Popular U.S. destination salty Canadians don't visit as much anymore
Heading down south doesn’t seem to be a priority anymore for those of us up north, with Florida recording another sharp decline in Canadian tourists this year.
The Sunshine State welcomed an estimated 73.5 million visitors during the first half of 2026, down 1.4 per cent from the same period last year, according to tourism marketing agency Visit Florida.
That may not sound like much, but the drop among Canadians was considerably sharper.
About 1.68 million Canadians travelled to Florida during the first six months of 2026, a 13.9 per cent drop from the same period last year. Compared with 2019, that’s roughly 610,000 fewer Canadian visitors, with travel to Florida still about 27 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.
Statistics Canada has been keeping an eye on the trend and says there has been a “persistent shift away from the United States” among Canadian travellers. In 2025, leisure trips to the U.S. fell sharply, while overseas travel picked up.
Politics may be part of the reason for such a stark drop this year.
Relations between Canada and the U.S. have been significantly strained by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade policies, while his recent executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” has sparked plenty of backlash from Canadians who say they’re living in “the dumbest timeline.”
Still, it would be difficult to pin the whole tourist decline on politics.
Pricey airfare, rising jet fuel surcharges, exchange rates, and tighter household budgets can all factor into whether Canadians can justify a trip to Florida — or anywhere, really — this year.
Despite everything, the state remains a huge tourism spot. Florida welcomed a total of 143.3 million visitors in 2025, which means people from around the world haven’t exactly stopped flocking to its vast beaches and massive theme parks.
But when winter rolls around, Canadians who are sick of shoveling two feet of snow off their driveways have plenty of options if they don’t want to trek to the U.S.
Instead, they can explore domestic gems like Banff and Quebec City, or swap the sandy beaches of Daytona and Miami for Barbados or Mexico.