- According to WestJet Airlines, Canadians choose South America over the US as travel bookings dip.
- A 10% drop in Canadian visits could cost the US $2.1 billion and 14,000 jobs.
- The trade war may be just one of many factors why Canadians are staying away from US travel.
The vice chair of Canada’s second-largest airline says Canadians are avoiding the US as a travel destination in favor of South American countries.
“There’s clearly been a reaction,” WestJet’s Alex Cruz told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe co-host Karen Tso last week when asked if the Trump trade war has dented Canadians’ willingness to visit the US. “What we are seeing, though, is people changing their destinations. It’s no longer Phoenix or Florida. It’s the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Mexico.”
“Canadians are seeking to continue to travel overall, it’s just they may shift from the US,” he added.
Avoidance of US goods and services above the northern border came after Trump repeatedly instated and paused a 25% tariff on Canadian products. Trump also, on many occasions, suggested that the northern neighbor become America’s 51st state.
Not only are US-made goods now being boycotted in Canada and pulled off grocery store shelves, but travel by passenger cars — a common way for Canadians to reach the US — in February shed roughly half a million crossings in comparison to February 2024 and hit its lowest monthly number since April 2022, according to data from the Customs and Border Protection.
If the downward trend continues, the US tourism industry could face serious consequences. The US Travel Association told Business Insider that while they don’t have a current estimate for changes in visitation from Canada if inbound visitation from the north declined by just 10%, it could mean 2 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending, and 14,000 job losses.
“We’re already seeing the first signs that Canadian sentiment toward the US is changing in a not-so-positive way,” Amir Eylon, president and CEO of Longwoods International, a market research consultancy specializing in the travel tourism industry, recently told BI.
“Anecdotally, we’re seeing bookings from Canada to the US down,” he added.
Shirley Horn, the board secretary and treasurer of the Highway 120 Chamber of Commerce near Yosemite National Park, said international visitors, including Canadians, do not seem to be choosing Yosemite this year. She said this was partly due to the uncertainty around cuts at national parks.
“Normally, the international visitors would reserve way ahead of time, and now we’re seeing the impact of tariffs,” she said, adding, “Canadians are making a statement.”
Some Canadians also told BI that they would remain wary of going to the US, even if the trade war eventually goes away, over issues like the ICE deportation of immigrants and the threats of annexation.
“Even if the tariffs issue ends or if there’s another president in four years, some Canadians are saying, ‘Once bitten, twice shy,'” Pearl Whamond, a Canadian mom who used to travel to the US often, said. “There have been too many threats and too much back-and-forth. It feels like bullying, it feels threatening, and as a country, we’re not appreciating it.”
WestJet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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