Canadians love Nashville, and the feeling has to be mutual.
A Nashville TV station recently looked at the role Canadians play in the city’s thriving tourism industry. About half of visitors are from Canada, but that’s expected to change as a result of the trade war that began Tuesday.
A tourism group predicts a 10 per cent drop in Canadian travel, which would mean a significant decline in revenue flowing into the city. Nashville is a nice town – I’ve been there. But this is war. One of the best ways we can fight it is to stop visiting the U.S. and instead travel in Canada or in other countries.
A 10 per cent decline in trips from Canada to Nashville seems a bit light. Surely, we can do better. The more we reroute travel, the clearer our message that there are consequences to attacking Canada with tariffs.
There are contradictory numbers showing how Canadians have adjusted travel to the U.S. so far. Statistics Canada has reported that the number of Canadian residents returning from trips to the U.S. by vehicle in January declined on an annual basis for the first time since the pandemic. But a report in The Globe and Mail earlier this week found that bookings by Canadians at a Vermont ski resort haven’t changed much.
If you have March break travel to the U.S. booked, enjoy and then consider travelling domestically this summer. Also, travel boycotts don’t apply when you have close relatives in the U.S. Otherwise, remember the Nashville example. Some U.S. cities depend on Canadian tourist spending, and they’ll notice when it slows down.
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