Canada is seeing an increase in travelers canceling their trips to the United States due to President Donald Trump’s threats of crippling tariffs on imported goods from Canada and talk about the country becoming the 51st state. The situation has led to a growing number of Canadians choosing not to vacation in the US this year.
Peter Mulholland, a Vancouver resident, is one of many who have canceled their trips. He expressed frustration over Trump’s comments, saying they made him leery about traveling to the US. The tariffs he proposed will likely hurt both countries but will hurt Canada more.
Travel consultant McKenzie McMillan reports that his clients have canceled bookings for spring break vacations and seen a complete drop-off in new requests for US travel. While the Canadian dollar is weaker than usual, politics is the main reason Canadians are avoiding the US.
The US Travel Association warns that a 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean 2 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending, and 14,000 job losses. The top five most visited states by Canadians are Florida, California, Nevada, New York, and Texas.
Air Canada and WestJet, the country’s largest and second-largest airlines, respectively, are monitoring the situation and anticipating a slowdown in US travel. While they have noticed a decline in demand for flights to the US, they plan to continue flying where there is demand.
McMillan notes that the cruise industry may also feel an impact from Canadians choosing to skip trips that leave out of Los Angeles, Houston, or Miami. Instead, he has seen a shift towards booking trips to Mexico, Europe, Iceland, and Asia. As one affected traveler put it, “We probably will do a road trip of some sort and just explore parts of British Columbia we haven’t been to before.”
Source: https://apnews.com/article/canada-trump-united-states-travel-tariffs-8c28887b071c766dc2b8cee7be63ad5b