Canada bucks ‘Trump slump’ travel trend
Country sees surprising surge in trips to U.S.
TORON TO • When U. S. President Donald Trump issued his first executive order banning nationals from majority- Muslim countries from entering the United States, some Canadians reacted by vowing to boycott travelling south of the border.
Within days, academi cs, school board superintendents, thriller writers, even Girl Guides followed through with those pledges, abruptly cancelling trips to the United States.
Travel and tourism officials feared the ban would dent America’s image as a foreigner- friendly country and lead to a “Trump slump,” dealing a blow to an industry that had only just recovered from a US$ 600- billion loss between Sept. 11, 2001, and 2010, according to the U. S. Travel Association.
There has been a slump. While international tourism arrivals worldwide increased seven per cent in 2017 — a seven- year high — the United States is missing out on that boom, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. Data from the U. S. Commerce Department’s National Travel and Tourism Office show international arrivals to the United States fell 3.8 per cent during the first three quarters of 2017, compared with the same period in 2016.
Travel to the United States from every region of the world is declining, but one country is bucking the trend: Canada.
Despite the frantic calls for boycotts, overnight trips from Canada rose 4.8 per cent to 20.2 million in 2017, reversing a three- year decline, according to Statistics Canada.
Experts say the factor that has traditionally had the strongest influence on the travel habits of globetrotting Canadians is the relative value of the loonie, making it possible that the weakening U. S. dollar is providing an incentive for crossborder travel. But many remain puzzled because the U. S. dollar slumped against a number of currencies in 2017, like the euro, and there has been no increase in travel to the United States from Europe.
“It is difficult for us to pinpoint exactly why the Canadian arrival data has diverged from the rest of the world,” said Seth Borko, a senior research analyst with Skift, a travel market research and industry intelligence company. Proximity may be driving the trend, he said.
Concern abounded in the wake of the entry ban that Canadians were cooling on U. S. destinations — so much so that some American tourism officials travelled to Canada multiple times in an unprecedented effort to combat the rhetoric coming from the White House.
“It’s rare that we go up to Canada and do two events in the same year,” said Chris Heywood, the senior vicepresident of global communications with NYC & Company, New York City’s official tourism organization. “But last year was one of those years.”
Matt Noble, the president of EF Educational Tours Canada, which organizes trips for students, said he expects an-
I REFUSED TO ENTER APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA, TOO.
nual growth in trips to U. S. destinations to hit doubledigit percentages in 2019.
“While we are definitely f i elding more questions about how the experience of crossing the border might be changing with new regulations, we are not seeing any meaningful decline in demand for our U. S. itineraries,” he said.
After the entry ban was announced, the Girl Guides called off all trips to the United States indefinitely, citing a “commitment to inclusivity.” A number of school boards, authors and academics did the same.
“I refused to enter apartheid South Africa, too,” Jen Marchbank, a professor at Simon Fraser University said. “I see little difference between the U. S. today and apartheid South Africa in terms of ethics and morals.”
The Girl Guides still prohibit U. S.- bound travel. Last month, the Toronto District School Board slightly eased restrictions on student travel to the United States to allow it for professional development and academic competitions, after students complained they were missing out on events that would bolster their college applications.