If you’re a Canadian thinking of staying home for your holidays this year, or if you’re an American thinking of taking advantage of the low Canadian dollar and coming north for a summer vacation, you might want to fire up your laptop or start scrolling on your phone. With many Canadians swearing off trips to the United States because of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and with a resulting great rise in “Buy Canadian” sentiment, travel industry officials say they’re already seeing an increase in interest. And in prices. Amra Durakovic, head of communications for Flight Centre Travel Group in Canada, Read more
travel to the U.S.
We might be seeing some of the first data that shows Canadians are, indeed, avoiding travel to the United States. Global News reports that numbers provided by a company called Cascade Gateway, which also provides border wait times, shows that in February this year so far, there have been on average 3,500 cars heading to the U.S. through the Peace Arch border crossing between British Columbia and Washington State. That compares to nearly 5,000 a day last February, and represent a significant 30% drop. Weather could be an issue, but officials in Washington State say the threatened, on again/off again tariff Read more
Travel experts say Canadians’ resolve to avoid travel to the U.S. will only deepen given U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff talk. Trump today (Feb. 24) said he will go ahead next week with a 25% tariff on most imports from Canada. “The tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule,” he told reporters at the White House. “This is an abuse that took place for many, many years.” Survey after survey has shown that one-half of Canadians or more say they’ll reduce or avoid travel to the U.S. given what they believed to be an unwarranted financial attack from Read more
Some Canadians are booing the U.S. national anthem at sporting events. “Buy Canadian” websites are springing up like desert wildflowers after the first spring rain. And folks from the north of the border are swearing off trips to the U.S. of A. It’s been a remarkable start to the new year in Canada; like nothing I’ve seen in my 44 years living in the True North Strong and (for now) Free. Canadians (not all, but a majority, I would say) began to worry last November when U.S. voters decided to re-elect Donald Trump. (Full disclosure, I was born and raised Read more
U.S. Customs pre-clearance is finally coming to the Toronto Island/City Airport. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra today announce a federal government investment of up to $30 million to build a new preclearance facility at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport for United States-bound travellers. The new facility will build capacity for Toronto’s growing business and leisure passenger volumes transiting through Canada’s largest city. The centre is expected to take 18-24 months to complete and should open sometime in 2025. Eight Canadian airports currently offer preclearance, with Billy Bishop Airport becoming the ninth such facility. “Fast and secure movement of people Read more
