Canadian Tourists To The U.S. Were Down Nearly 40% In May, New Data Says

In recent years, Canadian tourists have made up roughly one-quarter of all foreign travelers who come to the United States, according to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO). Last year, Canadian tourists vacationing in the U.S. spent $20.5 billion. To put that number into context, it is nearly double the $10.4 billion Americans spent at McDonald’s during all of 2024.

Canada’s leadership warned residents against traveling to the U.S. in early February, after President Donald Trump began talking about tariffs and started referring to Canada as “the 51st state.” Then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Canadians not to vacation south of the border, and repeated that call to action through April, when he left office. Three-quarters (75%) of Canadians who had been planning a trip to the U.S. say the tariff announcements have influenced their plans, and over half (56%) who had planned to visit the U.S. have decided to travel elsewhere, according to a survey by Leger Marketing of over 1,500 Canadian adults fielded mid-May.

Are Canadians Traveling Less This Summer?

No. Over half of Canadians (55%) plan to take a leisure trip this summer, up from 47% who planned a summer trip in 2024, according to the Leger Marketing poll. Only 10% of Canadians plan to travel to the U.S. this summer compared to 23% last year. In contrast, Canadians’ domestic travel intentions are soaring, with 77% planning to stay within Canada (up from 69% in 2024). Compared to before President Trump’s tariffs were introduced, more Canadians are likely to travel within their home province (48% vs. 38% pre-tariffs) or to another Canadian province (42%, up from 30%).

Are Tourists From Other Countries Also Steering Clear Of The U.S. This Year?

The U.S. is looking at a significant 9% drop in U.S. international arrivals for 2025, and a drop of $8.5 billion (-4.7%) in international visitor spending relative to last year, according to the latest forecast from Tourism Economics, a nonpartisan Oxford Economics company tracking tourism statistics. But the true damage is actually twice as “catastrophic,” Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, told Forbes. “Given trends in our pre-Inauguration forecast, we were expecting a 9% increase in international visitors this year,” Sacks said. “So the full way to appreciate the loss is relative to the growth that would have happened based on the ongoing recovery that was expected, because we're still well below 2019 levels.” Considering 2025 was forecast to be a big growth year for international inbound visitors, the true loss for the U.S. is far bigger. The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts an even bigger decline in tourism revenue for the U.S., forecasting a loss of $12.5 billion in international visitor spending in 2025.

Big Number

$1.8 billion. That’s how much in export revenue is lost for every 1% drop in international visitor spending, according to the USTA. If the downward trajectory continues through the end of the year, the country stands to lose at least $21 billion in travel-related exports.

Tangent

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has proposed slashing the budget of Brand USA, the country’s public-private destination marketing organization, from $100 million to $20 million. The USTA said it is “deeply concerned” about the proposal, saying such drastic cuts would “significantly impact every sector of our industry.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/

US Grounding Boeing 737 Max 8, 9 After Ethiopia Crash After Canada Joins Ban, Again Demonstrating A Lack Of Leadership From Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is issuing an emergency order Wednesday grounding all Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 aircraft “effective immediately,” in the wake of the crash of an Ethiopian Airliner that killed 157 people, President Donald Trump said.

Many nations had already barred the Boeing 737 Max 8 from its airspace, but until Trump’s announcement, the Federal Aviation Administration had said that it didn’t have any data to show the jets are unsafe. Trump cited “new information” that had come to light in the ongoing investigation into incident. He did not elaborate.

“All of those planes are grounded, effective immediately,” Trump said during a scheduled briefing on border security.

Trump said any airplane currently in the air will go to its destination and then be grounded. He added all airlines and affected pilots had been notified.

Trump said the safety of the American people is of “paramount concern,” and added that the FAA would soon put out a statement on the action.

Trump said the decision to ground the aircraft “didn’t have to be made, but we thought it was the right decision.”

The president insisted the announcement was coordinated with aviation officials in Canada, U.S. carriers and aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

“Boeing is an incredible company,” Trump said. “They are working very, very hard right now and hopefully they’ll quickly come up with an answer.”

In a statement, Boeing said it “continues to have full confidence in the safety of the 737 MAX.” The company added that it had decided “out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft’s safety — to recommend to the FAA the temporary suspension of operations of the entire global fleet of 371 737 MAX aircraft.”

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said the company was “supporting this proactive step out of an abundance of caution.”

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

No Travel Ban To The United States: The United States Court of Appeals Declares Ban Would Target Muslims Travelers And Is Not A Security Issue

By

 Juergen T Steinmetz

President Donald Trump suffered another defeat in trying to put a ban in place for certain nations to be able to travel to the United States of America. The travel ban block stands after the 4th Circuit Courts of Appeals of the United States ruled against a ban to restrict or ban travel to the US for citizens of some Muslim majority countries. This was the second time US President Trump was putting such a ban in place.

The court decision was not anonymous and partly was based on issues other than the issue. The majority of the appeals court judges agreed the ban is targeting Muslim travelers and is not necessarily based on a security concern.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: District of Maryland. Eastern District of North Carolina. Middle District of North Carolina.

It upholds the suspension of a revised version of the executive order that the Trump administration crafted to better hold up to legal scrutiny than an earlier version.

Trump has insisted that the measure is necessary to prevent possible terrorist attacks. But courts in previous rulings blocking its enforcement have cited past statements from Trump and his advisors signaling that it may single out Muslims.