Flight Centre Travel Group Canada says leisure bookings to American cities have fallen off a cliff, dropping 40% in February when compared to the same month in 2024. The group also says one in five customers cancelled their trips to the U.S. over the past three months.
The startling drop in Canadian interest in U.S. travel comes amid repeated threats from U.S. Donald Trump about making Canada a 51st state, and as talk of painful tariffs on the important of Canadian goods to the U.S. increased.
It’s not unreasonable to think that Trump’s announcement on the morning of 04MAR that tariffs are on the way will only harden anti-U.S. travel sentiment among angry Canadians, many of whom no doubt saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attack Trump’s policies on national television later that day.
“We’re making those choices to travel to destinations that really align more with our values,” Flight Centre spokeswoman Amra Durakovic told Canadian Press.
Durakovic said the weak Canadian dollar also plays a part in the cancellations and drop in U.S. bookings.
“Our dollar makes it really difficult” for Canadians in the States, she said in an interview with Open Jaw. “It’s such a shock when you convert those U.S. prices into Canadian dollars.”
She doesn’t have figures for business travel at this point, but Durakovic said Flight Centre’s corporate arm also has seen a “pause” in business travel to the U.S.
“Anecdotally, I’ve been told that in the past few days there have been a lot more pauses. We don’t know what’s going to happen, but you could say we’re bracing for more pauses.”
Durakovic said the 40% drop in leisure bookings for February surprised she and her Flight Centre colleagues.
“I’ll be honest, it did surprise us,” she said. “That’s a significant number. But we’re optimistic long-term.”
The U.S. Travel Association in January warned that a 10% drop in Canadian visitors would mean two million fewer visits, which would mean $2.1 billion in lost spending and the loss of 14,000 jobs.
If leisure and business bookings (the 40% drop cited by Flight Centre was for leisure travel only) dropped by, say, 30%, it would mean six million fewer Canadians trekking over the border. That would translate to a whopping $6.3 billion in lost tourism spending and the loss of 42,000 jobs.
As first reported by Open Jaw, Air Canada last month said it will be trimming its flights to such U.S. destinations as Florida, Arizona and Las Vegas in March. Canadian Press reports flights are being cut by 10%, but Open Jaw was not able to confirm that figure.
Durakovic said she spoke to a customer on 05MAR who cancelled their usual trip to Disneyland in favour of a visit to Mexico. On the other hand, she spoke to another customer in person last week who’s still taking a golf trip to the States.
With Canada still wrapped in winter’s blanket, customers who are moving away from the U.S. are picking sun destinations and warm weather cruises.
“Our top-five sun destinations are Tulum, which is really huge, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Caribbean cruising.”
Flight Centre also is seeing more bookings to Europe, partly because of increased service from Canadian cities via Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat and Air France.
“Portugal, Italy, Spain and Greece are very popular. And Asia also is big right now. We’re seeing a lot more bookings and inquiries about Japan. Our dollar is very strong against the yen, and we’re seeing Canadian skiers heading to Japan.”
Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia. Slava Abramovitch/Unsplash Photo
Thailand is also quite popular given the new season of the TV show “White Lotus” and the continuing value the country offers to many visitors, including Canadians.
The relative value of the Canadian dollar also makes Australia and New Zealand an option. As of 05MAR, one Canadian dollar nets $1.10 AUD and a solid $1.22 NZD.
Durakovic said the U.S. tariff spat might be causing Canadians to “get out of their comfort zones” and book places like Portugal, Colombia or Australia rather than more tried-and-true destinations.
“We like that because we want our customers to have memorable, wonderful experiences.”
