Remote View

3d ago

More Canadians avoid setting foot in the U.S., 'without even a connection or layover'

www.nbcnews.com More Canadians avoid setting foot in the U.S., 'without even a connection or layover'

Boycotts over Trump’s trade war have dented cross-border traffic and pushed tourism boards to retool ad campaigns as Canadian travelers shift their vacation plans to Mexico.

Summary

Canadians are boycotting U.S. travel in response to Trump’s tariffs and policies. A recent survey found 59% are less likely to visit the U.S. this year, with 36% canceling trips.

Airlines report declining demand, and tourism-dependent regions like Florida and New York’s Thousand Islands are adjusting marketing strategies.

Some Canadians refuse to even transit through the U.S. Businesses in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda are benefiting from the shift.

Critics argue Trump’s policies are harming American tourism and local economies.

Canada @lemmy.ca

floofloof @lemmy.ca

3d ago

More Canadians avoid setting foot in the U.S., 'without even a connection or layover'

www.nbcnews.com /business/travel/canadian-tourism-boycotts-trump-rcna196136

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72 comments

The tariffs are one thing, the 51st state threats are another, I would say more major thing.
And then you have the horror stories of the German tourist and that woman from BC applying for a visa renewal at the border. Neither have been convicted of committing a criminal or civil offence yet (the first one just flimsily accused), and instead of being just turned away or even given the option to buy an expensive return ticket on the spot, Customs and Border Patrol see it fit to just stuff them into prison-like accommodations with no firm timelines as to when they get out. Seems cruel and unusual to me, so I can understand why not many Canadians would like to take a chance with that, even if they don't actually do any work, that an officer could get caught up over anything.
Add onto that the new 30 day registry rules means clearly the US doesn't want us around for that long.
- Oh geez, those registry rules. We used to make jokes about the Soviet Union: "papers please!" US Xenophobia will end up removing all their freedoms. It'll be about "catching illegal aliens" but the effect will be total internal travel restrictions and tracking for US citizens. I really hope they wake up before it's too late.
  
  I really hope they wake up before it’s too late.
  Narrator: They didn't.
  
  Flying has required a Real ID-based identification for a little while now. Terry stops have enabled cops to stop and identify as long as a cop has "reasonable suspicion".
  There's nothing to wake up before anymore. It's been like this for a while... Long before Orange Man took office with terry stops starting in the 60's, and real id being signed by congress in 2005 (though rollout has been slow).
  The "registry rules" is just another thing that people skipping out on their visa's will also violate... So I'm not sure what the point of that would be necessarily. But I don't see why anyone would be up and arms about an attempt to track those who are overstaying the country they're in. It seems reasonable to require a check-in for extended visas. The "best" thing it could do is identify those who intend to skip out a few months earlier which I guess could have some value... at the annoyance of creating check-ins for others.
  
  In fact, Republicans are making a concerted effort not to wake.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aI8fOsX3T4 Wish it was real and not just a video.
- It's all fucked up.
- canada will never be a state of the US, neither will denmark or panama. its all just maga bots yapping their cod online. trump is just a wannabe putin.

So many column inches and yet all the American articles dodge the real issue. Tariffs are bad and threatening the economy has made them a lot of enemies, but that isn’t why Canadians suddenly did a heel turn on our election and are united across provincial, social and political borders in opposition to the US.
It’s because Trump repeatedly threatened our sovereignty, belittled our government and insulted us. We can take jokes on the chin, nobody cares being called maple syrup drinking hosers that live in America’s hat and only care “aboot” hockey.
We care that our existence as a country has been threatened, repeatedly and specifically. It’s hilarious reading American articles deliberately ignore this, when it’s all the Canadian media can talk about.
When your biggest ally can’t even commit to not using military force to invade you or annex you, you fight back. When foreign oligarchs think they can put their finger on the scale in your election, you fight back.
People are fucking pissed & united, in a way I’ve never seen before in this country and if they think we’re just going to lie down they have another thing coming. Put that in a goddamn article.
- Also the arrest by ICE on someone with a paperwork error is middle east level BS

Any bets on when the first flight neither originating in, or ever landing in, the USA gets grounded by jets so they can deport someone on the plane?
I know it makes absolutely no sense, but neither does this timeline.
- And if the West does sweet fuck-all when Russia and Belarus does it, what do you think they can do when America does it?

I'm a dual citizen (and live in a third country). I wanted to show my wife more of the US museums and parks, as well as having her meet more of my family. It's 100% off the table now. There's zero chance, even for two weeks, I put my wife (who already speaks very little English) in that situation. Also, fuck giving the US any extra money.
- Did you see this? It's potentially dangerous to bring your wife there.

I'm one of the 36%. With ICE, the US being more hostile in general, and questionable aviation safety, I've changed my destination from California to Australia.
- Gday, and hope you enjoy!
  Our beaches are much better anyway :)
  
  Thank you! 😃 Any beaches you recommend?
- I would have done that even if the US wasn't turning to shit.
- good call mate

I question if it's even safe for outsiders to go to the Untied States
- It's not even safe for Americans to go to the United States at this point.
- Highly depends on where. Many states aren't safe for Americans to set foot in, much less foreigners.

And I'm avoiding visiting Canada because I know I won't want to come back.
Any Canadians feel like adopting a middle-aged American manchild?
- Serious answer to an unserious question: adopting an adult is legally possible in about half the jurisdictions in Canada, and then most of those jurisdictions require the adoptee to be a citizen or permanent resident. https://adoptingback.com/adopting-back/canada-adult-adoption-law/
- Hey, no cutting in line. I was here first.
  So anyway, I prefer a family within an hour or two of a ski area. It's not a deal breaker, though. References available upon request.
- Yeah, my parents mentioned maybe visiting the UK next year and asked if I'd want to go, and it's like...I don't think I could bear having to come back here.

Was going to fly to Boston with my sister to see a Laker's game this March, but that's all off the table now. No tickets, no hotel, no flights; we'll use the money for a different game, maybe in Toronto. I'm not stepping foot in the US if I can help it, in solidarity with many other Canadians. Just how it is right now.

I wouldn’t either. When I travel abroad, I always make sure my layovers aren’t on 3rd world soil.
- This is it. If you're on American soil, even during a layover, you're bound to American rules of law. There was already a Canadian citizen who was detained in a ICE facility.
  
  i believe you...but do you have the article to back up that claim? i would like to save it for later dates

Seeing the news this isn't even a matter of boycott but safety. Ice is not very discerning

If I took a drink every time I read a lemmy post about some country hating on the current US, thought to myself "Can't blame em", and kept scrolling, I'd be wasted before I got out of bed.
- I think you'd need a swim suit and scuba gear
- I spend too much time online and this has probably created a bias, it looks like most people around me don't really care. Yesterday I even stumbled upon some comments on Lemmy who thought BuyFromEU was about European nationalism and not about the shit that is going on in USA.. Sigh. Anyway, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, not good to hate too much, but it seems healthy to trust USA a bit less now. /rant
  
  Most people around you probably don't really know. I get the distinct impression that, even among otherwise politically-active people who should know better, there's a fuck-ton of normalcy bias going on among the American public right now.

As a rule of thumb I don’t travel to countries run by dictatorships and have no fair judicial systems .

I live close to the border, I went to the USA for shopping and vacations 200+ times in 25 years. I went once or twice per month. I have not ben there since October 2024 and doubt I will return.
When doing grocery, like everyone here, I avoid all and every USA things.

Americans fuck around, Americans find out.
This world doesn’t need us. We’ve enjoyed decades of undeserved praise and good will from the world, and it’s inflated our ego enough that we think we’re invincible.
- It's more been the willingness of other countries to follow our lead on most things for so long. (Soft power) That time is over, and it's not a bad thing.
  
  Great point. Probably a filtering done by our national media so that any interaction with global entities makes it sound like we’re being praised….

Just to add another reason: Some famiky members were changing their flights to avoid USA after the FAA cuts and plane crashes. Loosening regulation and cutting staff just makes it more dangerous, so they chose to use airlines under stronger regulations.

I have an upcoming trip with a US transfer. We booked it before Trump won and started these shenanigans. We worry that the declining traffic will cancel our direct flight and we'll be left scrambling to find an alternative route. We also worry about US Customs now more than we used to. It would cost us ~$1300 for the two of us to reroute, and we're seriously thinking about it just to reduce our risk.
In unrelated news, most of the lettuce in the store in grown in the USA. We went shopping yesterday and all the Canadian produce was sold out while the US stuff was sort of rotting. Well, we found romaine hearts grown in Mexico, so we bought that. Thanks Mexico-bros.
- Thanks Mexico-bros
  Mexibro?

Oh, right, it's because of the tariffs and not because the US immigration is arresting and torturing people at random at the borders...
Everything is because of the tariffs. Tariffs are all that is happening on the US right now, you don't have to look it up.
- Yep. They're definitely not disappearing German and Canadian citizens for basically no reason. They're certainly not putting them in solitary confinement for days on end before shuffling them around the county for months with no way for friends or family to (accurately) track down where they are

Canadians are really showing Trump they mean business! Hope we Europeans will do the same! Kudos to Canada!

My landlord and her family just got back from Mexico, and even though they had booked their tickets before Trump was elected, they choose direct flights just because Trump's rumblings were so strong.

I wish I could cancel. I bought tickets a long time ago and they want $100 to change or cancel per ticket. It'll cost me upwards of $600 to cancel the trip
- Put it this way, would you pay $600 to avoid being detained in an ICE facility for several weeks?
  If so, change the trip.
  
  No

Fuck I haven’t been to the US (not even for a stopover) since Trunp 1.0. I can’t imagine when or why I would ever go back.

How are people getting to Mexico from Canada without going through the US? You’d have to take one heck of a convoluted flight path to avoid US airspace. Can you actually fly over the US direct to Mexico from Canada without going through US customs?
- You can definitely fly direct without going through customs.
  You only go through customs if you land in the country. The US even has the extra annoying step of going through customs on a stopover even if you don't leave the airport.
- It's not about flight path, it's no stops or layovers in the US.
  
  It's not about the flight path until your plane needs to make an emergency landing. Then you're fucked anyway.
- Absolutely you can. I can get a direct flight from Vancouver Island to Mexico, but usually transfer in Van. I’ve seen direct flights from Calgary as well.
  
  That’s good, though I still feel uncomfortable about it!
  Am I paranoid for worrying that the US might order flights from Canada to Mexico to be diverted to a US airport so that ICE can look for “illegals and DEI folk”?
- They mean no stopovers in US.

72 comments