Whether it’s due to objections over the current political climate in the United States or a sagging Canadian dollar, Las Vegas has been feeling a blunt impact as visitors from Canada are choosing to travel elsewhere.
According to the latest Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority tourism indicators, the city saw a 5.2-per-cent decline in visitors in November 2025 compared to November 2024 (down to 3.1 million visitors from 3.4 million).
When it comes to January to November 2025 visits, it’s down 7.4 per cent (to 35.46 million) compared to the same period in 2024 (38.27 million).
Officials with the organization said that while 2026 has the potential to bring a large number of visitors due to major events such as the 2026 World Cup, the Las Vegas Grand Prix and celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the U.S., they conceded there are a number of challenges — many due to policies imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration.
“We are realistic about the headwinds we face, including cautious consumer sentiment and new federal policies such as the visa integrity fee and expanded social media screening for visa-waiver travellers, which could add cost and friction for international visitors,” a report from Tuesday said.
The report briefly highlighted Canada, and it noted that the country is the largest source of international visitors for the Nevada destination.
“In 2024, 1.4 million Canadians travelled to Las Vegas, which was about 3.3 per cent of Las Vegas’ total visitation of 41.7 million,” the report said.
“If Canadian visitation drops by 20 per cent in 2025, there will be 280,000 fewer visitors to Las Vegas.”
Data compiled and released by officials with Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Canadian airlines saw large decreases in passenger volume during October:
- Westjet carried 59,260 passengers (the highest of all international airlines), down from 88,711 in October 2024 (drop of 33.2 per cent)
- Air Canada carried 45,056 passengers (the second-highest of all international airlines), down from 61,147 in October 2024 (drop of 26.3 per cent)
- Porter Airlines carried 10,528 passengers (the ninth-highest of all international airlines), down from 13,502 (drop of 22 per cent)
- Flair carried 2,296 passengers, down from 8,023 (drop of 71.4 per cent)
The decline in visitors came amid a year of escalating rhetoric from Trump about Canada, such as references to the country becoming the 51st state, and the imposition of various tariffs.
A weak-performing Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar could also be a factor impacting travel choices made by Canadians. On Thursday, the Bank of Canada reported that $1 in Canada would get $0.725 in the U.S.
In an effort to woo Canadians back to Las Vegas, the owner of three hotels with 1,250 rooms launched a new promotion on Thursday to accept Canadian dollars at par with U.S. dollars.
“There’s a myriad of factors why Canadian tourism is down: exchange rate, flight ability, costs of the flights, politics all play into it,” Derek Stevens, the owner and CEO of Circa Resort & Casino, the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, told CityNews on Thursday.
“It pains me to see that, as countries, we’re kind of getting into a bit of this fight, but it’s really not all the people — it’s our countries doing it — so all I can really do is let people know that you’ve got some friends out here in Las Vegas and we’re thinking about you.”
As part of the promotion set to last until the end of August, Stevens said people who book a room at one of the three hotels will be able to pay the same rate in Canadian dollars as they would pay in U.S. dollars. For those who visit certain bars at the hotel properties and can show proof of residency in Canada, the parity will also apply. Lastly, the hotel casinos are offering a one-time exchange of up to CAD$500 for USD $500 in a gaming voucher.
When asked what success of this promotion would look like, he said that at this point it’s more than just an increase in room bookings or products sold.
“If we have groups that come out and say, ‘We came back out to Las Vegas because you welcomed us and you made us feel comfortable. You made us feel safe,’ that’s a pretty meaningful, non-quantifiable element as well and that’s pretty important to myself and my team,” Stevens said.
Shelley Parry, the general manager of TierOne Travel Inc. in Calgary, told CityNews her business has clients that go to Las Vegas. She said the promotion being offered by Stevens’ properties will appeal to people who are concerned about how the Canadian dollar is performing.
However, she echoed one of the predominant concerns expressed by many.
“A much larger deterrent continues to be the political climate, the increased border or security concerns, and that has fuelled the decline of Canadians travelling to the United States by 40 per cent year over year,” Parry said.
“We feel for our neighbours to the south. It is affecting their business. We’re all in the travel business and we can understand how that is affecting their bottom line, and they’ve got to try and do something to entice Canadians to travel back.”
CityNews spoke with Stephen Miller, an economics professor and a research director with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, to ask about how Canadian tourism impacts the local economy.
“It’s not a huge part of our visitor volume, but it’s a significant part of the international visitor volume and we rely on international visitors,” he said, noting conventions, gaming and NHL games have been draws for Canadians.
“We’re seeing visitor volume down consistently across various categories and so it’s a problem the fathers and mothers of Las Vegas are concerned about in terms of our tourism industry.”
Miller said it’s not entirely bad news though. He said higher-income individuals are still coming and spending, which is something the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority highlighted too.
“Visitors are down, but the spending per visitor is up,” Miller said.
“We’re losing the bottom part of the distribution and picking up the upper end.”
