In a speech this month, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is clearly plagued by import duties imposed by President Trump and his threat to make Canada a “51st state.”
“It's still time to choose Canada,” Trudeau said, “this may mean changing our summer vacation plans to stay in Canada and explore the many national parks, historic places and tourist attractions our great power has to offer.”
In the next few weeks, it appears that at least some Canadians are taking his orders seriously.
Harold White, 72, who lives in Quebec, said:
Lawyer White said he canceled his annual summer trip to Maine. For decades, he made friends with local residents there, he said. Instead, he and his wife are planning to travel to Spain, and in later years they will travel on roads across Canada.
“It's painful to think I don't even have a holiday near Maine, Cape Cod or New York City,” White said he continued to travel to the United States during President Trump's first term. “But this time, it really feels like a Canadian being slapped across the face by Trump.”
The Canadians visited the US last year and were responsible for $20.5 billion in spending, according to the American Travel Association, a nonprofit representing the US travel industry. A 10% decline in Canadian visitors would reach a loss of $2.1 billion, the group said.
“We're pleased to announce that Alexis von Hoensbroech, CEO of Westjet, Canada's second largest airline,” said Alexis von Hoensbroech. “We're also seeing an increase in bookings to Mexico, an increase in Caribbean and other non-US destinations.”
Mark Garraldo, vice president of Air Canada, the nation's largest airline, said he will adjust his schedule from March to “derisk” the situation.
“We are proactively expecting there could be a slowdown,” he said in a statement.
Florida, California, Nevada, New York and Texas are the most visited US states by Canadians. According to US travel, these states could experience a decline in retail and hospitality sector revenues from Canada's travel boycotts.
But in a statement, the group's chief executive Jeff Freeman said the US received the largest international visitors ever in 2018 in the middle of the first Trump administration, saying what travelers say and what they are doing is often different.
“If travel from a particular destination decreases, we will share that information where we need to share it and work with the administration to resolve that issue,” Freeman said. “We want them to come to the US. If that's not happening, we have something to do.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Flight Centre Travel Group, an international travel agency, said the company has seen “softening of cross-border travel bookings” from Canada to the US. The Canadian dollar is weaker than the US dollar, the statement said, saying that existing reluctance was exacerbated by the announcement of import duties. (On Thursday, President Trump insisted that tariffs will come into effect next week.)
spokesman Amra Durakovic said Canadians' “travel desire” is strong, allowing many to prioritize other US destinations, allowing travelers to “make the most of their journey.”
“We hope that travel and trade between Canada and the US will soon resume with confidence and that both countries have enjoyed themselves for a long time,” Durakovic said in a statement.
In the US, state tourism agencies are playing a potential impact.
Sarah Otto Coleman, director of tourism and marketing for the North Dakota Department of Commerce, said the province, which borders Canada, has suspended paid marketing in Canada until “we can better understand the sentiment about traveling to North Dakota.”
Tim Chapman is the CEO of International Peace Garden, a park that stretches across the borders of Manitoba and North Dakota in Canada.
He said he was receiving emails from Canadian visitors. Visitors in Canada said they were not planning to visit tourist attractions that normally attract around 150,000 visitors a year.
In one exchange, Canadians told him they couldn't visit because of rhetoric from Washington, Chapman said. He explained that the garden is a nonprofit that needs support from visitors and that she felt she understood.
“Peace Gardens have always been responsible and defended for peace and cooperation in both of our countries,” Chapman said.
“We don't have much control over what's been said, but the majority of Americans and Canadians really value that friendship and years of cooperation, so we can still be a place where people can come together.”
Westjet executive Von Hoensbroech said he expects cross-border travel to return one day. He noted that this is common in the travel industry. This is a short-term response to current events that ultimately return to general stability. Still, he said the response was unique.
“I haven't seen anything like this,” he said.
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