CoStar, said the language of the Trump administration, the weather and the exchange rate will affect cross-border travel in 2024. “The thing that is different this year is the rhetoric from the administration that has a lot of Canadians thinking twice about coming across the border,” he said.
The actions and words of the Trump administration have also affected Canada’s attitude towards the US. Corey Fram, director of a tourism marketing firm said the US president’s “continuous disparagement of Canada is taking a toll.”
The firm also had to adjust its messaging about US destinations to the Canadian audience. “We’ve been very careful not to broadcast and demonstrate U.S. assets to Canadian audiences and Canadian assets to U.S. audiences because when we have, we found that has drawn out a lot of negative sentiment,” Fram said.
Travelers from Canada aren’t the only ones avoiding the US Bookings from Denmark and Germany, which dropped by 27% and 15% compared to last year, according to Forward Keys. However, overall demand from Europe only fell by 1%. The Trump administration has announced that from April 11, all foreign visitors over age 14 must register and provide fingerprints if they stay in the US for more than 30 days. Canadians are not exempt, even though they are usually allowed to visit for up to six months without a visa.
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