Florida Joins California and More States in Desperate Efforts to Win Back Canadian Tourists After Two Back-to-Back Years of Decline in US Tourism

Florida joins California and more states in desperate efforts to win back Canadian tourists after two back-to-back years of decline in US tourism, as falling Canadian visits, weaker cross-border demand and shifting travel preferences continue to pressure major destinations. States are launching campaigns, discounts and targeted promotions to rebuild a market that has long supported hotels, attractions, airlines and winter tourism economies.

Canadian tourists who once crossed the border into the United States in huge numbers are continuing to stay away in 2026, forcing Florida, California, New York, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and other tourism-dependent states to intensify campaigns aimed at winning them back.

The scale of the shift is substantial. Canadian residents made around 39 million return border crossings from the United States in 2024, representing roughly three-quarters of their international return trips. That changed dramatically in 2025, when Canadian return crossings from the US plunged 25.4%, marking one of the sharpest sustained non-pandemic contractions in decades.

The weakness carried into 2026. Canadians made around 5.5 million trips involving the United States during the first quarter, down another 10.6% year over year.

The phrase “two back-to-back years of decline” requires an important qualification. The United States experienced a full-year Canadian travel decline in 2025, followed by another year-over-year decline during the available months of 2026. Full-year 2026 statistics are not yet available.

The consequences are now highly visible across individual US states.

Florida Faces a Canadian Retreat Despite Remaining a Snowbird Giant

Florida remains one of the biggest American destinations for Canadians, particularly during winter, but even its powerful snowbird market has weakened.

Approximately 3.2 million Canadian visitors travelled to Florida in 2025, down around 6.8% from 2024 and considerably below pre-pandemic levels. Canadians continued to represent a significant international source market despite the contraction.

Overall Florida tourism remained resilient, but Canadian demand clearly moved in the opposite direction.

That creates a difficult equation for hotels, holiday rentals, restaurants, retail centres, attractions and destinations traditionally reliant on long-stay Canadian winter visitors.

Florida has responded by stressing that Canadians remain welcome and by relying on strong airline connectivity. Airlines have continued to maintain or expand capacity on selected Canadian routes, demonstrating that the tourism and aviation industries have not abandoned hopes of recovering the market.

California Lost One in Five Canadian Visitors

California has faced an even steeper decline.

Canadian visits to California dropped approximately 20.1% in 2025. Even after that fall, Canada remained one of California’s largest international visitor markets, generating roughly 1.4 million visits.

California responded directly to weakening Canadian sentiment with tourism marketing designed to reinforce its welcome to travellers from north of the border.

Research associated with California’s tourism campaign indicated that some Canadians had either cancelled or postponed planned trips to California or elsewhere in the United States.

The reasons extended beyond one issue. The strength of the US dollar, travel costs, tariff concerns and deteriorating sentiment towards the United States all became part of the decision-making process.

The recovery outlook for 2026 remains uncertain. A baseline scenario has suggested Canadian visitation could recover modestly, while a more pessimistic scenario indicates another decline remains possible if trade tensions, inflation and negative travel sentiment persist.

New York Turns Discounts Into a Direct Appeal to Canada

New York has moved from conventional tourism promotion towards an explicitly Canadian recovery campaign.

Canadian visitation to New York State fell by more than 26% in 2025.

In response, the state launched its “NY Loves Canada” promotion during summer 2026, highlighting hotel, attraction and tourism discounts intended partly to provide Canadians with additional value.

The strategy reflects New York’s unusually deep dependence on cross-border travel.

Ontario and Quebec residents can reach destinations across northern and western New York by car, while Toronto and Montreal also provide significant air traffic into New York City.

For destinations near the border, Canadians are not simply another international market. They support shopping centres, restaurants, hotels, attractions and short weekend breaks that can disappear quickly when consumers decide not to cross.

A decline exceeding 26% therefore represents a serious tourism loss rather than a marginal statistical change.

Washington Feels the Border Shock From British Columbia

Washington State is facing similar exposure because of its close relationship with British Columbia.

Canadian visitation to Washington fell by more than 26% in 2025, while international tourism more broadly also weakened.

The state’s tourism economy is particularly sensitive to Canadian sentiment because Vancouver sits only a relatively short drive from the border. Seattle and surrounding areas traditionally attract large numbers of British Columbia residents for shopping, entertainment, sports, dining and city breaks.

The downturn illustrates one of the unusual features of the Canadian tourism retreat.

Many travellers did not need to cancel expensive long-haul flights. They could simply decide not to drive south.

That made border states among the first places to feel changes in Canadian sentiment and helps explain why political and economic developments translated so rapidly into tourism numbers.

Arizona Loses Around 188,000 Canadian Visitors

Arizona’s decline is particularly significant because Canadians traditionally stay for extended periods during winter.

The state welcomed approximately 664,000 Canadian visitors in 2025, down around 22% from roughly 852,000 in 2024.

That represents approximately 188,000 fewer visitors in a single year.

The 2025 total also remained substantially below the record level of around 975,000 Canadian visitors recorded in 2018.

Yet Arizona’s overall international tourism remained comparatively resilient.

That makes Canada one of the clearest weak points rather than evidence of a general collapse in Arizona tourism.

Canadian airline passenger volumes also weakened at major Arizona gateways, while changes in airline capacity reflected shifting demand across North American leisure markets.

For Arizona, this is particularly painful because Canadian snowbirds often contribute far more than a short-stay leisure visitor.

Extended stays can support accommodation, restaurants, supermarkets, golf courses, retail outlets and local services for weeks or even months.

Las Vegas Loses More Than 250,000 Canadian Visitors

Las Vegas provides perhaps the clearest example of an American destination experimenting with aggressive incentives.

Canadian visitation to Las Vegas declined 17.4% in 2025, falling from approximately 1,448,700 in 2024 to 1,196,300.

That meant Las Vegas lost around 252,400 Canadian visitors in only one year.

Canada nevertheless remained the city’s largest international source market.

The decline therefore carries significantly greater economic weight than the percentage alone suggests.

Some downtown Las Vegas properties responded with unusual promotions aimed directly at Canadians, including offers designed to reduce the disadvantage created by the exchange rate.

Las Vegas tourism officials have also travelled directly to Canada to meet travel advisers, airlines and tour operators.

The message is simple: Canadian tourists remain highly valuable, and losing hundreds of thousands of them has become too expensive to ignore.

Maine and Michigan Show Why Border Economies Are Vulnerable

The impact extends well beyond famous tourism states.

Maine has historically received close to 800,000 Canadian visitors annually, with Canadian visitor spending estimated at close to $500 million during stronger periods.

During 2025, however, Canadian border movements fell dramatically, with some periods showing declines approaching 30%.

The effects are concentrated in communities where cross-border shoppers and holidaymakers have historically formed part of normal everyday business.

Michigan shows a similar pattern.

Tourism officials in Southeast Michigan reported Canadian visitation falling by around 30% during 2025.

Other measurements, including vehicle crossings and overnight tourism estimates, show different percentages because they measure different forms of travel, but the available evidence consistently points towards substantial weakness.

This demonstrates why one national decline can generate dramatically different economic consequences from state to state.

The National Numbers Explain Why States Are Worried

Canadian travel to the United States experienced a major structural change in 2025.

Canadian-resident trips involving the US fell to approximately 23.1 million in 2025, down around 23.5% from 2024 and approximately 26.7% below 2019.

Canadian spending on US trips also declined substantially, falling around 15.1% to approximately C$18.8 billion.

The shift was even sharper in leisure travel.

Canadians made approximately 3.2 million fewer US leisure visits in 2025, representing a decline of around 21.5%.

At the same time, leisure visits to overseas destinations increased approximately 12.2%, adding around 1.1 million trips.

In other words, Canadians did not simply stop travelling.

Many chose somewhere else.

That distinction should concern American tourism businesses considerably more than a general recession-driven decline would.

Canadian Travellers Redirect Billions in Spending

Canadians spent approximately C$3.3 billion less on trips to the United States in 2025, with total expenditure falling to roughly C$18.8 billion.

Leisure-related US spending alone declined by approximately C$2.2 billion to around C$12.1 billion.

Meanwhile, Canadian leisure spending on overseas destinations increased by approximately C$3.6 billion to C$22.8 billion.

The divergence continued into 2026.

During the first quarter, Canadians made approximately 5.5 million US trips, down 10.6%, while spending associated with those trips fell approximately 13.6% to around C$5 billion.

Overseas travel moved in the opposite direction.

Canadian overseas trips increased around 6.2%, while spending surged approximately 16.7% to C$10.1 billion.

Mexico emerged as the leading overseas destination during the quarter with around 1.3 million Canadian visits, followed by the Dominican Republic with approximately 441,000 and Costa Rica with around 193,000.

US destinations are therefore competing not only against changing Canadian attitudes but also against increasingly attractive international alternatives.

Why Canadians Are Staying Away

No single explanation accounts for the decline.

Economic pressures were already influencing US travel before the most intense political tensions emerged. Canadian air travel to the United States had begun showing weakness before 2025.

A weaker Canadian dollar makes American hotels, meals, attractions and shopping more expensive.

Higher airfares, accommodation prices and other travel costs add further pressure.

Political tensions then created another layer.

Changes in the US-Canada political relationship, tariff disputes and rhetoric surrounding Canada became intertwined with consumer decisions.

For some Canadians, avoiding the United States became a political statement. For others, it became an economic or emotional calculation.

The result is particularly difficult for tourism marketers because discounted hotels or destination advertising cannot necessarily overcome concerns unrelated to the quality of the holiday itself.

The 2026 World Cup Provides a Glimmer of Recovery

There have been indications that the contraction may be becoming less severe.

Cross-border traffic improved somewhat during May, June and July 2026, coinciding partly with the FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Canadian football supporters had a powerful reason to travel south, while car travel accounted for much of the improvement.

But air travel remained weaker year over year through the first half, while first-quarter figures still showed overall Canadian trips to the United States down 10.6%.

This suggests the market may be moving towards stabilisation without yet returning to sustained growth.

Two Years of Weakness Have Changed the US Tourism Battle

The scale of the challenge becomes clearer when the available state and destination figures are placed side by side.

The methodologies differ, so these percentages should not be treated as a perfectly uniform ranking.

Florida, California and Arizona use visitor estimates. Las Vegas represents a major destination rather than the entirety of Nevada. Michigan’s figure relates specifically to Southeast Michigan, while border states may also use vehicle crossings and other indicators.

What the figures collectively demonstrate, however, is unmistakable: Canadian tourism weakness has spread across border states, winter destinations and major leisure hubs.

Florida California and More Face a Crucial Winter Test

The coming winter could reveal whether the Canadian retreat is temporary or becoming structurally embedded.

Florida, Arizona, California and Nevada traditionally depend heavily on Canadians escaping cold winter temperatures. New York, Washington, Maine and Michigan rely on a different but equally valuable stream of short-haul and cross-border visitors.

Their response has become increasingly visible.

Discounts, Canadian-dollar promotions, advertising campaigns, direct trade missions and repeated messages of welcome are all being deployed to rebuild demand.

Yet marketing cannot completely control the forces behind the decline.

Canadians are weighing exchange rates, travel costs, political sentiment and an expanding range of alternatives stretching from Mexico and the Caribbean to Europe and Asia.

After around 39 million Canadian return crossings from the United States in 2024, the sharp contraction during 2025 marked a major disruption. The additional decline in US trips during the opening months of 2026 shows that the problem did not disappear with the calendar year.

Florida, California, New York, Nevada, Arizona and other destinations are therefore not simply fighting for another international market.

They are trying to recover a neighbouring market that for decades behaved almost like an extension of domestic tourism.

Whether those travellers return in force will depend on more than hotel discounts or advertising slogans. The decisive test will be whether Canadians once again see the United States as affordable, welcoming and worth choosing over the growing number of destinations now competing successfully for their travel dollars.

Florida joins California and more states in desperate efforts to win back Canadian tourists after two back-to-back years of decline in US tourism, as falling Canadian visits, weaker cross-border demand and changing travel preferences continue to impact destinations that rely heavily on visitors from Canada. States are responding with promotions, discounts and targeted campaigns to rebuild a vital tourism market.

In conclusion, Florida joins California and more states in desperate efforts to win back Canadian tourists after two back-to-back years of decline in US tourism, as major destinations face continued pressure from falling Canadian visits, reduced spending and shifting holiday preferences. The decline has affected winter tourism hubs, border economies and major leisure markets that have depended on Canadian travellers for decades. While states are offering promotions, discounts and targeted campaigns to rebuild demand, the recovery challenge extends beyond pricing as Canadians weigh costs, connectivity and changing perceptions. Restoring this vital market will require stronger confidence, renewed partnerships and a long-term strategy to bring Canadian tourists back to the United States.