Tariff threat, weak loonie will drive more Canadians to destinations outside U.S.: travel agent

Amid the tariff threat and Canadian dollar 20-year low, Edmontonians are reconsidering their U.S. travel plans.

An Edmonton travel agent believes more people will choose to vacation within Canada because of both the tariff threat from the United States and the lower value of the Canadian dollar.

Rhonda Sveahun, co-owner and leisure manager of Paull Travel, says several clients are re-considering trips to the U.S. because of political tension between the two countries brought on by new President Donald Trump’s impending plan to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian goods and the weaker loonie.

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“There are going to be some travellers out there that are going to think about where they’re going to spend their money,” Sveahun told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday, adding travel to Europe has been a significant choice for her clients at this time of year and that visiting other parts of Canada should rise in popularity.

“I think more travel within Canada ... will definitely peak again. It was very popular during COVID, obviously, traveling within Canada, but we’re going to start seeing that again,” she said.

“Canada is an amazing country, and we’re really big. It’s very diverse, so there are lots of places one can explore and have an amazing holiday.”

And if poll results out of eastern Canada Tuesday are any indication, several Canadians are reconsidering their travel plans south of the border.

The Narrative Research survey of 1,618 residents of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and P.E.I. — conducted between Jan. 30-31 — found that 62 per cent of respondents said they would spend less time travelling to the U.S., with the top reason being dissatisfaction or disagreement with Trump’s leadership.

One-third of those curtailing their travel cited financial reasons specifically related to tariffs, and opposition to Trump’s economic policies.

A similar survey in December found only 37 per cent of respondents were expecting to travel less to the U.S.

Canadians have also voiced their displeasure at Trump’s threats at major sporting events in recent days. On Sunday, basketball fans at a Toronto Raptors home game and hockey fans at a Vancouver Canucks contest continued a trend of booing the U.S. national anthem started the night before at National Hockey League games in Calgary and Ottawa.

And while the Canadian dollar regained some of its strength Tuesday after Trump’s decision Monday to delay tariffs for 30 days, rising more than a cent from Monday to 69.71 cents against the U.S. dollar, Sveahun said Canada could see more American tourists because of the value of the U.S. greenback compared to the loonie.

“The U.S. can get so much more value out of their trips when the dollar is lower in Canada,” she said, adding while Paull Travel is more of an outbound agency, they hear “a lot of Americans” visit Alberta tourist hotspots such as Banff and Jasper.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nav Sangha and The Canadian Press