Last spring, Patrick Twomey recorded a tiktok which became viral. In a context of trees and snow, the founder of the 2nd Travel – a company based in Banff, Alberta – announced that he and his company would no longer go to the United States.
“I am not comfortable crossing the border, and I am not comfortable spending money under a diet that attacks my house and the countries I have a lot of heat,” Twomey told Monitor in a telephone interview.
Earlier this year, the adventurer gave customers a chance to redirect their visits elsewhere or completely cancel trips.
Why we wrote this
The United States is the only country of 184 which is expected to fall in tourism spending this year. New England States in particular are struggling with a Canadian travel boycott.
“There has been a lot of appetite for New England this year, and I just said:” I can’t do it, “says Twomey.
Its feelings are only part of a broader international drop in tourism having an impact on the United States. Last December, the tourism economy planned that trips abroad to the United States in 2025 would increase more than 10% in annual shift. This number is now on the right track to fall by 3%. And in a study published in May of the World Travel & Tourism Council analyzing the economic impact of tourism in 184 countries, the United States was the only country planned to see international spending for visitors in 2025. The United States is on the right track to lose $ 12.5 billion in spending compared to last year. Canadians have been around a quarter of all foreign travelers who visited the United States in 2024 and spent $ 20.5 billion during their stay.
The drop in Canadian tourists is particularly worrying for New England States, including Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine – all of which share a border with Canada. The number of Canadian tourist vehicles traveling in these states was around 228,000 in July, down around 105,000 vehicles compared to last year. It is a decrease of 32%, according to recent customs data and the protection of American borders.
But with many Canadians who spoke by the United States after President Donald Trump’s push this year to declare Canada on the 51st state, generally declares solid relations with their north neighbors who find themselves looking for solutions. The options have gone from the reputation of the streets and to offer special discounts to the hoping that the autumn leaves season and visitors from other states will make the difference. But even some Americans are clear.
Catherine Maule, a Toronto resident, found herself rethinking her annual summer trip to visit her family in Maine. Ms. Maule, an American, met her Canadian husband at the university and moved to her country of origin in 2000. In June, she wrote an editorial for Bangor Daily News explaining her decision to give up traveling in the United States
“I was struggling in a way with very complicated feelings about what is happening politically in the United States, and in particular to watch the expulsion of immigrants,” she said by phone. “It looks very much like a moral decision, an ethical decision. This is less a personal fear. ”
Ms. Ms.’s American friends in Canada “struggle with similar problems”. Many, she said, “have made the same decision as – at least for the moment – they will not go.”
Ms. Maule and Mr. Twomey know many Canadians who have canceled their trips to the United States, opting rather for domestic trips to Canada or trips abroad elsewhere.
“It’s almost embarrassing at home now to say that you are going,” explains Mr. Twomey. “It must be something necessary.”
Visit Rue Canada. Please?
The Vermont Tourism Department has teamed up with local businesses to provide discounts to Canadian visitors. And in a symbolic gesture, during the summer, the municipal council of Burlington temporarily renamed one of its main streets in Canada Street, or rue Canada.
Between January and July, there was a decrease of 30% of Canadians crossing the border in Vermont compared to the same period in 2024. According to the Vermont tourism and marketing department, Canadian visitors normally total around 750,000 per year and contribute around $ 150 million to the state economy.
Although the complete data on summer tourism figures take months to go out, “anecdotal … things are a bit soft this year,” explains Jeff Lawson, director of Hello Burlington and Vice-President of Tourism and Marketing at the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Lac Champlain.
Local companies, he says, do not see “the levels of visitors they would normally see”. Mr. Lawson underlines the marinas on Lake Champlain who “saw a fairly steep drop in their slippery rentals, and a large part of this can be assigned directly to Canada, because we share a lake with Quebec.”
Lawson heard many Canadians who have changed their travel plans.
“Many people who write from Canada are remarkably reflected and respectful, and they say:” Hey, we love Burlington, we love the Vermont. We know you haven’t really voted for that, but you have to understand. We have come every year in the past 20 years, but we don’t come before something changes at the federal level, “he says. “We don’t feel comfortable putting money in the American economy right now.” “”
For his part, Mr. Lawson says he understands.
“Certainly a bitter pill to swallow when we realize that it is just outside our influence and that it is not something that we ask or deserve necessarily, although it has nothing to do with it,” he said. “They simply make a decision in the best interest of their country.”
Riley Robinson / Staff / File
Welcome to Maine
Interior trips to Maine supported the economy of this state, tourists in the United States are looking for an accidental charm of New England and the fashionable food scene of Portland. The numbers of visitors to Acadia National Park are increasing, as is the toll numbers of Maine Turnpike. And at Portland International Jetport, passenger traffic increased by 9% compared to the top of all time from last year.
The good news comes after the high-level concerns of the Maine governor that the state of Pine Tree could lose 225,000 Canadian tourists this year due to American-Canadian tensions.
“These are hundreds of thousands of less people who stay in our hotels, our B&B, fewer people making reservations in restaurants, shopping in our small businesses, buying memories and products we sell here in Maine,” said Governor Janet Mills at a press conference this spring.
During the Memorial Day weekend in May, the streets of Midcoastal cities of Camden and Rockport, as well as the island of Penobscot Bay in Vinalhaven, were significantly more empty than usual. Several restaurants had not yet opened for the season. For his part, Governor Mills went to Canada in June and the Maine Office of Tourism installed welcoming Canadians on the border.
“While domestic visits maintain strong activity levels, the reduced presence of Canadian travelers may feel in areas that traditionally rely on cross -border visitors,” said Maine’s tourism office in a statement. “The anecdotal comments of local chambers of commerce and business owners suggest that interior travel helps to balance this decline, but international tourism remains an important element in the long -term visitors’ economy of Maine.”
Will the fall leaves draw the peepers?
According to Charyl Reardon, president of the White Mountains Reardon, largely due to a series of rainy weekends, according to Charyl Reardon, president of the White Mountains Attractions Association. The visitors’ numbers resumed in July, but “the natural attractions that attract Canadian visitors certainly see much more impact of their lack of visits than, let’s say, an amusement park like the village or the land of Santa Claus.”
“A large part is not necessarily the rate exchange in dollars or something like that,” explains Ms. Reardon. “It is certainly, unfortunately, a bit of a political exchange which happens in a way.”
While the tourist offices of New England and local businesses are preparing for the leaf season – at the end of September to mid -October – and winter skiing, the hopes of the elusive Canadian tourist remain low.
“I think we will continue to see this trend as we have this summer [Canadians] Will not necessarily be visiting, ”explains Ms. Reardon.
“We certainly have a very good relationship with our friends to the north and are ready to visit them when they are.”
