Trump’s threat to annex Canada is keeping tourists north of the border
More than one million Canadians visited New York City last year, injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy. Now, they are canceling trips in droves. School groups have called off end-of-semester trips. So have busloads of retirees, as well as newlyweds planning honeymoons, friends celebrating birthdays and a family from Quebec that had planned to visit twice this year. Often, the reason cited is President Trump’s escalating hostility toward Canada and repeated threats to make it the 51st state, which has stirred sweeping pledges to boycott American goods and abandon over-the-border vacations to the United States. The cancellations could inflict damage on the economy in the city, where Canadians spent an estimated $600m in 2024, and hinder the tourism industry’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The havoc could also extend statewide. Cities and towns along the border with Canada, for instance, rely on tourism from their northern neighbors who often make same-day shopping trips. Nearly four million Canadians visited New York State in 2023, according to the most recent data available from the state, and spent more than $1.7b. “When you piss off a country and threaten to annex them, they are not going to want to travel here,” said Matt Levy, the owner of the New York City tour guide company, Spread Love Tours, whose business with Canadian groups is on pace to decline 50% this year. More than a dozen high schools from Canada recently informed him that they were canceling their annual trips to the city, he said. A tour operator in Ottawa, Travac Tours, expected to send 16 coach buses to New York City this year. But none of its customers — mostly retirees who tend to spend generously on restaurants, shopping and Broadway shows — have booked a seat since Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on Canada this month, and the company expects to cancel every trip. “We love the American people, but we are so anti-America when it comes to finances,” Cindy Tobin, a manager at the company, said her clients have told her. “We are just not going to give them any money.”<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2025-03-20/general/trump2019s-threat-to-annex-canada-is-keeping-tourists-north-of-the-border
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Trump’s threat to annex Canada is keeping tourists north of the border
More than one million Canadians visited New York City last year, injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy. Now, they are canceling trips in droves. School groups have called off end-of-semester trips. So have busloads of retirees, as well as newlyweds planning honeymoons, friends celebrating birthdays and a family from Quebec that had planned to visit twice this year. Often, the reason cited is President Trump’s escalating hostility toward Canada and repeated threats to make it the 51st state, which has stirred sweeping pledges to boycott American goods and abandon over-the-border vacations to the United States. The cancellations could inflict damage on the economy in the city, where Canadians spent an estimated $600m in 2024, and hinder the tourism industry’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The havoc could also extend statewide. Cities and towns along the border with Canada, for instance, rely on tourism from their northern neighbors who often make same-day shopping trips. Nearly four million Canadians visited New York State in 2023, according to the most recent data available from the state, and spent more than $1.7b. “When you piss off a country and threaten to annex them, they are not going to want to travel here,” said Matt Levy, the owner of the New York City tour guide company, Spread Love Tours, whose business with Canadian groups is on pace to decline 50% this year. More than a dozen high schools from Canada recently informed him that they were canceling their annual trips to the city, he said. A tour operator in Ottawa, Travac Tours, expected to send 16 coach buses to New York City this year. But none of its customers — mostly retirees who tend to spend generously on restaurants, shopping and Broadway shows — have booked a seat since Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on Canada this month, and the company expects to cancel every trip. “We love the American people, but we are so anti-America when it comes to finances,” Cindy Tobin, a manager at the company, said her clients have told her. “We are just not going to give them any money.”<br/>
