The last time Paul Doroshenko was in the United States for longer than a day was more than nine years ago. And the Vancouverite has no plans to return anytime soon.
It was 2017, and Doroshenko, a lawyer, was in Arizona for a trade conference, which happened to coincide with President Donald Trump's first inauguration. Calling himself a "close political watcher," he saw the swearing-in on a television in the hallway.
Trump's second inauguration sealed the deal for him. Since then, he said, he has felt "very concerned" by the administration's stance on diversity, equity and inclusion, a string of detainments over the past year, and rhetoric about taking over Greenland and Canada.
"All of these things come to play, and it is, in fact, political, but we also hear of Canadians being detained, Canadians locked up in immigration detention, Canadians facing Americans talking about the '51st state,'" Doroshenko said. "It’s insulting and offensive and not the way you treat your neighbor or business partner."
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It's not that Doroshenko doesn't like his neighbor to the south — he views Canadian and American success as intertwined — it's just that, right now, its policies run counter to his fundamental values. Until there's a "significant shift," he's canceled all upcoming American vacations.
Canadians were once America's largest group of inbound international travelers, but recent data shows a shift as some turn away from the United States based on values and even a weakening Canadian dollar.
The decline began early last year. According to Statistics Canada, the number of Canadians returning from the United States in February 2026 was 1.1 million — a drop of 13.25% from 1.27 million in February 2025 and 28.2% from 1.41 million in February 2024.
A Toronto University study published in May 2026, analyzing cell phone activity data, found an even more staggering decrease. Comparing the time frame from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, to the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, there was a median 42% decline in Canadian visits to the United States.
Doroshenko isn't planning on any American vacations for the time being.
As travelers from the Great North figure out where to spend their time and money amid rising travel costs, many are choosing other destinations they feel more aligned with, welcomed to and even safer in. Though some are disillusioned with the United States, others forge ahead with their visits.
With travelers on both sides of the coin, the full picture points toward one thing: The USA has slipped as the top destination for Canadians for the time being.
Shifting attitudes
Skipping the United States hasn't slowed Doroshenko's travels; he's just choosing elsewhere. He traded a trip to Florida for a trip to the Dominican Republic, and his wife and children canceled a visit to Disneyland and went to Europe instead. He has skipped conferences and trade shows in the United States but will attend an upcoming gathering in Mexico. He has also explored more of his home, British Columbia, than he has in the past decade.
This summer, more Canadians are leaning into domestic travel, where shorter, closer trips give them more bang for their buck, according to Expedia's Summer Travel Outlook. The most popular domestic destinations for Canadians this summer are Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, based on the platform's lodging searches from Jan. 5 to April 5, for travel between June 1 and Aug. 31. The perennial European locales of Paris, London and Rome are the top international destinations.
As the USA remains overlooked by Canadians, it's also losing steam among all international visitors.
Carla Foley encourages others to travel to the U.S. and support small businesses.
According to data from the U.S. Travel Association, overall visitation to the United States by foreign nationals dropped 5.5% in 2025, driven mainly by fewer Canadians.
That amounted to a 2.4% loss in inbound travel spending revenue. Canadian travelers spend three times as much on their U.S. trips as Americans do.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin recently floated the possibility of ceasing customs and immigration processing of international travelers and cargo at major airports in "sanctuary" cities such as Denver, New York and Los Angeles in private warnings to travel executives earlier in May. Industry organizations have opposed the proposal; Airlines for America said reduced staffing at major hubs would have a "devastating effect" on U.S. tourism and the airline industry.
The latter half of the year could see some recovery with major events like the FIFA World Cup 2026 drawing more travelers – including a projected 21% increase in Canadians. The Trump administration temporarily suspended a visa bond requirement for World Cup ticket holders. But that rebound depends on "policy conditions, global sentiment and geopolitical stability," the organization said in its spring 2026 U.S. travel update.
Going past the political divide
Not all Canadians are staying away from the United States; some say that they feel welcome and that human connection matters more.
Sharon Wickham, who lives in Alberta, continues to visit the USA. She mainly comes to cowboy-mounted shooting competitions with her horses and said she enjoys meeting "like-minded grassroots people."
As long as her paperwork is in order, Wickham said, she hasn't had any trouble at the border. "Those boycotting traveling to the U.S., I believe, are missing out," she said.
Winnipeg-based Carla Foley is another Canadian still sojourning to the United States, mainly as a snowbird — a tradition from her childhood when her family spent half the year in California. She recently spent three weeks in Arizona and is headed to New York in June for the kickoff of the FIFA World Cup.
Trump's rhetoric about Canada's sovereignty and the trade wars felt "disheartening" to Foley. She said she could see how it evoked fear among her fellow Canadians, but that was outweighed by her pride for her country: "We're very strong, and Canada to me will always be Canada."
Though she understands how Canadians are divided over the United States right now, Foley, a small-business owner, encourages Canadians to consider who is actually affected by boycotting. "You're not hurting Trump and you're not hurting people who have billions of dollars," she said. "You're just hurting those little small businesses that relied on you coming down every year to support your little town or whatever it is."
She hopes travelers on both sides of the border can look past the politics. "I just wish that all the politics on both sides would simmer down — we are each other's closest neighbors."
