Canadians withdraw on American trips, threatening to widen the travel deficit

Canadians are organizing a protest of “elbows” against the American prices and other policies of US President Donald Trump, Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 22, 2025.

Carlos Osorio | Reuters

Canadians are jumping trips to the United States and visitors from other countries may soon follow the threat of deepening the $ 50 billion travel deficit in the United States.

Experts say that they are retreating for various reasons, ranging from an unfavorable exchange rate of the currency to the American political climate given the trade policies of President Donald Trump and his public declarations on the annexation of Canada, as well as the high-level prisoners of people who already had visas in the United States, long-waiting visa times and other policies that have added to long-term visas.

On Friday, a White House spokesman said by email that “everyone wanted to come to America by President Trump”.

Canadians “will no longer have to endure the disadvantages of international trips when Canada becomes our 51st state” and “Europeans are impatient to take advantage of America's golden age if they wish,” said the spokesperson.

In response to President Trump's pricing plans at the time, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians last month to “choose Canada” and suggested “to change your summer holiday plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historic sites and tourist destinations that our big country has to offer.”

Travel cross-border trends and Trump administration policies are concerned about some in the United States travel industry, which attracts more than $ 1 billion of direct expenditure per year.

The US Travel Association declared in a press release at CNBC that there was “a question of the reception of America, an American economy slowed down and recent security problems.

“These challenges are real and require decisive action,” said the organization, whose members include large hotel groups, airlines and other large travel companies, adding that “working actively with the White House and Congress to advance policies that stimulate economic expansion and maintain American competition on the world scene”.

There are billions of dollars at stake. People in the United States are already traveling abroad and spending more in other countries than the United States has foreign travelers.

Last year, the United States’s travel deficit was more than $ 51 billion, which means that the Americans spent much further abroad than foreigners by visiting the United States spent, which spent expenditure on medical and educational purposes, which have still shown a deficit, according to data from the Commerce Department.

The United States brought more than 72 million visitors last year, still below pre-cook levels, according to a Jefferies report. Visitors to Canada were the largest group, representing 28%, followed by Mexico at 23%, the bank said in a post this month.

Travel and tourism of incoming visitors are considered to be American exports, and they have represented around 8% of American exports of goods and services, according to the Commerce Department.

International overseas visitors are particularly important because they tend to stay longer and spend more money than local tourists, according to the US Travel Association.

Some Canadians travel elsewhere

Plane trips and crossings between the United States and Canada are down.

In February, Canadian's return flights to Canada dropped by 13% compared to last year, while car travel dropped by 23%, according to Statistics Canada.

The hotel's demand in a region along the Canadian American border is also decreasing. As of March 15, they were down 8% in Bellingham, Washington, and 3.5% in the Niagara Falls region, according to the Data Company of the Str Hotel. However, demand throughout Florida, a higher destination for Canadian travelers increased by 3% compared to last year, said the firm.

Canadian airlines cut certain routes and flights to the United States

Canadian Airline Flair, for example, said that he had canceled his Toronto planned in Nashville, Tennessee, Route.

“Our network decisions are justly motivated by consumer demand, we deployed our plane where demand is the strongest to provide the lowest rates to the greatest number of travelers,” said a spokesperson for the airline.

Canadian airline Westjet said that she had seen Canadian customers moving reservations from the United States to other popular Sunseeker destinations such as Mexico and the Caribbean.

“The airline remains focused on the knowledge where people want to go, and we will continue to steal where there is a request,” said a spokesperson.

Learn more CNBC Airline News

The change comes while travel leaders have warned against lower than expected reservations for domestic American trips, which means that more local tourism may not be able to compensate for the drop in cross -border trips. While credit and debit card expenditure of American households increased by 1.5% compared to last year to March 22, expenditure on airlines dropped by 7.2%, according to a report from the Bank of America this week.

The CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, for example, said at a conference on investors earlier this month that the carrier cuts the routes in part because it saw “a large part cross-border, a great drop in Canadian traffic to go to the United States”, as well as a sharp drop in flights that had already treated American trips.

Lara Harbachian, who works for a digital printing company in Montreal, and eight friends (so far) had envisaged several American destinations this year to celebrate their 40th anniversary: ​​San Diego; Palm Springs, California; Savannah, Georgia; or Nashville. The winner was further east: Barcelona, ​​Spain.

While flights to Europe were more expensive than those to American destinations, Harbachian said he would be cheaper for her and her friends to visit the popular Spanish city, where they will not need to rent a car and high -end meals and hotels are cheaper, especially with a lower Canadian dollar on the green back.

“I can have a 15 euros meal but I can't have a $ 15 meal” in the United States, “she said.

Trump earlier this month created a working group for the FIFA World Cup 2026 that the United States co-hosted with Mexico and Canada to “present the country's pride and hospitality while promoting economic growth and tourism through sport”.

Travel warnings on the United States

Another challenge for the American travel industry this year is an increasing number of travel warnings on visiting the United States. So far, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark and Finland have issued travel warnings for their citizens who plan to go to the United States.

These were provoked by detentions, even people who had visas to be in the United States as well as by Trump's decree that the country would only recognize two biological sexes, which arouses the concerns of governments in Europe about travelers whose passports indicate a different sex from that with which they were born.

For example, Germany said that “travelers with the” X “gender entrance or whose current gender entry differs from their date of birth must contact the manager's mission.

Travel warnings “could dissuade international visitors, in particular new travelers,” said Carolin Lusby, assistant professor in tourism at the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University.

She said there was often a rebound after an incident or a tragedy, as after the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015. “But often we know that once an image of destination changes, it requires a lot of effort to bring confidence,” she said.

“In terms of economic consequences, this could turn into billions of lost dollars,” she added.

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