How Are Trade Tensions Impacting U.S./Canada Tourism?

Stats Canada is reporting that the tourism and hospitality sector is up six percent nationally so far in 2026.  This summer, Canada’s tourism and hospitality industry is having a big year.  In some regions, revenues and visitors are up anywhere from 25%-50% over last summer.  According to tourism operators, they’re seeing two reasons for the upswing.  More Canadians are choosing a vacation to see events and sights within their own country, and some Americans have decided to take a ‘foreign vacation’ just over their northern border.

Ambassatours Gray Line, a tour boat fleet operator running between Halifax Harbor and Prince Edward Island, has seen their passenger numbers increase by nearly 30% this summer over last summer.  CEO Sean Buckland said that Canadian tourists are choosing domestic vacations more often, and his American passengers are seeing their own U.S. dollars go farther in Canada.

“We’re 29% ahead of passenger counts based on this time last year," Buckland noted.  "We’re having increased Americans taking advantage of the American dollar. We’re seeing Canadians stay home.”

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Things Getting Back To Normal In Canada

Niagara Falls, Ontario, has always been a top North American tourist destination, and David Adames of the Niagara Parks Commission said that it’s nice to see things getting back to normal, with a lot of American visitors coming back this summer.

"I think things have normalized again from those relations, the tension that was there a year ago," Adames said.  "The tensions were really running higher in 2025 than they’re certainly running now.”

But the busy summer that Canadian tour and hospitality operators are experiencing is not the case south of the border.  Vermont Senator Peter Welch said his state’s economy is very heavily reliant on visitors from Canada year-round.  Welch says the 40% decline that Vermont’s hospitality and tourism sector is currently experiencing is almost entirely due to Canadians staying away.

Vermont Is Struggling

“Our main tourism is the Canadians, and obviously it’s an enormous hit to us on tourism in Vermont," Welch said.  "Many of our Bed-and-Breakfasts, they look forward to Canadian families coming back. We get it, why they’re not coming. But we miss you, and we’re really upset.”

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