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A Cambridge travel expert says residents are increasingly choosing to travel within Canada or to destinations like the Caribbean or Europe instead of the United States amid ongoing tariffs and tension between the United States and Canada.
Peggy McKnight, the franchise owner of Marlin Travel in Cambridge, says Cambridge residents are specifically avoiding the United States when vacationing, and at least one group that booked their U.S. trip through Marlin Travel have cancelled over recent trade tensions.
“There’s just too much uncertainty between our two countries that they would rather see their tourism dollars go elsewhere, so staying within Canada is a big thing,” said McKnight.
McKnight, who has worked in the community for 26 years, says that this attitude is a recent change and that Canadian travellers who once viewed the U.S. as a home away from home now feel uncomfortable travelling there.
“We have some clients that actually spend the winter in Florida, and [this is] the first time in 20 years that they have felt unsafe as a Canadian,” said McKnight, “Because you don’t wanna talk politics. You just don’t know how that Pandora's Box will open.”
This trend extends far beyond Cambridge.
According to Flight Centre Travel Group Canada, leisure bookings to the US dropped 40 per cent in February of 2025 compared to February 2024.
In the past three months, one fifth of Canadians travelling to the U.S. cancelled their trips.
The lack of Canadian tourists represents a significant loss for the U.S., which, according to Statistics Canada, saw Canadians spend $7 billion during trips there in just the first quarter of 2024.
Michele Saran, CEO of Explore Waterloo Region, says that the silver lining of the tariff situation may be the increase in Canadians staying home and spending their money in Canada.
“We really anticipate that the silver lining to this crisis is going to be that Tourism Waterloo Region, probably across all of Canada, will see a bit of an uptick this year because Canadians are choosing to boycott travel to the U.S. and stay closer to home.”
And Saran believes this new trend could stick around even if the trade war dies down.
“We’re expecting to have a really strong summer in the region. I’ve really never seen such a surge of nationalism in Canada, and I do believe that sentiment will last.”
The organization is the official sales and marketing organization of the region and has around 400 member organizations it supports, including the City of Cambridge.
Saran says Explore Waterloo Region will be continuing to encourage local tourism.
“There truly is something for everyone that we’re going to be promoting and we’re going to make it easy to buy,” she adds.
McKnight highlighted the importance of domestic travel during this period.
“This is the time, as Canadians, that we really need to support Canada and support going to see Eastern, Western Canada or Central Canada. There’s so much in our own country to see, and I think that’s probably a wise decision.”