‘People are canceling reservations.' Canadian tourists rethink Florida trips due to Trump
And on a toasty 80-degree morning in late March, in the courtyard of the Canadian-themed universe Richard Clavet has built for the French-Canadian community from Quebec, a glorious 'The sun!' says it all.
A group of mostly French-speaking snowbirds, like Karen Hopper, 69, bounce in a pool for an Aqua Zumba class led by Canadian-American instructor Jennifer Morris. Couples, like Hopper and Gary Cherneski, 76, of Leamington, Ontario, met here, at this string of nearly 10 colorful Hollywood hotels and motels all bearing Clavet's first name.
There's Richard's Hotel. Richard's Motel. Richard's Pet Friendly Motel. Richard's Motel Studios — all strung along South Federal Highway just south of Young Circle.
But, this season, business is off, and there are fewer Canadians spending money in South Florida. The Trump administration's mercurial policies are creating tension and uncertainty. Threats of tariffs on Canadian products, talk of new registration requirements for Canadian travelers, or even annexing the country as the 51st state, are making many Canadians reevaluate if they want to spend their money in the United States.
'I got one guy that had a $1,000 deposit. You know for sure he's coming. He gave up his deposit,' Clavet said. 'And it's not like he decided not to come. But, just to protest, he said he was going to Cuba instead.'
After years of growth, Canadian tourism in Florida is reversing course, tourism officials say and initial data indicate. Passenger arrivals from Canada at Miami International Airport are down this year, three weeks into March. Demand for flights from Canada to South Florida has fallen about 20% compared to a year ago.
'Visit Lauderdale is deeply concerned about potential travel restrictions on our tourism industry,' said Stacy Ritter, President and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, Greater Fort Lauderdale's official marketing organization. The area annually gets about 1.1 million Canadian tourists, she noted.
Canadians love South Florida from its beaches to boardrooms. Hotels and motels in Broward County at this time of the year usually brim with tourists from the United States' longtime ally to the north.
This year, something is out of the ordinary.
The Sunshine State, long a welcoming winter escape for Canadian sun worshippers like Robert, who hails from Saint-Jean in Quebec, is feeling the brunt.
'It's a strange time,' said Sophie Lalonde, chair of the Canada-Florida Business Council. 'We've always been friends,' but 'all of a sudden, Canadians are not welcome.'
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Clavet's South Florida enclave is worlds removed from the ostentatious White Lotus hotel chain of streaming television fame. But this mini-Canada in South Florida, and the global U.S.-Canada relationship, is facing a season's worth of high drama since President Donald Trump's second non-consecutive term to the White House began in January. His executive orders and domestic and international policy changes — including slapping a 25 percent tariff Wednesday on imported cars and car parts — have whipsawed Canada, Mexico and the European Union, traditional U.S. allies.
The impact is felt in the community Clavet has built in Hollywood over 35 years.
'It's terrible,' said Clavet, 60. 'People are canceling reservations left and right. They're not booking. We should be super, super busy right now and we're just basically seeking American business,' he said. He adds the unthinkable: 'I think we need to give up on the Canadians.'
Clavet, who arrived in Florida from Quebec in 1985, is torn.
'I would say my heart is on both sides of the border. I think it's terrible what's going on in Canada right now,' said Clavet, who opened his first motel in 1990. 'I guess it depends on how you're looking at things right now. Right now, there's like a mass movement from the Canadians and they're all identifying together as against the U.S. And they're cutting their flights coming down this way.'
Clavet nods toward Roger Quesnel, a fit 84-year-old golfer seated in the motel's courtyard, chatting away with other Québécois. Quesnel is from Magog in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, and Clavet identifies him as his mother Nicole's 'lover.'
'Love-her,' Quesnel corrects, emphasizing the second syllable. Both men laugh. The French-only speakers among them don't understand the language but they recognize the mirth. They smile at the kinship.
Most of Clavet's guests at the motel on this steamy March morning say they are staying — and coming back.
Hopper and Cherneski are the rarities here. They are from Ontario but don't speak French. Nevertheless, for three years they've been coming to Richard's after fielding recommendations. Since 2012, they've wintered in South Florida seeking warmth, Cherneski said. She's semi-retired. He's retired.
They've found a community here.
'The majority in this place are French. But it doesn't matter to us,' Hopper said, moments before splashing in the pool for Aqua Zumba. 'I just like how friendly everybody is to us. How accommodating they are to us even though there's a language barrier. We seem to get by. We've been here three months,' she said Thursday. 'We're going home Saturday.''
Concerned about the administration's new policies, they plan to abide by the new laws and return, they say.
'We're booked for next year. We see the same people. We come the same time every year and the same people are here. We've made lots of good friends here,' Hopper said.
Quesnel, the golfer, has wintered in South Florida since the 1960s, living in condos on the ocean, condos on golf courses, condos 'everywhere,' he said. He'd come for visits with his late wife, who died in 1967, and always came back.
Retired at 61, Quesnel has been traveling to Clavet's quirky Canadian community every winter for the eight years he's been dating the personable owner's Mom. He also comes to play golf at the nearby Orangebrook Golf and Country and dine at the Hollywood Flanigan's — both magnets for Canadian tourists, he said.
At least, they were.
'This winter, we've seen less Canadians in both places,' Quesnel said. 'And the month of March, it really died. There's no wait if you want a table compared to the past years. In my activities, I see less French Canadians. Yeah, it's up to the jury to say. Of course, the low dollar is a very big percentage of that.
'Since November, I think that the political relationship is not too good to encourage Québécois to come down,' Quesnel said. 'My own son-in-law, I've been asking him four times to come down for a week, room and board included, and do the golf with me. There's no way he wants to come down here and spend money for Trump.
'God willing,' he'll brave it next year to stay at Richard's cozy rooms, Quesnel added. 'I'm 84 but I'm a real snowbird, as you define.'
Broward tourism officials are increasingly worried not everyone will tough it out like Quesnel.
'Canada has long been one of our most valuable international markets, with Canadian visitors contributing significantly to our local economy, supporting thousands of jobs, and fueling our vibrant hospitality sector,' Ritter, the Visit Lauderdale president, wrote in an email to the Herald. They 'show great respect and love for our community' and 'their presence enriches our local culture,' she said.
But Ritter is expecting her region to take a hit in the coming months.
'Our tourism industry thrives on open borders, accessibility and strong international relationships,' she said.
When comparing airline schedules on March 25 against what they had planned for on Jan. 31, airlines flying between Canada and MIA reduced seat capacity 13% in April, 17% in May and 15% in June.
The reductions are even bigger for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport: an 18% drop in seat capacity in April, 19% less in May and a 25% decrease in June. That's according to data by Cirium, an aviation analytics company.
Nationally, the number of flights from Canada to the U.S. are also down, though not as much as the Florida traffic: an average of 4.4% fewer seats in April, May and June.
Through March 23, 5,405 fewer travelers had arrived on flights to MIA from Canada — a 4% decline from the same period in 2024, according to Greg Chin, communications director for Miami-Dade Aviation Department.
Local businesses have witnessed the decline.
Francois Grenier has owned the Dania Beach Dairy Belle since his parents started the charming eatery in the area in 1998. Dairy Belle caters to French-Canadian tourists with its menu mix of Canadian favorites like poutine along with cheeseburgers, hot dogs and ice cream specialties.
Grenier, a Canadian-American who has lived in the U.S. for 33 years, found a busy location at the Meadowbrook Square mall five years ago at 312 E. Dania Beach Blvd.
'The current economic situation, especially with the Canadian dollar being very weak, a lot of Canadians are not coming as long or they're not coming at all. So we've seen a little decline, but nothing drastic,' he said.
'But it was a little bit slower this year,' he added, citing several factors: the political situation, falling Canadian dollar, and Florida's rising costs.
'The cost of living here in Florida, the rentals, all of that went up. I'm not worried because we have a very stable business. We do target the Canadians in the winter months. But we have our local clientele in the summer.'
Danny Hamas, who until 15 years ago ran the eatery Pôle Nord on the Hollywood Broadwalk, has seen business slip this season at the Canadian-themed Mammy's Cantine food truck he's run on Clavet's property since selling his Broadwalk restaurant.
The blistering reports on television news has stoked fears on both sides of the North American continent.
'It's slow,' he said, as he dished a plate of poutine to a customer outside the window of his food truck. 'The TV news is no good. The people, they don't want to come.'
Canada was the state's number one source of foreign tourists for the past two years. In 2023, about 3.2 million Canadians visited the Sunshine State, a 20% increase from 2022, outpacing the 18% growth rate the rest of the world provided.
That growth continued into 2024. Preliminary data shows 3.3 million Canadians visited Florida last year, up by 1.2% compared to 2023. All state data comes from Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing arm.
The increase is significant because although the number of visitors was 20% less than 2019 levels, 'this marks the closest that Canadian visitation has come to pre-pandemic levels,' Visit Florida wrote in a Feb. 14 report.
In some ways, the damage from reduced Canadian interest is not yet evident. In the fourth quarter of 2024, about 742,000 Canadians visited the state, a 6.7% increase from the fourth quarter of 2023. That was part of a record high – 33.1 million - fourth-quarter tourists in the state, according to Visit Florida.
But that was before President Trump took office on Jan. 20.
And Canadians enjoy Miami-Dade County as well.
About 296,000 Canadians spent at least one night in the area in 2023, 18% more than in 2022, according to the Greater Miami Convention Center & Visitors Bureau.
The number of Canadians trailed only Colombia and Brazil. The organization did not have figures for 2024.
The tourism decline is spilling over to the business traveler.
The Canada Florida Chamber of Commerce held a long-planned event in Miami-Dade County in late March. The group, which promotes trade and investment between the two places, scheduled a trade mission to coincide with eMerge Americas, three days ahead of eMerge's annual conference on March 27-28.
The trade mission was supposed to help Canadian businesses expand in Florida or Canadian investors find promising start-ups in AI, robotics, and the defense industry. CEOs, executives and entrepreneurs were coming from Canada.
Yet, many changed their minds at the last minute. About 20 Canadians still came but at least another 15 who signed up pulled out, said Lalonde, chair of the Canada-Florida Business Council and an organizer of the trade mission.
'A lot of people with strong interest called and asked to have their names be taken off [the trip],' she said. That included some who own property in Florida and have long-standing ties to the state.
'It's too hard to tell for this season' if there's been an impact, said Stephen Fine, president of Snowbird Advisor, a Toronto-based travel firm.
Many snowbirds started heading south last October, before the 2024 U.S. presidential election was held. And, so far, he has seen 'little evidence of snowbirds heading back early.'
Fine, a regular traveler to South Florida, said he is starting to hear some Canadian snowbirds say they won't return to Florida next winter.
'We won't have a good gauge until next season,' he said.
But the signs are ominous, says Visit Lauderdale's Ritter.
The number of Canadians saying they will skip the state 'is expected to grow over the coming months based upon what the Canadians are saying they will do.'
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