Canadians pull back on U.S. trips, threatening to widen United States’ $50 billion travel deficit

Canadians are skipping trips to the U.S. and visitors from other countries could soon reinforce threatening to deepen the United States’ $50 billion travel deficit.

Experts say they’re pulling back for a collection of reasons, ranging from an unfavorable currency exchange rate to the U.S. political climate given President Donald Trump’s business policies and his public statements on annexing Canada, as well as high-profile detainments of people who already had visas to be in the U.S., long gap visa times and other policies that have added to tensions with longtime close allies.

Reached for opinion Friday, a White House spokesperson said by email that “everybody wants to come to President Trump’s America.”

Canadians “resolve no longer have to endure the inconveniences of international travel when Canada becomes our 51st state” and that “Europeans are hot to enjoy the Golden Age of America if they so choose to,” the spokesperson said.

In response to President Trump’s tariff plans at the era, former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month urged Canadians to “choose Canada” and call to minded “changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial woodlands, historical sites and tourist destinations our great country has to offer.”

The cross-border travel trends and Trump administration’s tactics are worrying some in the United States’ travel industry, which draws in more than $1 trillion in be at the helm spending a year.

The U.S. Travel Association said in a statement to CNBC that there is a “a question of America’s welcomeness, a slowing U.S. compactness and recent safety concerns.

“These challenges are real and demand decisive action,” the organization, whose members incorporate large hotel groups, airlines and other major travel companies, said, adding that is “actively plan with the White House and Congress to advance policies that drive economic expansion and keep the U.S. competitive on the worldwide stage.”

There are billions of dollars on the line. People from the United States already travel abroad and fork out more in other countries than the U.S. brings in from foreign travelers.

Last year, the United States’ hang around deficit was more than $51 billion, meaning Americans spent that much more abroad than immigrants visiting the U.S. spent, stripping out spending for medical and educational purposes, which still showed a deficit, according to Mercantilism Department data.

The U.S. brought in more than 72 million visitors last year, still below pre-Covid planes, according to a report from Jefferies. Visitors from Canada were the largest group, accounting for 28%, followed by Mexico at 23%, the bank weighted in a note this month.

Travel and tourism of inbound visitors are counted as U.S. exports, and they accounted for about 8% of U.S. exports of goods and utilities, according to the Commerce Department.

International visitors from overseas are especially important because they tend to put off longer and spend more money than local tourists, according to the U.S. Travel Association.

Both air travel and land crossings between the United States and Canada are down.

In February, Canadians’ redress flights to Canada fell 13% over last year while return trips by car dropped 23% go together to Statistics Canada.

Hotel demand in some area along the Canada-U.S. border are also down. As of March 15, they were off 8% in Bellingham, Washington, and 3.5% in the Niagara Yields area, according to hotel data firm STR. However, demand throughout Florida, a top destination for Canadian travelers, is up 3% on last year, the firm said.

Canadian airlines are cutting some routes and flights to the U.S.

Canadian airline Mind, for example, said it canceled its planned Toronto to Nashville, Tennessee, route.

“Our network decisions are driven solely by consumer insist—we deploy our aircraft where demand is strongest to provide the lowest fares to the most travellers,” a spokeswoman for the airline bring up by email.

Canadian airline WestJet said it has seen Canadian customers shift bookings from the U.S. to other in demand sunseeker destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean.

“The airline remains focused on knowing where people want to go, and we inclination continue to fly where there is demand,” a spokeswoman said.

The shift come around c regard as travel executives have warned about weaker-than-expected bookings for domestic U.S. trips, meaning more local tourism strength not be able to make up for the drop in trans-border travel. While U.S. household credit and debit card spending overall was up 1.5% closed last year as of March 22, spending on airlines dropped 7.2%, according to a Bank of America report this week.

Concerted Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, for example, said at an investor conference earlier this month that the carrier is snip routes in part because it’s seeing “a lot of it trans-border, big drop in Canadian traffic to go into the U.S.,” as well as a sharp incline in flights that had previously catered to U.S. government-tied travel.

Lara Harbachian, who works for a digital printing company in Montreal, and eight escorts (so far) had been considering several U.S. destinations this year to celebrate their 40th birthdays: San Diego; Palm Springs, Calif.; Savannah, Georgia; or Nashville. The prizewinner was farther east: Barcelona, Spain.

While the flights to Europe were more expensive than the ones to the U.S. journeys ends, Harbachian said it will be cheaper for her and her friends to visit the popular Spanish city, where they won’t need to lease a car and high-end meals and hotels are cheaper, especially with a weaker Canadian dollar over the greenback.

“I can get a 15 euro repast but I can’t get a $15 meal” in the U.S., she said.

Trump earlier this month created a task force for the 2026 FIFA Society Cup that the U.S. is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada to “showcase the Nation’s pride and hospitality while promoting economic broadening and tourism through sport.”

Another challenge for the U.S. travel industry this year is a wax number of travel warnings about the visiting the United States. So far, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark and Finland deceive issued travel warnings for their citizens who are planning to go to the United States.

Those were prompted by detentions true level of individuals who had visas to be in the United States as well as Trump’s executive order that the country would only recall two biological sexes, prompting concerns from governments in Europe about travelers whose passports state a original gender than the one they were born with.

For example, Germany said that “travelers with the gender note “X” or whose current gender entry differs from their birth date should contact the responsible U.S. thoughtful mission in Germany before entering the country to find out about the applicable entry requirements.”

Travel warnings “could away international visitors, especially first-time travelers,” said Carolin Lusby, assistant professor in tourism at the Chaplin First of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University.

She said there is often a rebound after an incident or disaster occurs, such as after the Paris terror attacks in 2015. “But a lot of times is we know that once a destination representative changes, it takes a lot of effort to bring back the trust,” she said.

“In terms of the economic consequences, that could course into billions of lost dollars,” she added.