U.S. destinations keep Canadian travellers top of mind
A strong showing of 48 exhibitors were on location in Toronto and Montreal this week for the inaugural Brand USA Travel Week. Many representatives were on hand to keep their destinations top of mind for when Canadians were ready to travel, while others yet had positive messages to share.
Rosalyn Hunter of VoX International, which represents Travel Texas in Canada, admittedly said she was bracing for the destination’s 2025 arrival numbers from Canada. To her surprise, she reports that the figures revealed 608,000 Canadian visitors last year, “barely down” from 617,000 in 2024.
“Obviously, it’s challenging times, and I think it’s great that the state is committed to the market. I think there’s a lot of silent tourism going on because we got the 2025 stats and I was like ‘brace for impact’ — I was nervous — but 608,000 Canadians went to Texas in 2025,” Hunter said. “That’s basically 1.2% less off 2024… Texas is doing really well.”
The record-sized U.S. delegation featured a strong showing from the state, including Debra Bustos from the Office of the Governor of Texas.
“We have continued to be in market for the state of Texas and making sure that we still are promoting to our second international market,” Bustos added. “We want to make sure that Canadians still know we’re here to promote the great state of Texas and just promoting all the wonderful things we have to offer.”
Alison Lamell from Visit Austin echoed the sentiments on the importance of the market.
“Canada is a really important market for us — it’s always been one of our top three markets. Even though we know that times are difficult right now, we just want to show our support to our neighbours to the north, and we are here to welcome you when you guys are ready to come back,” she shared.
Since Canada is the top international market for Seattle and Washington, Christine Scarce and Caitlyn Shearer of Visit Seattle said it was important to have a presence at Travel Week and to get a pulse from local airlines, buyers and operators.
“This is a very important relationship so we wanted to make sure that we were here so everybody knows how much we appreciate the partnership, and we’re around when folks are ready to start travelling. We know it’s a little tricky right now,” Shearer said.
Describing the relationship as neighbours and friends, Scarce added that they haven’t left the market.
“We won’t leave the market and we wanted to emphasize that we’re not going anywhere. When your travellers are ready to come back, we will welcome them back with open arms,” she added.
Similarly, Elena Vizzini from Travel Oregon shared that the state has traditionally been a big drive market for B.C.
“We are seeing a decline this year. It’s taking a big hit to our economy and the tourism sector, and we feel like we have similar values to many Canadians,” Vizzini said. “So we wanted to be present to listen and understand where the Canadian traveller is deciding to come to in the U.S. and what kind of experiences are of interest to them.”
Erin Goldmeier of Visit Virginia Beach highlighted that the destination continues to put a lot of effort into marketing to the Canadian market, including a Loonie Savers program.
“We always had such a good relationship with the Canadian market, and we think it’s important to still reach out and meet and network and keep those relationships going the best that we can. That’s why we all wanted to be here. I can say the same for a lot of my colleagues too. Canadians have been great to us. We love them. It’s emotional because you feel so bad about it.”
“We’re reaching out to Canadians because they are our No. 1 international market by far,” added Brigitte Bélanger-Warner from Virginia Tourism Corporation. “Even though there has been a decrease, much like everywhere else in the U.S. recently, the indicators are looking very positive for the last five months so that’s encouraging.”
Notably, Andrew Ricketts, representing Fort Myers – Islands, Beaches and Neighbourhoods, shared that airlift into the destination continues to be strong with flights from Air Canada, WestJet and new service from Porter.
“Airlift to Fort Myers is booming, we’ve got a lot. The planes are full. So there is a drop but snowbirds are still going,” he shared.
Visit Baltimore’s Eric Masterton shared that the Canadian market is still coming for sports and music, and that road trips are up over the previous year.
“Canada is our No. 1 international market,” he shared, adding that the bicentennial of American railroading is a big draw for 2027. “We’re here to welcome you now or in the future.”
Meanwhile, Sara DeFilippi from the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing, shared that snow helped draw Canadian travellers to the state following a mild winter out west.
“Canada is so important for us. Statewide our visitation from Canada is about 5% but for our northern part of the state it’s about 20% so it’s huge. At Jay Peak, which is our large ski resort, like 50% of their visitors were Canadian,” she shared. “Jay has been doing at-par pricing for Canadians for the last 20 years and they continue to do it at-par.”
Finally, representatives from the Colorado Tourism Office pointed out that they’ve been present in the Canadian market for over 15 years.
“The one thing that we really believe in is consistency in the marketplace. We’ve never left. We didn’t leave during the pandemic. We did not leave because of the geopolitical situation. Canada is our second largest market coming into Colorado. Every year our governor has celebrated Colorado-Canada Friendship Day,” noted Andrea Blankenship. “We have an official day now, March 19th of every year. We have great economic ties to Canada, we believe Canadians will want to come back. Colorado is a very progressive state, and we want to welcome our Canadians back.”
