The Trump administration’s hostile stance on Canada is taking a toll on New York City tourism as Canadian travelers cancel tours, hotel stays and flights.
The roughly 1 million Canadians who visited New York City last year contributed an estimated $600 million to the local economy — making them the second-largest group of foreign tourists traveling to the five boroughs, after the United Kingdom. That number is on track to shrink significantly this year.
City tour operators told Crain’s they are seeing drops between 20% and 40% in business largely from Canadian tourists this year. Hotels are seeing between a 5% to 15% drop in bookings from Canadians. Coach companies that operate cross-border tours into New York from Canada are reporting a steep drop in future bookings to the city. And in February, flights arriving from Canada declined by 31% at John F. Kennedy International Airport, more than 22% at LaGuardia Airport and by 15% at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The drop off in visits from New York’s northern neighbors is hitting the city’s tour guide industry hard. Queens-based Spread Love Tours has seen at least a 40% drop for foreign bookings across its tours, which are typically for a mix of school groups, couples and small groups, said Matt Levy, the owner.
The company grossed $35,000 in 2024 from tours just for Canadian school groups. Such tours typically take students around to a mix of foodie, shopping and sightseeing destinations. But this year the company only expects to earn roughly $5,000 from such trips, Levy said.
“In terms of middle class families coming to visit and doing their class trip, it’s just been heartbreaking,” said Levy, who noted that some of his clients have said a weakening of the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar is also factoring into their pullback on city spending.
For Brooklyn-based Like a Local Tours, which offers food and sightseeing tours to neighborhoods such as Chelsea and Williamsburg, international guest bookings were down almost 20% in the first quarter, a decrease the company’s CEO, Lauren Beebe, attributed mostly to Canadians dropping off.
“This is all about the policies that this administration is putting out there,” said Beebe, referring to the Trump administration. “New York City is not the only travel destination, so I can see why people are wanting to go somewhere else.”
That attitude also spells trouble for the city’s hotels. The Hotel Association of New York, which represents the owners of more than 300 hotels across the city, told Crain’s that its members are reporting between a 5% and 15% slump in bookings by Canadian travelers over the last 30 days. The association declined to share data on specific hotels.
“That’s hugely concerning,” said Vijay Dandapani, CEO of the Hotel Association. “The bigger concern we have is, will there be any softness in the summer? And so we’re hoping that this is not indicative of that and that it’s more a function of the booking window contracting,” Dandapani added, referring to the time between a customer booking a room and when they arrive.
A dip in hotel bookings also does not bode well for the city’s nightlife. Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said some of the bars and restaurants it represents have reported that traffic from Candians is beginning to slip. Crain’s reached out to several city hospitality groups that did not return calls and emails about whether they are seeing a decrease in reservations and business from Canadian travelers.
“If the political climate continues to discourage visitors, fewer people will be enjoying our restaurants and supporting our small businesses and workers,” Rigie noted.
Fewer people are also traveling to New York by car. Vehicle and truck crossings in the U.S.-Canadian borders in western New York are down more than 13% this year, according to state data. Canadians have all but stopped booking trips through tour bus companies. That includes Great Canadian Holiday and Coaches, Ontario’s largest motorcoach operator. Such bookings for the firm are down roughly 90% and “are nothing more than a trickle” when typically those tours would represent about 50% of the company’s business, said Michelle Tupman, vice president of the company.
New York City is typically a top destination because the 8-hour distance makes it ideal for weekend trips for sightseeing, shopping, to see a Broadway show or catch a sporting event. Would-be travelers have told Tupman they’re hesitant to visit the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s rhetoric and the way some foreign visitors have been detained at the border.
“Canadians are still wanting to travel, they just don’t want to go over the border,” said Tupman, who said Great Canadian has pivoted its fleet of 40 coaches to mostly focus on destinations in Canada for now. “A lot of the sentiment that I’m hearing is, well, in four years we’ll come back.”
