Airlines and travel companies have seen bookings to the United States plummet as Canadians rethink their plans amid anger over the trade war set off by U.S. President Donald Trump as well as a weak loonie.
Travel agency Flight Centre Travel Group Canada says leisure bookings to American cities dropped 40 per cent in February from the same month in 2024. One in five customers cancelled their trips to the U.S. over the past three months.
Now that sweeping tariffs on most goods headed to the U.S. from Canada and Mexico are in place, travellers show no signs of reversing that trend.
"We're making those choices to travel to destinations that really align more with our values," said Flight Centre spokeswoman Amra Durakovic.
Air Canada announced last month it would reduce flights by 10 per cent to Florida, Las Vegas and Arizona starting in March — usually go-to hot spots during spring break season.
WestJet said in an email there has been a shift in bookings from the U.S. to other sun destinations such as Mexico and the Caribbean.
The number of U.S.-bound flights from budget carrier Flair Airlines is down 24 per cent year-over-year for March, according to aviation data firm Cirium. Air Transat flight figures fell 12 per cent, while Sunwing Airlines scrapped all its U.S. flights.
Canadians’ sudden aversion to their southern neighbour marks a backlash to the crippling tariffs against Canadian goods — dangled as a threat since Trump's first day in office, and put into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday — said Martin Firestone, president of Toronto-based insurance firm Travel Secure Inc.
He stressed the sense of betrayal by a country Canada considered its closest ally.
"This anti-Trump sentiment is really playing a huge role here, where people are saying, 'I'm not going to the U.S., I'm just not going to travel there based on what he's doing to us in Canada,'" Firestone said.
"That never existed before."
Commercial travel has slowed too as buyers and sellers pause business relations, a "softening" that began due to trade uncertainty starting in November with Trump's election, Durakovic said.
The rejection of U.S. trips comes amid a broader wave of economic patriotism in Canada, as consumers look to buy Canadian goods and services and shun products from the country's largest trading partner.
It also coincides with a surge in real estate listings from Canadians down south, particularly in Florida, as the low loonie drives up the cost of living, but helps boost gains on home sales when the proceeds are converted to Canadian dollars.
"It becomes very daunting for snowbirds, and that's why we're going to lose a bunch of them," said Firestone, who noted that hundreds of thousands remain.
Durakovic agreed that the currency was a key part of the equation.
She flew from Toronto to New Jersey's Newark airport in January on a business trip to New York City, hopping in a cab on arrival to get to midtown Manhattan.
"By the time I paid for the tolls, my taxi and tip, it was 135 U.S. dollars for a 15-minute drive. That's around 200 Canadian dollars. Who has that kind of money to spend on an airport transfer one way?"
The loonie has hovered around 70 cents US for the past few months.
Some of the travellers who would have streamed south if not for Trump and the currency situation have trickled toward other destinations. Durakovic pointed to Australia, South Korea, Colombia and Argentina as increasingly popular getaway spots.
"It's because of the dollar," she said.
But others remain unconvinced that Canadians will simply change travel plans to vacation spots beyond the U.S.
"I don't believe people will travel elsewhere, like to Japan, if they own a condo in Florida because the dollar goes farther," Firestone said. Those travelling by car might be especially resistant to wintering elsewhere.
Roughly 3.5 million Canadians visit Florida each year — half a million of them for months at a time — spending about $6.5 billion, according to a 2018 economic impact study by Canada's Trade Commissioner Service.
