Canada’s U.S. Travel Boycott Forces Florida North After Losing 500K Canadian Tourists

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The Canadian boycott of U.S. travel shows no signs of stopping. Statistics Canada reports that in March 2026, Canadian residents’ return trips from the U.S. were down 7.6% compared to March 2025.

U.S. states such as Florida have been hit particularly hard, as Canada has historically been their largest international tourist market. This week, representatives from VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s official destination marketing organization, traveled to Toronto to encourage Canadians to visit their state.

Canada’s U.S. Travel Boycott Forces VISIT FLORIDA To Visit Toronto To Win Back Tourists

On Thursday, April 16, VISIT FLORIDA held an event at Toronto’s The Real Sports Bar to meet with trade partners and media, aiming to rebuild momentum and reassure potential visitors that Florida remains a welcoming and safe state for Canadians. According to Bryan Griffin, CEO of VISIT FLORIDA, despite the boycott, Canada remains the state’s leading international source of visitors.

“Events like the one we hosted today enable us to stay connected, share new travel opportunities, and keep Florida top-of-mind for Canadians. There’s a ton happening in Florida this year, and it’s a great time to visit the Sunshine State,” Bryan Griffin told Travel Market Report Canada.

Some of the sites worth going to in 2026 and highlighted at the event include LEGO® Galaxy, a new expansion at LEGOLAND® Florida Resort, and the newly built $20.8 million American Magic High Performance Center at the Port of Pensacola. In addition, tourists heading to Destin—Fort Walton Beach will be able to visit the historic SS United States, the fastest transatlantic ocean liner ever built, which is being transformed into the world’s largest artificial reef.

VISIT FLORIDA representatives hope these new attractions will help attract Canadian tourists to Florida after the state lost hundreds of thousands of tourists in 2025.

Florida Has Lost Approximately 500K Canadian Tourists In 2025

According to VISIT FLORIDA data, the latest estimates indicate that Florida welcomed a total of 143.3 million visitors in 2025, excluding residents. This represented a 0.2% increase from 2024.

Overseas visitation is also on the rise, up 4.0% from 2024. However, numbers remain below pre-pandemic levels. Canadians accounted for 6.5% of total visitors, with 2.9 million tourists from this country, down from roughly 3.2–3.4 million in 2024. Compared with 2019, Canadian tourists have reported a 29.0% decline.

VISIT FLORIDA Data

The majority of tourists, nearly 60%, traveled by non-air means, and domestic travel registered a 0.3% increase, for a total of 131.1 million domestic visits. Domestic visitation accounted for 91.5% of total visitors, with the main states traveling to Florida being Georgia, New York, and Texas.

In 2024, visitor spending supported 1.8 million jobs in Florida, suggesting the Canadian boycott of U.S. travel could have drastic consequences for the state’s economy.

The impact has already been felt in several communities. For instance, the city of Lakeland in Central Florida was forced to cancel the “Snowbird Extravaganza,” a popular expo event held since 1995. The event showcased products and services for Canadian snowbirds but had to be canceled due to a lack of support from local and national businesses and a decline in Canadian visitors.

Canadian airlines are now also canceling trips to Florida, with Air Transat suspending 11 routes scheduled for this summer, including flights to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

Yet, Florida isn’t the only state registering a decline in Canadian tourists. Nevada, in particular, reported a significant drop in visitors from this country. Similar to VISIT FLORIDA, Nevada tourism representatives were forced to head to Canada to attract more tourists to their state.

Nevada Tourism Officials Traveled To Canada Twice Since The Boycott Began

Nevada, and more specifically Las Vegas, is reporting a drastic decline in Canadian visitors, negatively affecting its travel sector. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s (LVCVA) Year-End Summary for 2025, the city welcomed 38,545,700 visitors in 2025, representing a 7.5% decline from the previous year. More specifically, Canadian visits declined by approximately 20%.

These figures have led Las Vegas tourism officials to head to Canada to encourage visits. Travel Nevada held events in Toronto on March 17, Montreal on March 18, and Calgary on March 19 to promote tourism and express gratitude to the Canadian market. This was the second time Las Vegas tourism officials traveled to Canada since the beginning of the travel boycott, following LVCVA’s officials’ first trip in late August 2025.

According to data published by the LVCVA on March 26, Las Vegas’ visitor volume decreased by 2.2% in January 2026 compared to the same period in 2025 but increased by 2.1% in February 2026. Yet these figures include both domestic and international tourists, making it challenging to determine whether Canadian numbers have contributed to these changes.

Similar to Nevada, VISIT FLORIDA’s recent event in Toronto may help attract more tourists to the Sunshine State. For now, however, it is still too early to determine whether Canadians will decide to end their U.S. boycott soon or if this travel trend will continue throughout 2026.