Fact check: Has Canadian tourism to Florida dropped by 80 percent? | Tourism News

The Canadians have long spent in winter in Florida, exchanging cold temperatures on the sunny beaches of the state of Sunshine and spending money on restaurants and hotels that serve Canadian tourists.

But the rhetoric and actions of President Donald Trump aimed at Canada have given some Canadians a detection of spending money in the United States. Trump has repeatedly said that Canada should be the 51st State of the United States, called to the then First Level Minister, Justin Trudeau, a “governor” and promulgated substantial tariffs.

The Canadians replied: “Excuszz-Moi?” And, on April 28, elected liberal party of Prime Minister Mark Carney. And according to a Congressman from Florida, many Canadians also launched their travel plans from Florida.

In an interview on May 1 with the representative Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach, Wolf Blitzer of CNN said he had heard from friends in Boca Mouse, Florida, that many Canad are the actions. Do not travel. Blitzer asked Moskowitz: “Have you noticed a fall in Canadian tourism to Florida?”

Moskowitz said: “It’s 80 percent less than we are seeing in travel data.”

When we asked Moskowitz’s team to comment, his spokesman Christopher Bowman said Moskowitz referred to a WPTV April 2 report, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach. The WPTV report said: “The reserves of Canada Airlines to Florida have dropped 76 percent this April compared to April 2024.”

The WPTV report quoted OAG, an aviation firm. In a blog post, the firm said that the April reservations registered in March for the entire US-Canada No Canada market were reduced by 75.7 percent compared to March 2024. It did not report specific numbers from Florida.

OAG said the national fall “suggests that travelers are stop making reservations, probably due to continuous uncertainty around the broader commercial dispute.”

We find other data sources that point to a decrease in Canadian visitors to Florida, but in much less than 80 percent cited by Moskowitz.

In 2024, more Canadians traveled to Florida by air (2.1 million) than by other media (1.1 million), such as road trips, chording to visit Florida, the state tourism arm.

Some data point to the fall of Canadian tourism, but the complete image is not yet noticeable

The estimated visitors data throughout the state for the first quarter of 2025 won to be avializable until May 15, Chord to visit Florida. In 2024, around 3.27 million Canadians visited Florida, representing approximately 2 percent of tourists to the State.

The Governor Ron Desantis office said in April that in January and February, Florida saw a “0.5 percent increase in Canadian air visits” compared to the same months in 2024.

Aviation and airport companies have said they have seen decreases.

OAG chief analyst John Grant told Politifact that at the beginning of March, there were 698,000 seats of scheduled airlines, or seats available by airlines, between Canada and Florida from May to August. “That is now 628,000, so a reduction or 10 percent,” he said. He pointed out that the company’s data includes anyone reserved on a flight between Canada and the United States, so a traveler could be a Chinese connection passenger who travels through Vancouver to Denver, for example.

Courtney Miller, founder of the Aviation Data Firm, Visual Fococe Analytics, told Politifact that the seats of the Canadian airline to Florida have decreased by 13 percent for May and 10 percent for June compared to the same periods in 2024.

“I have not seen any data that suggests 80 percent,” said Miller. “We are seeing general Canadian travel to all the US. Uu. No more than 25 percent.”

A visual approach analysis showed that from January to March 27, two Florida-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport International Airport and Orlando International Airport had the greatest decrease in the monthly arrivals of Canadian airlines.

Other Florida areas also experience travel decreases. “Fort Myers and Palm Beach have dropped 30 percent and 43 percent, respectively, compared to April schedules, as existed on January 1, 2025,” the analysis said.

A spokesman for Miami International Airport told Politifact that from January 1 to April 23, the number of passengers arriving from Canada fell 5.9 percent.

National data for the road-US road trips also show a fall.

The US Customs and Protection data shows that some 4.1 million travelers arriving from the northern border in March 2025, compared to 4.9 million at the same time last year, a decrease of 17.4 percent. The data does not specify whether the travelers entered the US. UU. As tourists.

Richard Claatet, owner of Hollywood, Florida, Motels and Hotels, said their properties for years have attracted the Canadians who meet in the pool or on Friday night at Hot Dog meals. Keyt told Politifact that he saw a fall in Canadian visitors from February.

“Many of them were blaming him for the political situation,” said Clacet, who is originally from Quebec. “They were not happy with the way Trump was talking about his prime minister. They wanted to boycott the United States and make a statement, so many of them canceled.”

Clamot estimated that in recent months the number of Canadians who stay in their properties was 50 percent less than last winter.

In general, Canadians rushed to reserve for the following year, but that has not happened this year, said Clacet.

“They want a piece of the sun where it is safe, the weather is excellent, in what I have been working for so many years,” said Clacet. “I really enjoyed dealing with the Canadians; I hope they return.”

Our decision

Moskowitz said that Canadian tourism to Florida has decreased by 80 percent.

His office indicated the information of a television report, which cited information from the OAG Aviation data firm. The firm said that the reserves of the April airline registered in March for the entire US-Canada Canada market fell 75.7 percent compared to 2024. It did not report specific numbers from Florida.

Other data sources confirm a drop in Canadian tourism to Florida, but much less than the percentage cited by Moskowitz. For example, individual airports in Florida cited decreases from 6 percent to 43 percent in a few months.

The statement contains an element of truth but ignores the critical facts that would give a different impression. We describe it Mostly false.