Canadian tourism to the United States fell almost 30% around July last year as trade tensions peaked, the Peterson Institute for International Economics said in a recording published Oct. 20.
The costs extended beyond money visitors spend, the institute said. Fewer trips also reduced opportunities for Canadians and Americans to meet, exchange ideas and learn from one another. Its account covered both the spending associated with tourism and the exchanges between people that take place during visits.
Canadian travelers were choosing to visit the United States less often, the institute said in the recording. The recording was titled “The US trade war with Canada has costs beyond trade.” They were taking trips within Canada or heading to other overseas destinations instead.
Those alternative destinations benefited from the change in travel choices, the institute said. Its account linked the decline in visits to decisions by Canadian travelers to spend their time elsewhere. The change involved both travel within their own country and visits to countries other than the United States.
The institute put the drop at “almost like 30%” around July 2025, describing that period as the peak of the tensions. It did not specify the comparison period for that figure or identify the institution that compiled the tourism statistics.
The remarks then turned from visitor numbers to the personal exchanges that travel makes possible. The institute said the benefits of tourism included both spending in the economy and the people travelers meet. The opportunities it discussed included meeting people during a trip and learning through those encounters.
“Canadian travelers are choosing not to come to the US as much as they used to,” the institute said. The remarks described domestic Canadian travel and trips to other countries as alternatives to visiting the United States.
The institute said reduced travel risked costing people “opportunities to exchange ideas, to learn from each other.” It also included shared experiences with friends and colleagues among the benefits that fewer visits could diminish. Those experiences formed part of its account of what people could lose when travel between the countries declined.
The remarks gave no estimate of the tourism revenue lost and no timetable for a recovery in Canadian visits. They also left open how long travelers would continue choosing other destinations.
