NYC’s Economic Benefits from Canadian Tourists Expected to Significantly Decline
In 2024, Canadian tourists reportedly contributed an estimated $600 million to New York City’s local economy, a volume exceeded only by the United Kingdom. However, as the summer travel season quickly approaches, increasing signs of a pullback by Canadians are sparking concerns. While a “weakening of the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar is also factoring into their pullback on city spending, concerns of the way some foreign visitors have been detained at the border and an uneasiness about the White House administration are also coming into play. City tour operators that Crain’s New York reached out to are “seeing drops between 20% and 40% in business largely from Canadian tourists this year,” while hotels are seeing a decline in bookings from Canadians of between 5% to 15%. The surrounding airports are similarly experiencing a decline in flights arriving from Canada — 31% at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 22% at LaGuardia Airport, and 15% at Newark Liberty International Airport. Bookings for cross-border trips to New York City, which have been typically popular among Canadians “because the 8-hour distance makes it ideal for weekend trips for sightseeing, shopping, to see a Broadway show or catch a sporting event,” have all but stopped. Michelle Tupman, Vice President of Great Canadian Holiday and Coaches, Ontario’s largest motorcoach operator stated that such bookings “are nothing more than a trickle,” declining roughly 90%, when “typically they would represent about 50% of the company’s business.” Tupman further indicated that “while Canadians are still wanting to travel, they just don’t want to go over the border; and a lot of the sentiment I’m hearing is, well, in four years we’ll come back.” The ripple effect has raised concerns among the Hotel Association of whether there will be any softness in the summer season, its members already reporting a 5% and 15% slump in bookings by Canadian travelers over the last 30 days; while Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance stated that a “dip in hotel bookings also does not bode well for the city’s nightlife.”