Cathy and I have a nuanced view on reducing our travel spend in the US. We have family in the US. We have a timeshare in the US. We have lived in the US. We have many American friends. Will we continue to visit the US – absolutely. Will we join the movement to reduce our discretionary travel spend in the US and shift to Canada and other countries – again absolutely. So then the question becomes: Does it really make a difference if we Canucks shift our travel out of the US?
Here is the warning from the US Travel Association that even a 10% shift can have a big economic impact on the US. And this is what matters to US politicans and voters.
‘US Travel Association – Feb 2025: New tariffs on Canada could impact Canadian visitation to and spending in the United States. Canada is the top source of international visitors to the United States, with 20.4 million visits in 2024, generating $20.5 billion in spending and supporting 140,000 American jobs. A 10% reduction in Canadian travel could mean 2.0 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses.’
The biggest impact is in Nevada, Florida, California, New York and Texas. And to put all of this into perspective, our $20.5 billion travel spend in the US is about the same as the value of our total exports of steel plus aluminum to the US.
In our last post So you want to travel more in Canada, eh?, we listed some trips in Canada that are personal favourites. Here are are some more trip suggestions.
Just back from Vancouver and Victoria
Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands
Crossing the northern Prairies; Are we there yet?
Visit to Little Canada in Toronto
There is a lot more about how we travel, where we travel and our travel experiences on our blog Travel with Cathy and Joe
So join the movement, our best wishes for an amazing travel year and bon voyage.
I plan to send our next post from our Qantas A380 on the way to Melbourne, Australia. First time on this huge double decker plane So check in next Thursday.