Michael Mortensen was looking forward to spending two weeks in Hawaii with his family last month, but his patriotism wouldn’t let him.
The Vancouver-based development consultant and urban planner said he’s refusing to spend money south of the border while President Donald Trump “levies idiotic tariffs and rains chaos” on Americans and Canadians alike.
Mortensen, 58, had budgeted about $10,000 for accommodations, food and entertainment, but he’s now exploring alternative destinations that bypass the U.S. “without even a connection or layover.” He added that he wrote letters to Hawaii’s governor and the state’s tourism board explaining his decision.
Trump’s escalating trade war against America’s closest allies and trade partners isn’t just rattling stock markets and drawing retaliation from Beijing, Brussels and Ottawa. It’s also fueling a backlash among ordinary consumers across the northern border.
I prefer to direct my investments toward markets where stability and mutual respect are a priority. Lisa Shea, 56, Gatineau, Quebec
Two-thirds of Canadians said they’d significantly reduced their purchases of American products in stores (68%) and online (65%), and 59% said they’re less likely to visit the U.S. this year than in 2024, according to a survey last week by the Canadian market researcher Leger. Some 36% of Canadians with U.S. travel plans said they’d already canceled them.
A separate poll this month by Montreal-based Approach Tours found even higher resistance among older Canadians, with three-quarters of respondents ages 55 and up saying they’re avoiding trips to the U.S. more than before.
Canadians made an estimated 20.4 million visits to the U.S. last year, a number expected to rise by more than a million in 2025, according to the U.S. Travel Association. But the industry group warned last month that even a 10% drop in those visits would cost $2.1 billion in lost spending and some 14,000 jobs. Already, Canada’s statistical agency reported a 23% drop in Canadian car trips to the U.S. last month compared with February 2024 and a 2.4% dip in residents’ round-trip air travel.
Lisa Shea, a college English professor in Gatineau, Quebec, has plans to visit multiple cities in California with three of her best friends in June. But “given the current political climate,” she said they’re considering canceling and taking a loss on their nonrefundable flights.
“I prefer to direct my investments toward markets where stability and mutual respect are a priority,” said Shea, 56.
Lisa Shea, right, and her travel buddies. Courtesy Lisa Shea
Some Canadians plan to stay out of the United States until Trump’s out of office.
Cam Hayden, 69, owner of the Edmonton Blues Festival and a regular at American blues events throughout the U.S., said he’s boycotting the country until “some sense of normalcy returns,” calling it “a matter of conscience.”
Sam Chungyampin, 39, feels similarly. He was excited about Coachella’s lineup this year but is skipping the California music festival he’s attended three times previously.
“I have no plans on going to the U.S. for the next four years,” the Vancouver-based marketing consultant said. Trump is “giving everyone a headache. I’m so sick of this,” he said.
A White House spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment. The president has repeatedly dismissed criticism of his tariffs and promised they’ll generate vast revenues for Americans. “We’re going to become so rich you’re not going to know where to spend all that money,” he said last week.
“There is a souring national mood toward the U.S.,” said Christian Wolters, the Canada president and general manager of North America marketing at tour organizer Intrepid Travel. He said many Canadian customers are pivoting away from the U.S. to travel domestically or take short-haul flights to destinations such as Mexico and Costa Rica.
As tariff threats hovered last month, Air Canada told investors it was pre-emptively reducing March capacity to Las Vegas and other leisure destinations in Florida and Arizona that are typically popular with Canadian travelers. A spokesperson for the airline said last week that the situation remains “very fluid” and declined to comment further.
The CEO of Calgary-based WestJet told Canada’s CTV News in mid-February that it was seeing a “very significant” 25% drop in Canadians’ U.S. travel demand since Trump’s tariff announcements. That shift in bookings has continued, a WestJet spokesperson said last week, with Mexican and Caribbean destinations benefiting from falling interest in American ones.
At just a three-hour flight from Toronto, Bermuda is poised to prosper from the trend. Hamilton Princess & Beach Club said it’s received at least 10 inquiries from Canadians over the past week looking to relocate or plan new business events, weddings and leisure trips there this summer. The property now forecasts a 20% jump in revenue from the Canadian market due to the recent spike in interest.
Canadians accounted for around 40% of international visitors to South Florida’s Palm Beach County last year, according to Discover the Palm Beaches. The local tourism organization estimated those visits generated a half-billion dollars in annual economic impact. Worried about a dent to that spending, the group said it has raced to retool the pitch it’s making in Toronto, where it’s had a marketing event on the books for months.
“The trip has shifted to maintaining our strong relationships with Canadian media and clients,” CEO Milton Segarra said. Rather than just highlighting new local attractions, “we will also share special offers and deals to emphasize the value of our destination to attendees,” he said.
Thousand Islands tourism officials pulled this ad from Canadian audiences after it drew negative comments. 1000 Islands International Travel Council
In Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River, a popular vacation region straddling northern New York and southern Ontario, passenger traffic at the border was down 3% in January from the same month last year and 12% lower in the first two weeks of February from a year earlier, the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council said.
Marketing campaigns for the area are usually binational, showing off Canadian attractions alongside American ones, said Corey Fram, the council’s director, “because we know that makes us unique. But it’s a challenge to do that now because we’re getting pushback on ads.”
It’s a similar predicament at the opposite end of Lake Ontario, where a Niagara-area tourism group recently said it’s “actively revising our Buffalo Loves Canada campaign.” Cross-border traffic on the region’s four international bridges fell more than 14% last month from the year before, it said, and Canadian traffic to its website crashed by 45%.
The 1000 Islands council is now adjusting its marketing to show American audiences attractions on the U.S. side of the border and doing the reverse in Canada. At the same time, it’s deploying a hopeful, split-the-difference tagline: “1000 Islands. Where we’ve always met in the middle.”
The 1000 Islands International Tourism Council has rolled out a diplomatic new slogan. 1000 Islands International Tourism Council
Toronto-based travel blogger Liisa Ladouceur, 51, is splitting the difference as well. She’s canceled her March trip to Las Vegas but will travel to Detroit in April with her best friend, for a concert they bought tickets to months ago.
But instead of spending a long weekend and around $1,000 in the Motor City on accommodations, shopping, meals and museums, they’ll enter the U.S. for the show and then cross the Detroit River, staying overnight in Windsor, Ontario, before heading home.
“I’m recommending Canadians spend their leisure travel money here — or anywhere but the USA, really,” Ladouceur said. “It feels like a duty now.”
More Canadians avoid setting foot in the U.S., ‘without even a connection or layover’
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