Canadian travel agencies specializing in Disney vacations have seen as much as a 30% shift from the U.S. to international parks like Disneyland Paris, Reuters reported.
How Much Has The Year-Long Canadian Boycott Cost The U.s. Economy?
In the years leading to 2025, Canadian tourists were the biggest single source of international visitors to the U.S., making up roughly one-quarter of all foreign travelers who came to the country, according to the NTTO. The U.S. Travel Association (USTA) warned a year ago that even a 10% reduction in Canadian inbound travel could translate to $2.1 billion in lost spending and 140,000 jobs jeopardized in the hospitality and related sectors. The actual decline was more than double that hypothetical drop. Given that Canadian tourists spent $20.5 billion in the U.S. in 2024, a 22% decline in visitation in 2025 translates to an economic hit of roughly $4.5 billion.
What's Behind Canada's Travel Boycott Of The U.s.
The relationship between Canada and the U.S. has been strained by President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs on the country's goods and repeated threats to make Canada the 51st state. One year ago, after Trump announced a 25% tariff on Canadian goods entering the U.S., outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged citizens to reconsider visiting the U.S. and travel domestically instead. The impact was immediate. Weeks later, Flight Centre, Canada's largest travel agency, told Forbes it saw a 40% decrease in leisure bookings in February 2025 compared to the same month the previous year, and a 20% cancellation rate on prebooked trips to the U.S. Unlike most travel boycotts, which tend to fizzle out over time, the Canadian effort has not lost momentum.
Disney Sees Fewer International Visitors, Including Canadians, Ahead
On a quarterly earnings call earlier this month, Disney warned that "international visitation headwinds at our domestic parks" would temper growth in its experiences business in the first quarter of 2026. While the company did not single out Canadians specifically, the prolonged drop in Canadian visitors to the Sunshine State is especially worrisome. Notably, Florida saw a 20% drop in Canadian visitation last summer, the peak family vacation season, the Orlando Sentinel reported. As recently as 2024, Visit Orlando, the Florida destination's marketing firm, reported that Canada was the city's top international market for visitors, with a record 1.3 million Canadians visiting the home of Walt Disney World that year.
Big Number
76%. That's the portion of Canadian travelers who say they are less inclined to include the U.S. in their travel plans in 2026 -- a big 29-point jump from last year, according to the Blue Cross Travel Study, which surveyed more than 2,000 Canadians about their travel intentions for this year.
Tangent
The House voted Wednesday to block the tariffs Trump levied against Canada last year, with six Republicans joining Democrats despite the president making threats against GOP lawmakers who went against him. "Any Republican, in the House or Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!" Trump posted to TRUTH Social during the vote. "TARIFFS have given us Economic and National Security, and no Republican should be responsible for destroying this privilege."