Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser made a disappointing discovery while trying to promote tourism to the state of Louisiana. It all happened during a trip to Canada last week, joined by nine tourism partners from across the state. As the Louisiana Radio Network reports, Nungesser and his group heard the very same message wherever they went: Many Canadians are not interested in leisure trips to the United States until Trump is no longer president because of his previous statements and actions about Canada.
“We’ve seen a great fall off as all of America has, since the comments about making Canada the 51st state and of course the tariffs.”
Canada is Louisiana’s largest international tourism market. Just last year, the state welcomed an estimated 185,000 visitors from Canada and spent $194 million.
With so much on the line, Nungesser and the group traveled from Toronto and Montreal to Quebec City, meeting at each location with government and tourism officials, tour operators and Canadian media, looking to build new business relationships in tourist travel.
It’s not just Louisiana experiencing the absence of Canadians. Canadian visits to the U.S. overall in May decreased by 38% by car and 24% by air compared to the same month in 2024 according to the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office (NTTO).
Travel forecasts from Tourism Economics and Oxford Economics predict an overall drop of more than 8% for international arrivals by years end.
It is not just one but a myriad of factors that are contributing to a tourism decline nationally this year. International perceptions on American tariffs and visa restrictions are just two examples.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agents detaining foreign travelers at airports across the U.S. has also had a chilling effect on America’s $2.6 trillion tourism industry, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). That organization projects the U.S. will lose $12.5 billion in visitor spending this year.
However, the Congressional report [and graphic above] has a much more conservative estimate on how much international arrivals to the United States have been affected, at least thus far. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA), through May 2025, year-to-date international arrivals to the United States were down 2.4% from the prior year. The report added that “In April 2025, the head of the U.S. Travel Association, a travel industry trade group, testified before the House Homeland Security Committee that the United States was no longer the top global tourist destination."
