Even before Trudeau called on Canadians to travel domestically, some had already begun canceling their US vacations and using social media to express their anger.
“Now is the time to choose Canada,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa. “It might mean changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites, and tourist destinations our great country has to offer.”
Over the weekend, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadians to reevaluate their US vacation plans after the Trump administration threatened the country with a hefty 25 percent tariff. The tariff has been paused for 30 days, but the damage may already be done.
“Yes, we are starting to see this,” said Jamie Angus-Milton, a partner at Uniglobe Carefree Travel in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. “We have had a handful of clients cancel their trips to the U.S. in favor of other destinations, and we are seeing new inquiries specifically asking to go places outside of the U.S..”
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Also telling: Canadians booed the US national anthem before the Ottawa Senators played the Minnesota Wild in Ottawa over the weekend. A new wave of patriotism and pride is sweeping Canada in response to the threat of tariffs and collective anger toward President Trump, which could be bad news for US tourism.
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“The situation with Canada is particularly fraught right now, even with the resolution as it now stands on tariffs,” said Adam Sacks, president of tourism economics at Oxford Economics. “The condescension and rhetoric associated with that entire episode has become part of the public consciousness in Canada. Telling Canada that it should just become the 51st state is terribly disrespectful.”
Even a minor drop in Canadian travelers to the United States could significantly affect the economy. According to the US Travel Association, Canada is the top source of international visitors to the United States, with 20.4 million visits in 2024, which generated $20.5 billion in spending. Even a 10 percent dip in Canadian travel could mean $2.1 billion in lost revenue.
Locally, Massachusetts stands to lose significantly if Canadians drop US travel plans.
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“Here in Boston, we will, of course, be impacted if the trade war erodes the travel trade,” David O’Donnell, vice president of strategic communications for Meet Boston, said in an email. “We were forecasted to set a new record for Canadian visitors in 2025.”
Based on travel trends, Boston anticipated seeing 878,000 Canadian tourists this year, surpassing the previous record of 864,000 set in 2019. These tourists were estimated to spend $660 million in the city. JetBlue is adding a new route from Halifax to Boston this summer, and WestJet is introducing a Vancouver-to-Boston flight. Tourism officials hoped those new flights would help strengthen Canadian tourism and spending in Massachusetts.
“Canadian tourism is a vital economic driver in Massachusetts — hundreds of thousands of Canadian visitors travel to our state each year supporting local businesses and communities,” said Kate Fox, executive director at the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. “We’re committed to strengthening this important relationship and welcoming even more Canadian travelers.”
If all of this sounds familiar — Donald Trump enters office with an “America first” agenda, and tourism takes a hit — it’s because it happened during his first administration. Shortly after taking office in 2017, Trump signed an executive order banning people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States (the Supreme Court eventually overturned the order). That was combined with anti-immigration policies, tighter Visa entry requirements, and rhetoric around a border wall between Mexico and the United States.
According to research from Oxford Economics, inbound tourism to the United States slowed during the first three years of the first Trump administration. Before Trump took office, tourism to the United States grew at a rate of 5 percent per year. When Trump was in office, it grew by 1 percent each year. There were also notable drops in tourism from Mexico, several countries in the Middle East, and China.
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While travel to the U.S. slowed, other countries saw inbound tourism flourish. During the first Trump administration, the U.S. lost a large share of those travel dollars to other countries, and Spain surpassed the U.S. as the second most visited country in the world. France retained its title as the most visited, according to the UN Tourism Barometer.
“Is it 2016 all over again?” said Sacks. “We’re only two weeks into this administration, so it’s not a fait accompli, but so far, I’d say yes. America has always been aspirational. Think of America as a brand, and if that brand loses some of the positives that it’s enjoyed over our history, including being a force for good in the world, then there is a lot at stake, and tourism is just a piece of it.”
Along with slower growth, international tourists in the United States spent less. During the first year of Trump’s first presidency, from November 2016 to November 2017, international travelers spent $4.6 billion less than then they had during the same period the year before, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.
To be clear, other factors could have contributed to a drop in US tourism during the first Trump administration. A strong dollar could have sent international tourists looking for cheaper destinations, as well as concerns about mass shootings and advisories against travel to the United States.
How the rest of the world will feel about vacationing in the United States for the next four years remains to be seen. If history is any indication, tourism from Mexico and China will drop under Trump.
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But new studies also show that tourists from other parts of the world are wary. A survey from YouGov found that travelers from several European countries said they are less likely to visit the United States with Trump in office.
Along with angry Canadians, Brits are also thinking of changing their plans. A study from the UK company Holiday Extras found that 17 percent of British travelers have pledged to avoid the United States in 2025 as a result of Trump’s return to the presidency.
“Since 2023, issues like climate events and global unrest have shaped travel trends, but this is the first election-driven disruption we’ve seen at this scale,” said Seamus McCauley, a spokesman for the company.
Christopher Muther can be reached at christopher.muther@globe.com. Follow him @Chris_Muther and Instagram @chris_muther.
US travel industry faces a second ‘Trump Slump’
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