In a speech this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, clearly annoyed by the import invoices collected by President Trump and his threats to make Canada “the 51st state”, suggested that the Canadians could act individually to respond.
“Now is the time to choose Canada,” Mr Trudeau said, adding: “It may mean that changing your summer plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites and tourist destinations that our big country has to offer.”
In the weeks since then, it seems that at least some Canadian citizens are taking his directive seriously.
“I have decided that I will no longer travel to the US unless it is absolutely necessary to go,” said Harold White, 72, who lives in Quebec.
Mr White, a lawyer, said he had canceled an annual summer trip to Maine, which he has made every year for 60 years. During the decades, he made friends with the locals there, he said, whom he does not expect to see for the next four years. Instead, he and his wife are planning to travel to Spain and in the coming years, traveling to Canada.
“It hurts to believe that I will not go to Maine or Cape Cod or even to New York for a short term,” Mr White said, noting that he continued to travel to the United States during President Trump’s first term. “But this time, I really feel that Canadians have slaps on the face of Trump.”
According to the US Travel Union, a non -profit team representing the US travel industry, Canadians made 20.4 million visits to the United States last year and were responsible for spending $ 20.5 billion. A 10 percent decrease in Canadian visitors would equalize with a loss of $ 2.1 billion, the team said.
“We have seen people start rotating away and avoiding the US,” said Alexis von Hoensbroech, Managing Director of Westjet, the second largest airline in Canada. “We also see an increase in bookings in Mexico, in the Caribbean, to other non-US destinations.”
Mark Galado, Vice President of Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, said he would adjust his program from March to “condemn” the situation.
“We preventively foresee that there could be a slowdown,” he said in a statement.
Florida, California, Nevada, New York and Texas are the most visit of the US by the Canadians. These states could face revenue reductions in their retail and hospitality sectors from a Canadian travel boy, according to US trips.
However, in a statement, Geoff Freeman, chief executive of the team, said the United States received the largest number of international visitors in 2018 in the middle of Trump’s first administration and that travelers say and what they do is often different.
“If we have a reduction in travel from any particular destination. We will share this information where they need to share and work with the administration to solve this problem,” Mr Freeman said. “We want to come to the United States. If this is not the case, then we have a job.”
In a statement, a spokesman for the Travel Travel Group Flight Center said the company has seen a “softening of cross-border travel reservations” from Canada to the United States-a shift that has gained dynamic from November. The Canadian dollar is weak compared to the US dollar, the statement said, and that existing reluctance was aggravated by the announcement of the import invoices. (On Thursday, President Trump insisted that invoices will come into force next week.)
Amra Durakovic, a spokesman, said the “Canadian desire for travel” remained strong, with many prioritizing other destinations in the United States, so travelers would “make the most of their travels”.
“Looking forward, we remain optimistic that travel and trade between Canada and the US will soon continue with confidence and make it easier for both countries, have long enjoyed,” Ms Durakovic told the statement.
In the United States, state tourist councils supported possible results.
Sara Otte Coleman, director of tourism and marketing for the Northern Dakota Ministry of Commerce, said the state, which borders Canada, had stopped paid marketing in Canada until officials “better understand the traveler”.
Tim Chapman is the CEO of the International Peace Garden, a park extending to the border between the Canadian province of Manitoba and Northern Dakota.
He said he had received emails from Canadian visitors who said they were no longer planning to visit the tourist attraction, which usually draws about 150,000 visitors a year.
In an exchange, Mr Chapman said, a Canadian told him that he could not visit because of Washington’s rhetoric. He said he explained that the garden was a non -profit organization that needed support from visitors and that he felt he understood.
“The Peace Garden has always stood and supported the peace and cooperation of our two countries,” Mr Chapman said.
“Although we do not have much control over what is said, we can still be a place where people can meet, because the vast majority of Americans and Canadians really appreciate this friendship and long -term cooperation.”
Mr Von Hoensbroech, the Westjet Executive Director, said he expected cross -border trips to get back to some point. He noted that this was common to the travel industry-short-term reactions to current events that eventually return to general stability. Still, he said, the answer was unique.
“I haven’t seen that,” he said.
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