Gov. DeSantis dismisses reports of Canadians not visiting Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to dismiss reports that Canadians will stay away from Florida as a backlash to President Donald Trump's tariffs and threats to annex Canada.
During an appearance Monday at the Florida Realtors organization in Orlando, DeSantis recounted a recent trip with his family to Legoland in Winter Haven as he tried to dispel the notion that Canadians were scaling back vacation plans.
'I'm with my kids, you know, we were down at spring break, and we're at Legoland, and all these people are coming up to me for pictures, which is fine. I normally do that. And I'd say, like, 80 percent of them were Canadians,' DeSantis said. 'And I'm like, 'I thought you guys weren't coming to Florida anymore.' 'Oh no, we love Florida.' So, we're going to continue to be a destination.'
While at the Capitol on Tuesday, DeSantis repeated the Legoland anecdote and added he expects Florida to 'continue to be a tourist hotspot.'
Canadians account for about a quarter of the international travelers to Florida.
The estimated 3.271 million Canadians who made their way to Florida in 2024 was 1.2 percent more than in 2023 and about 20 percent below the number in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic slammed the tourism industry.
The Miami Herald reported Monday that demand for flights from Canada to South Florida are down about 20 percent from a year ago. Also, the research firm Tourism Economist altered its forecast for travel to the U.S. this year from nearly 9 percent growth to a 5.1 percent decline.
Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing agency, which typically releases tourism figures for the first quarter of the year in mid-May.
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