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California and Other States Throughout US Roll Out the Welcome Mat for Canadians as Trump Turns Up the Heat on Canada. California offers its “California Loves Canada” campaign, while Maine and Vermont offer initiatives of their own to attract Canadians. The campaign is primarily designed to attract Canadians as California had over 1.8 million visitors from Canada that year, who spent $3.72 billion in the state. Maine had nearly 800,000 Canadian visitors that year with a total estimated expenditure of $497.7 million. Because the cross-border relationship with Canada is strained, the states have good reason to sustain the travel of Canadians.
California Loves Canada is a dedicated tourism initiative developed by Visit California to reassure Canadian travellers that the state remains open, welcoming and eager to receive them, despite wider political and economic tensions affecting travel sentiment between Canada and the United States. The initiative was initially announced on 14 April 2025, followed by a broader consumer rollout on 6 May, creating a coordinated response that combined destination advertising, public messaging, tourism-industry participation and commercial incentives.
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The programme differs from a conventional destination campaign because it was designed around a specific source-market problem rather than simply promoting California’s beaches, cities, national parks and entertainment attractions to a general international audience. California recognised that Canadian demand was weakening and responded by addressing both emotional concerns about travelling to the United States and practical concerns about affordability, turning tourism marketing into a wider visitor-recovery strategy.
Canada represents an exceptionally valuable tourism market for California, with official Visit California information showing that approximately 1.8 million Canadians travelled to the state during 2024 and spent roughly US$3.7 billion during their visits. Canada was consequently California’s second-largest international market, making any prolonged deterioration in Canadian demand potentially significant for hotels, attractions, restaurants, retailers, transport businesses and destinations that depend on international visitor expenditure.
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Warning signs emerged during early 2025 as Canadian tourism to California fell by around 12% year on year in February, while California government information subsequently cited a decline of approximately 15% during March. Visit California research added another concern, finding that 14% of Canadians surveyed had cancelled a planned US journey during 2025 and 23% had postponed one, creating a strong commercial reason for California to intervene with targeted marketing.
The decline was not attributed to one factor, because California’s tourism industry was confronting a combination of economic, political and consumer-sentiment pressures that affected how Canadians viewed travel south of the border. Factors identified by Visit California included the strength of the US dollar, tariff concerns, anti-US sentiment, greater encouragement for Canadians to travel domestically and widespread media attention surrounding changing relations between Canada and the United States.
These pressures created a particular problem for California because the state had spent years building Canada into a major international visitor market, while Canadian travellers could potentially redirect holiday expenditure towards domestic destinations, Mexico, Europe or other international markets. California therefore needed to communicate that the visitor experience within the state remained welcoming while simultaneously providing enough practical value to overcome concerns about exchange rates and the overall cost of travelling in the United States.
One of the campaign’s most important elements was the Canada Value Program developed through a partnership with Expedia, which moved California’s response beyond emotional destination advertising and towards measurable incentives for prospective travellers. Canadian consumers were initially offered discounts of approximately 15% to 25% across more than 950 participating California hotels, attractions and experiences, giving travellers an immediate financial reason to reconsider a California holiday.
This approach addressed one of the central barriers confronting Canadians because an unfavourable exchange rate can make accommodation, entertainment, dining and other US travel expenses considerably more expensive when converted into Canadian dollars. By combining destination inspiration with discounted tourism inventory, California created a campaign capable of moving consumers from awareness to consideration and eventually towards an actual booking, rather than relying exclusively on promotional videos or advertising slogans.
The campaign subsequently produced measurable commercial results, with Visit California reporting more than 26,000 Expedia bookings connected with the programme, giving the initiative a tangible conversion figure beyond conventional measures such as advertising impressions or social engagement. Nearly 1,000 hotels and 64 attractions participated in the broader effort, while approximately 780 earned-media hits expanded the campaign’s reach through news coverage and other publicity.
Those figures make California Loves Canada particularly relevant for destination-marketing organisations because they demonstrate how a tourism reassurance campaign can combine brand messaging with commercial conversion mechanisms. Instead of merely telling Canadians that California valued their business, the state worked with accommodation providers, attractions and a major online travel platform to make the proposition financially attractive, while earned media extended the message beyond travellers already interacting with California’s official tourism channels.
Los Angeles remains one of California’s most internationally recognisable gateways and naturally forms an important part of any attempt to sustain Canadian visitor demand, with its combination of entertainment, beaches, culture, shopping, dining and extensive international aviation connectivity. Canadian travellers can use Los Angeles as both a standalone urban holiday destination and an entry point for wider Southern California itineraries involving coastal communities, theme parks and road trips.
The wider California Loves Canada strategy is particularly relevant to major gateways because declining international demand does not stop at airports, with reduced visitor numbers potentially affecting hotel occupancy, restaurant spending, attractions, retail businesses and local transport providers throughout a destination. Maintaining Canadian demand therefore supports an interconnected visitor economy rather than a single tourism segment, while value-led accommodation and attraction offers can make longer California itineraries more financially manageable.
San Francisco provides another major urban anchor for California’s Canadian proposition because travellers can combine its neighbourhoods, culinary scene, waterfront, cultural attractions and surrounding landscapes with broader Northern California experiences. Its position also allows visitors to build itineraries involving wine country, coastal destinations and other parts of the state, supporting California’s strategy of encouraging international travellers to explore beyond a single attraction or city.
For Canadian visitors concerned about value, destination variety can strengthen the appeal of a California journey because one international trip can incorporate urban tourism, food experiences, natural landscapes, entertainment and road travel. Visit California’s broader destination strategy consequently benefits from presenting the state as a collection of distinct experiences, giving prospective visitors multiple reasons to travel despite economic pressures that might otherwise encourage them to postpone a US holiday.
California continued building relationships with the Canadian tourism industry in 2026 through Club California Canada in Toronto on 23 June, bringing California tourism businesses into contact with leading Canadian luxury travel advisers. The initiative demonstrates that California’s Canada strategy is no longer dependent solely on consumer advertising, because travel advisers, tour operators and other intermediaries can influence destination choice and help create higher-value itineraries.
Toronto is particularly important as a commercial and aviation gateway, while direct engagement with Canadian travel professionals gives California businesses opportunities to explain products, build relationships and understand changing traveller expectations. The 2026 strategy combines established trade relationships with direct-to-consumer marketing and airline activations, with particular attention given to potentially valuable family and luxury segments rather than treating every Canadian traveller as part of one uniform audience.
Yes, although it is more accurate to describe California’s current activity as an ongoing Canada-market strategy building on California Loves Canada rather than a newly launched 2026 campaign. Visit California’s Canada Market Profile published on 31 July 2026 continues to identify Canada as a cornerstone of the state’s international portfolio and a priority source market for visitor volume and expenditure.
The strategy now combines relationships with tour operators and travel advisers, consumer-facing marketing and airline partnerships, reflecting the increasingly independent and digitally connected behaviour of Canadian travellers. Visit California notes that Canadians frequently plan journeys through online searches, travel websites, online travel agencies and direct airline channels, meaning destination marketers must remain visible throughout the digital journey from initial inspiration to transportation and accommodation booking.
Air connectivity determines whether tourism marketing can translate efficiently into arrivals, making airline relationships an important part of California’s ongoing Canadian-market strategy. Strong connections between Canadian gateways and California destinations give travellers greater flexibility when planning short city breaks, longer holidays, family trips or premium itineraries, while joint promotional activity can place California directly in front of consumers already considering an international journey.
Airline activations also complement California’s broader distribution strategy because travellers increasingly move between destination websites, search engines, online travel agencies and airline booking platforms before completing a trip. By maintaining relationships across these channels, California can reinforce its destination message at several stages of the purchasing process and reduce the risk that an interested Canadian consumer chooses a competing US or international destination before completing a booking.
Dream Big should be distinguished from California Loves Canada because the two serve different marketing purposes, even though both contribute to California’s wider tourism identity. California Loves Canada specifically addresses the Canadian market, while Visit California’s broader consumer positioning uses the idea of dreaming big in the Golden State to inspire domestic and international travellers to explore California experiences.
The distinction matters for accurate reporting because combining the names into one formal campaign could incorrectly suggest that California Love Dream Big is an official single initiative. California Loves Canada is better understood as the targeted Canadian-market response, while Dream Big supports California’s wider destination identity and provides an overarching emotional proposition that can complement individual international-market campaigns.
California’s long-term commitment to the Canadian market is reinforced by Visit California’s decision in 2026 to retain its Canadian communications agency for another five years, covering areas including communications, travel trade, partnerships and content development. California Loves Canada was among the initiatives associated with that relationship, showing that the state views Canadian tourism as a strategic international priority rather than a short-lived response to temporary travel disruption.
A multi-year commitment also gives California greater capacity to respond as economic conditions, exchange rates, political sentiment and consumer preferences evolve, rather than rebuilding its Canadian marketing operation every time demand changes. Tourism recovery can require sustained engagement because destination perception may take longer to repair than immediate booking numbers, particularly when traveller hesitation is connected to issues extending beyond conventional holiday considerations.
For Canadian travellers, the campaign demonstrates that California’s tourism industry is actively competing for their business through a combination of welcome messaging, destination promotion and tangible value incentives. Travellers considering California should nevertheless compare current accommodation, attraction and transport offers carefully because promotional availability, eligibility requirements and booking conditions can change over time, particularly when offers are distributed through commercial travel partners.
The wider benefit is increased competition for Canadian tourism spending, because destinations seeking to reverse declining demand have a commercial incentive to demonstrate value and make international travel easier to justify. California’s approach shows that a destination can respond to weakening sentiment not simply by increasing advertising expenditure, but by connecting marketing with travel-trade relationships, digital distribution, hospitality participation and offers that directly influence the overall cost of a holiday.
| State | Campaign or initiative | Launch/activity | Canadian tourism importance | Main marketing action | Key verified figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vermont | 100% Love for Canada / By the Numbers | 2025–2026 | Canada is particularly important to Vermont’s cross-border visitor economy | English/French Canadian advertising, Canadian-resident deals, tourism partnerships and Canadians Ride Free | Canadian sessions on VermontVacation.com fell from 142,000+ in 2024 to 76,000+ in 2025, down 46%; at least 338 free mountain-bike passes redeemed |
| Illinois | Middle of Everything – Canada outreach | Launched May 2025 | Canada is Illinois’ largest international tourism source market | Canada-targeted Facebook/Instagram campaign, Expedia and Brand USA partnership, Toronto consumer promotion | 627,000 Canadian visitors in 2023; 2.16 million total international visitors; 112 million total visitors |
| Maine | Bienvenue Canadiens / Welcome Canadians | May 2025 | Canadians represented about 5% of Maine’s visitors in 2024 | Bilingual welcome signs, border messaging, free signs for businesses and Canada-focused destination reassurance | Nearly 800,000 Canadian visitors in 2024; US$497.7 million spending; land arrivals fell 26% from February–April 2025 |
| New York | I LOVE NY summer campaign with special Canadian outreach | May 2025 onward | Canada is New York’s largest inbound international market | Advertising in Canadian drive markets, travel-trade activity, sales efforts and explicit welcome messaging | 306.3 million total travellers generated US$88 billion direct spending; Canadian crossings fell by nearly 3.6 million, or 21.2%, in 2025 |
Vermont developed one of the clearest parallels to California’s strategy by directly addressing Canadian consumers with its “100% Love for Canada” messaging, followed by the “By the Numbers” digital campaign during autumn 2025. Official state documentation shows advertisements combining Vermont tourism assets with messages reinforcing the state’s affection for Canadian neighbours, including references to thousands of kilometres of trails, hundreds of welcoming communities, lakes, farmers’ markets and breweries; significantly, the advertising was produced in both English and French Canadian, making the initiative a deliberately tailored cross-border campaign rather than generic US tourism promotion.
Vermont had a strong economic reason to act because official state data show Canadian sessions on VermontVacation.com falling from more than 142,000 in 2024 to around 76,000 in 2025, representing a dramatic 46% decline. The state also worked with the Vermont Mountain Bike Association on a “Canadians Ride Free” promotion, with organisers confirming at least 338 complimentary passes were redeemed; participating locations planned to offer the initiative again in 2026, while tourism organisations from Vermont and neighbouring Canadian regions also pursued longer-term cross-border collaboration.
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Illinois launched a particularly direct Canadian tourism initiative on 6 May 2025, when Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity released a video inviting Canadians to visit the state and reaffirming Canada as a crucial tourism partner. The Illinois Office of Tourism simultaneously launched Canada-targeted Facebook and Instagram advertising based around its existing Middle of Everything campaign, while a separate partnership with Expedia and Brand USA targeted Canadians considering US holidays through Spotify, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
The scale of Canada’s contribution explains Illinois’ strategy: official state figures show 627,000 Canadians visited Illinois in 2023, making Canada the state’s leading international source market and accounting for a substantial share of its 2.16 million international travellers that year. Illinois also promoted its outdoor tourism experiences at Toronto’s Outdoor Adventure Show, reaching nearly 25,000 Canadian consumers, while the wider state tourism economy recorded 112 million domestic and international visitors, US$47 billion in visitor expenditure and more than 278,200 tourism and hospitality jobs in 2023.
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Maine adopted one of America’s most visible physical welcome campaigns when Governor Janet Mills unveiled bilingual “Bienvenue Canadiens / Welcome Canadians” signage in May 2025, directing signs to be installed near Canadian border crossings and major tourism destinations while smaller versions were made available free to Maine businesses. Locations identified by the governor’s office included Old Orchard Beach, Coburn Gore, Jackman, Fort Kent, Madawaska, Van Buren, Fort Fairfield, Houlton and Calais, alongside Bar Harbor Ferry Terminal and Maine Turnpike rest areas, effectively turning highways, border gateways and tourism businesses into components of a coordinated Canadian reassurance initiative.
The economic pressure was substantial because Maine welcomed nearly 800,000 Canadian visitors in 2024, representing around 5% of visitors, with Canadians spending approximately US$497.7 million in the state. Yet from February through April 2025, Maine recorded 166,000 fewer Canadian land travellers, a decline of 26%, while Canadian visitors traditionally account for an estimated 30%–40% of visitors to Old Orchard Beach; Maine’s response therefore sought to protect businesses in communities with particularly deep dependence on Canadian demand.
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New York launched an integrated I LOVE NY summer tourism campaign on 28 May 2025, explicitly including Canadian drive markets and extending a special invitation to international travellers, particularly Canadians because Canada is New York’s largest inbound international source market. The campaign combined broadcast, streaming and social advertising with the state’s “New York State: Everything You Love” positioning, while I LOVE NY continued working with Canadian tour operators and travel agents through trade shows, sales missions and familiarisation trips; Governor Kathy Hochul’s administration framed the initiative around maintaining a welcoming destination message amid difficult political and economic conditions.
The wider tourism numbers underline the stakes: New York had recently welcomed more than 306.3 million travellers, generating US$88 billion in direct spending and a record US$137 billion economic impact, while tourism supported roughly one in ten jobs and saved the average New York household around US$1,400 in taxes through visitor-generated economic activity. More recent state comptroller data show the Canadian challenge intensified in 2025, when New York recorded nearly 3.6 million fewer travellers crossing from Canada, representing a 21.2% decline, strengthening the economic case for continued Canadian-market outreach.
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The four states are pursuing the same broad objective as California but through different tactics. Vermont comes closest to California’s emotional Canada-specific branding, combining “100% Love for Canada” with bilingual advertisements and actual visitor incentives; Illinois mixes a direct political welcome with sophisticated digital advertising and commercial partnerships; Maine focuses heavily on visible reassurance at border crossings and tourism communities; and New York incorporates a special Canadian invitation into the much larger I LOVE NY marketing platform.
The numbers also explain the urgency. Illinois recorded 627,000 Canadian visitors, Maine nearly 800,000, Vermont saw Canadian traffic to its tourism website plunge 46%, and New York recorded nearly 3.6 million fewer Canadian crossings during 2025.
For a combined travel-industry article, California, Vermont, Illinois, Maine and New York are therefore the most defensible group from the official evidence reviewed. I would avoid claiming that every state has launched an identical “win back Canada” campaign; rather, they have deployed different Canada-focused marketing, reassurance, value and travel-trade strategies in response to weakening or strategically important Canadian tourism demand.
As the new administration in the US takes office, other states are looking for creative ways to attract Canadians. An increase in border tensions by the Trump administration is prompting some states to roll out the welcome mats. The California tax agency continues to treat Canada as a priority market, and other states, including Vermont, have put up signs to let Canada know that they will remain welcome. California expects approximately 1.4 million visitors from Canada this year versus the 1.8 million visitors it saw last year. States want to encourage cross border travel in order to boost their economies. Many states have relied on Canadian travel in the past.
California Loves Canada is a Visit California tourism initiative created specifically to reassure and attract Canadian travellers through destination marketing, welcoming messages, tourism-industry partnerships and value offers.
The initiative was initially announced on 14 April 2025, followed by the broader campaign rollout on 6 May 2025.
Approximately 1.8 million Canadian travellers visited California during 2024.
Canadian visitors generated approximately US$3.7 billion in California tourism spending during 2024, according to Visit California figures.
California responded after Canadian travel demand weakened amid currency pressures, tariff concerns, political sentiment and other factors influencing travel to the United States.
The initial Canada Value Program offered Canadian travellers approximately 15% to 25% savings across more than 950 participating hotels, attractions and experiences through Expedia.
Visit California reported more than 26,000 Expedia bookings connected with the campaign.
Nearly 1,000 hotels and 64 attractions participated, according to reported campaign results.
Yes. Canada remains a priority international market, with California continuing trade relationships, direct-to-consumer marketing, airline activations and engagement with Canadian travel advisers.
No. California Loves Canada is the Canada-specific initiative, while Dream Big forms part of California’s broader destination positioning.
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Tags: California, Canada, Illinois, maine, New York
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