Austin Lamarche had planned to go to Disney World in Florida with family in September.
But, as U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly joked about making Canada the 51st state, and news of permanent residents and foreigners being detained emerged, Lamarche said heading to the Magic Kingdom was no longer safe, and pulled the plug.
“I was looking forward to my trip for over a year,” the Toronto woman said, “but I am not going into a hostile nation.”
Now, the family is heading to Paris for a week instead — even though it meant losing non-refundable money from the Disney trip.
Lamarche is not the only Canadian cancelling U.S. travel plans for other destinations amid Trump’s tariffs, taunts and border crackdown.
And ticket prices for these alternate international destinations are going down, according to data from travel agency Flight Centre Canada.
Airfare for places in Asia, Europe and Latin America are down an average of 17 per cent for departures through to May compared to same time period the year before, Flight Centre found.
Prices for flights to specific countries like Iceland and Japan are down even more — around 30 per cent.
“We’re seeing Canadians making very intentional choices with where they’d like to travel,” said Jessica Groen, Flight Centre’s V-P of supply partnerships. “And we’re seeing the airlines responding to that.”
For its part, WestJet said in an email Wednesday it has seen a rise in demand for “sun destinations” to Mexico, the Caribbean and Europe as interest in trips to America drops.
“While we recently scaled back some flying capacity between Canada and the U.S.,” the airline continued, “we modified our summer operating schedule to proactively deploy aircraft to stronger markets.”
Meanwhile, Flair Airlines has said it was ending certain seasonal U.S. routes early, while boosting service to places like Mexico and Jamaica to match demand.
Air Canada did not respond to questions by publication date, but previously said it was cutting certain U.S. routes by 10 per cent.
Recent price drops to alternate destinations can mostly be attributed to shifting customer preferences, Groen said, but added cheaper tickets could also be due to airlines using newer planes that cost less to operate. She also pointed to falling demand for business travel.
“Many of the corporates are being a little bit cautious this year as it relates to travel,” Groen explained, “So potentially that could mean more seats available for leisure travellers and increased supply — which usually does translate to a slight reduction in cost.”
Ticket prices aside, anecdotally, most people who spoke to the Star said safety concerns were their main reasons for avoiding U.S. destinations.
“We don’t feel comfortable going there,” said Rachel Swiger from southeast Saskatchewan.
Swiger, an American who has lived in Canada for the past 13 years, was planning a winter trip to Hawaii with Canadian husband, Mark, next year, but changed destinations to Costa Rica after “a few long discussions.”
“We’ve seen recently that it doesn’t matter if you do have connections in your home country or what your purpose of travel is,” she continued. “People are being detained and I just am not willing to put my husband’s life and safety at risk.”
Further west in Calgary, Nathan Quan made a similar call, deciding to stop making his regular cross-border trips to the U.S. as a NEXUS cardholder. He doesn’t regret his decision.
“There is nothing that America has to offer me anymore that I cannot find a substitute for elsewhere in a safer manner at a lower cost,” he said, “I do not miss visiting America.”
