30-06-2025
Sovereignty, tariffs chasing away Canadian visitors
Jun. 28—ALEXANDRIA BAY — Peter Cavallario hopes next weekend's Fourth of July will draw his longtime Canadian customers across the border to eat at his iconic Italian restaurant in this tourism community.
So far, he hasn't served up his Italian dishes at Cavallario's Bayside to Canadian visitors who have come for so many years that he considers them friends.
He's still hopeful they'll come, though.
"It's a little too early in the season," he said as he was preparing for the Thursday night dinner crowd. "So we just have to wait to see."
In business for decades, it has been since the COVID-19 pandemic that so few Canadians have been to his Italian eatery during the crucial summer tourism season, Cavallario said.
Other Alexandria Bay business owners also say they aren't getting the Canadian visitors they have in past.
Josie's Little Pizzeria at 19 Church St. has always been a stop for Canadian tourists.
But not this year, said owner Sylvia Kingston, who took over the pizza place from her mother.
"I'm down," she said. "If I'm down, everybody is down."
A Canadian couple who have been regular summer customers for years stopped by for a few slices during a recent visit to their cottage.
The couple conveyed why other Canadians are staying away this summer, Kingston said.
"They are so hurt by 'what your president of the USA has said,'" Kingston said, repeating the couple's sentiments.
Soon after taking office again in January, President Donald J. Trump started touting that Canada should become the 51st state, upsetting Canadians who have considered U.S. neighbors their friends. They're also angry with Trump for establishing tariffs on Canada.
On Friday, Trump announced that tariff talks with Canadian officials are once again off.
Corey C. Fram, director of the Thousand Islands International Tourism Council, acknowledged that there are definite indications that show Canadian visitors are down.
"There are Canadian license plates seen in parking lots," he said. "But we have seen a downturn in Canadian visitors. It's a real thing."
According to the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, there were nearly 30,000 fewer vehicle crossings, or a 20.2% drop, over the Thousand Islands Bridge in April compared to a year ago.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., blames Trump's rhetoric and policies.
Earlier this week, Schumer attributed the drop in bridge crossings to Trump's Canadian tariffs and the intensifying relationship with our neighbor to the north.
"Burning bridges and ruining relationships with our closest neighbor, right when summer tourism season is arriving, is as destructive as it gets," Schumer said in a statement.
However, Fram thinks that the Thousands Islands region is in better shape than other parts of the country, noting that it's a more known destination to Canadians than places more inland, like the Midwest.
Canadian sovereignty isn't the only factor in the season's slow start, Fram added. The weakening of the Canadian dollar is also increasing costs to travel to the United States, making visits less attractive, he said.
The uncertainty of the economy and world events also have an affect, he said.
As a result, Fram is adjusting marketing efforts and focusing on doing some public relations to boost north country tourism this summer. The tourism council is downplaying American iconic tourism attractions, like Boldt Castle and the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site, that might rile up Canadians.
The council also is marketing the region as a binational destination to attract travelers from outside the country for a visit on both sides of the border.
In May, Fram went to Toronto to meet with Canadian journalists, influencers and travel experts to talk up the Thousand Islands. The visit had to be a bit on the hush-hush so the hosts wouldn't receive any backlash about meeting a tourism official from the United States. He'll soon review the fruits of that labor — the first Canadians he visited are just now coming to the Thousand Islands to see what the region has to offer.
To help boost Canadian traffic, Gov. Kathleen C. Hochul has announced a new "I Love New York" marketing campaign for August that targets visitors from across Canada and other international travelers, stressing its importance to the state's tourism economy.
Under the campaign, the state will use social media, digital billboards and advertising, and work with Canadian travel agents to show off what the Thousand Islands region and the state offers.
To welcome Canadians, the bridge authority announced that for the first time that Boldt Castle will be illuminated in red after dark on Tuesday in observance of Canada Day, commemorating the country's founding in 1867.
While they say privately that the Canadian issue has been a factor, Alexandria Bay tourism operators said the cold and wet weather leading into the summer season has not helped.
Alan Taylor, who owns the Lil' River Fudge Co., at 24 James St. and the Old Homestead restaurant next door, said his issue is not with Canadian traffic. He attributed the slow start of the season to the weather.
"It's cold and then it's hot and then it's cold again," he said.
When temperatures reached 90 degrees earlier this week, his chocolate suppliers wouldn't send him his orders because the chocolate would melt without air-conditioned delivery trucks, he said.
Cathy Garlock, who owns Bonnie Castle Resort and Marina with her husband Craig, said visits from Canada are "definitely down," but Canadian boaters and concert-goers are coming in full force. The resort also hosted two Canadian weddings.
"We're very happy about that," she said.
It's a big weekend for Alexandria Bay, with between 6,000 and 8,000 visitors coming to town for the Thousand Islands River Run Bike Rally.
With it sprinkling on Thursday afternoon, Ashley Carlos, president of the Alexandria Bay Chamber of Commerce, hoped that Friday's rainy weather would be over for the rally, which raises money for the Children's Miracle Network, on Saturday.
She, too, has heard that Canadian traffic is down.
"It's been hit and miss," she said. "I'm hoping for this weekend. It's big for us."
