U.S. Travel Boycott: 60% Of Canadians Staying Away Because Of Trump, Survey Says

Forbes

29-04-2025

Six in 10 Canadian adults say they are unlikely to travel to the U.S. this year—and more than a third have already canceled trip plans—due to the political tensions created by President Donald Trump, who has threatened to make Canada the '51st state.'
Canadians rally against President Donald Trump's '51st state' rhetoric in Toronto. (Photo by Mert ... More Alper Dervis)
60% of Canadian adults say recent U.S. trade policies and political statements make them less likely to travel south of the border in the next 12 months, according to a Longwoods International study of Canadians released Tuesday (the poll was of 1,000 adults, conducted from April 11 to 15).
More than one-third (36%) of those surveyed had planned to travel to the U.S. in the next year but have since canceled those plans.Smaller numbers believe the U.S. is 'welcoming of visitors from their country' (42%) and that America 'values international visitors' (38%).
40% of respondents are instead choosing to travel domestically in Canada, while 27% are looking to other international destinations like Mexico and Europe.
Canada was the No. 1 source of inbound tourism to the U.S. in 2024, with 20.4 million Canadian visitors spending 20.5 billion dollars at American hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses.
Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics, predicts a 20.2% decline in visits from Canada in 2025.
Canadians aren't the only cohort pulling back from travel to the U.S. Foreign inbound travel is trending downward overall, and it's costing the U.S. billions of dollars. The volume of international visitors fell roughly 14% in March 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Customs and Border Protection and outside organizations. The number of Canadians taking road trips into the U.S.—representing the majority of Canadians who visit—dropped by 32% in March year over year, according to data from Statistics Canada, which reported a 13.5% decline in U.S-bound air travelers from Canada that month. The U.S. also saw a 17% decline in visitors from Western Europe, a 10% drop from South America and a second consecutive month of declining visits from Asia, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Every 1% drop in international visitor spending means $1.8 billion lost in export revenue annually, according to calculations from the U.S. Travel Association (USTA). 'If this 14% decline were to hold through 2025, the U.S. stands to lose at least $21 billion in travel-related exports,' according to a recent USTA news release.
Whether the damage done by President Trump's tariffs, imperialistic rhetoric and viral headlines of foreigners with legal tourist visas and green cards being detained by U.S. immigration officials can be turned around. 'I think increasingly, whether there's validity to it or not, we have to acknowledge these headlines around the world—of people being detained, of their devices being searched, stories of deportation—it's causing a degree of fear,' Geoff Freeman, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, told Forbes. 'In the absence of effective communication to explain what CBP is doing, what U.S. policy is, the fact that we want you to come, we've allowed this negative publicity to run rampant.'
More than 80% of Canadians surveyed said they believe the U.S. has 'lots of things to see and do' and 57% indicated it's 'a place I'd really enjoy visiting,' according to the Longwoods survey. 'I disagree with the idea that the sky is falling,' Freeman told Forbes. 'I think we're in a challenging position right now. I think that we have a hole to dig out of, but we can dig out of it. We're the United States of America. We've got the [2026] World Cup coming up. We've got America250. We've got the [2028] Olympics coming up. We've got national parks like nobody else in the world, there are reasons to come here.'
140,000. That's how many American jobs were supported by Canadian visitors in 2024, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
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