USAToday this week published a list of the top beaches in the United States. It’s a good list, but they missed some great spots and overvalued some others. Here’s a rundown of their top 17, with my thoughts on places I’ve visited. Siesta Key, Florida: A fine, white sand beach that stretches on nearly forever. Maui,. Hawaii: Why they lumped all of Maui’s beaches into one entry is bizarre. That really diminishes the island’s offerings, as if they’d been listed individually you would probably see three or more Maui beaches in the top 15. Given you’re talking about the entire Read more
U.S. tourism
“Elbows Up” shows no signs of slowing down. New figures released by Statistics Canada today (April 13), show that Canadian trips to the United States continue to fall, and at a faster rate. Stats Can figures for March, 2026 show that return car trips to Canada from the States fell 4.5% compared to March of last year, while return trips by air dropped 13.7%. But that’s only half the story. If you compare March of this year against March of 2024, before U.S. President Donald Trump came back into power, you find the figures are much, much greater. Stats Can Read more
Europeans are avoiding the U.S. and increasingly looking at trips to Canada, Ontario and Toronto, a new study says. According to a new Europe Pulse Study conducted by Context Research Group (CRG) on behalf of Destination Ontario and Destination Toronto, more than half of leisure travellers from the United Kingdom, Germany and France are considering a trip to Ontario in the next two years. Although some people might think Canada and the U.S. are much the same, the study said Europeans feel Canada is culturally and experientially distinct from the States. The study found that half of the European travellers who were surveyed are considering Read more
Canadians continue to avoid U.S. travel in huge numbers, according to new data from Statistics Canada. StatsCan says Canadian return trips from the United States in April plummeted 35.2% compared to the same month in 2024. The number of Canadians returning from the U.S. in April by air was down 19.9%. The number of Canadians returning from the U.S. by car in March was down 31.9%, while air traffic was down 13.5%, which means the boycott gained significant strength last month in both categories. Canadian airlines have cut back significantly on flights to and from the U.S. Read more
The tariff spat between the United States and Canada may be having an effect on cross-border travel. Statistics Canada says the number of Canadians who returned to Canada from the U.S. by car last month was down 23% from February of last year, falling to 1.2 million. The number returning by air was down 2.4% to 1.8 million. “It doesn’t surprise me that we’re seeing a reduction in discretionary travel to the States,” Avery Campbell, the Director of Advocacy and Industry Relations for the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies and Travel Advisors, told me. Given that people usually book their Read more
