Reports of Canadians' reluctance to travel to the U.S. amid trade tensions have been widely reported. Now, it seems fewer Americans are travelling to Canada as well.
And B.C.-based businesses catering to cross-border travellers are feeling the pinch.
Statistics Canada reported on Monday (June 23) that trips to Canada by U.S. residents declined in the three months to April, when trips were down 8.9 per cent compared to April 2024. U.S. residents disembarking from cruise ships in Canada were also down 31.5 per cent compared to last April.
Simultaneously, the number of Canadian residents returning to Canada from the U.S. is down 14 per cent compared to the previous April. The number of returns from abroad by Canadians is down 18.9 per cent from all countries. And the number of non-resident visitors entering Canada is down 6.8 per cent.
This is immediately impacting tourism operators, such as the FRS Clipper ferry, which brings passengers back and forth between Victoria, B.C. and Seattle, Wash.
"One of the first businesses to get hit when there's cross-border tension of this type are the cross-border tourism services," said FRS Clipper CEO Mark Collins. Clipper ridership is down 18 per cent compared to the same time last year, he said.
Walt Judas, the president of the Tourism Industry Association of B.C., isn't panicking 鈥� yet.
"Would be a little concerning if the trend continued right through the summer," he said, adding that he still expected a bump in U.S. visitation to materialize.
At Clipper ferries, the drop in ridership has been building.
Numbers are worse for Canadians loading up in Victoria, a 30 per cent drop, than for Americans loading in Seattle, a 12 per cent drop. But Collins said the number of Americans is decreasing, and because the company has geared its schedule for Seattle travellers primarily, U.S. residents make up 80 per cent of passengers.
The Clipper doesn't operate in January 鈥� it's the slow season when maintenance gets done on the ship 鈥� but in February, when it came back online, Collins said it was immediately light on Canadian passengers going south, with a slight decrease in Americans coming north.
"Out of the box, the U.S. traffic was slightly low," he said, "But has been getting lower ever since."
At current ridership levels, the company is not making a profit. It has been forced to lay off employees in Seattle and go from 11 trips per week to seven.
FRS Clipper got through a 20-month shutdown during the COVID-19 pandemic with the support of its German parent company; now it must endure the fallout from the trade war, Collins said.
He said comments from Premier David Eby and other Canadian politicians urging people not to travel south are not helping.
"Every time [Eby] said that, I got cancellations the next day," Collins said.
Spencer Chandra Herbert, B.C.'s Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport minister, highlighted some of the positives in recent tourism numbers, such as the increase in travellers to the province from Mexico and from other parts of Canada.
"We are also seeing an increase in Canadians visiting our province, and British Columbians being tourists in our own province, as we decide to celebrate Canada instead of spending our dollars down south," he told Black Press Media in an emailed statement.
Non-Trump supporters still content to come north
Seattleite Andy Rich is a regular visitor to Canada and a Nexus pass-holder. He took the Clipper ferry to Victoria on Friday morning.
"I haven't felt any hesitation to come to Canada," he said. "I can completely understand why Canadians would be hesitant to come to the United States."
Paul Heller said the same. He and his wife are from San Francisco and came to Victoria on the Clipper to see relatives.
While the voyage on the Clipper was smooth, Heller said he has recently experienced difficulties crossing the border back into the U.S. by car. He had to wait several hours, blaming the delay on U.S. border personnel being sent to southern California.
"The American side had two people working and different cars coming into the lane," Heller said. "It was very impacted."
David Hendrickson was riding the Clipper on Friday to come over and help take care of his daughter's house while she was overseas. His daughter moved to Canada after Trump's re-election, taking advantage of her veterinary degree to get a visa based on her profession.
No fan of Trump, Hendrickson was happy to visit Canada. But he did notice some empty seats on the ferry.
He asked a steward about it and was told the ship had about 150 empty seats.
"The ridership is way down," Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson just hopes that Canadians don't take out their frustrations on Washingtonians, pointing out the state's voters continued to vote against Trump by a wide margin in the most recent election.
Still, he said he thinks Canadians have "hard feelings" because of Trump's rhetoric.
Collins just hopes the Clipper ferry can weather the storm.
"It's been tough this year, I gotta say," he said.
