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- Collier County saw a 23% decrease in Canadian tourism and a 4.8% overall tourism decrease in February, compared to last year.
- Economic concerns, a weaker Canadian dollar, and political tensions are cited as contributing factors to the decline.
Amid economic and political turmoil, fewer Canadians are visiting Collier County.
The latest data presented at a Tourist Development Council meeting Tuesday showed visitation fell by about 23% in February, when compared to the same month last year.
Jay Tusa, the county’s tourism director, explained the shift in a brief snapshot of what’s going on.
“Internationally, there has been a noticeable shift in sentiment, particularly among Canadian travelers. Uncertainty around tariffs, increased border scrutiny, economic concerns, including a weak Canadian dollar, have contributed to a decline in Canadian visitation,” he said.
Overall, the county saw a 3% decline in international visitation in February over the year, with strong demand still coming from some markets, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“While we’re seeing some softening in specific segments, the outlook remains cautiously optimistic,” Tusa said.
In total, visitation fell by 4.8% in February over the year. It’s the first report of a dip in Canadian and overall visitation since the start of the county’s fiscal year in October, showing weakened demand, both domestically and internationally.
In February, the county saw fewer visitors from other parts of Florida, and from the western United States, than it did last year.
Most metrics were down over the year, from visitor spending and occupancy to room nights and average daily rate. They’re tracked monthly for the county by Downs & St. Germain Research, a tourism consultant.
When it comes to Canada, Tusa said tour operators there have not reported “widespread cancellations” of booked trips to Collier County, but there’s less demand by travelers.
Long-term outlook remains positive in Collier County
On a positive note, recent participation at trade shows in Canada have reaffirmed that Collier County remains a highly desirable destination for Canadians, “in the long term, even amidst current certainties,” Tusa said.
Meanwhile, air service to and from Canada at Southwest Florida International Airport, he said, “continues to show encouraging trends.”
“While there have been some minor adjustments, such as Air Canada downsizing one of their aircrafts enroute to the destination, we’re not seeing significant reductions in overall service,” he said.
The political tensions between the U.S. and Canada have impacted the groups and meeting business in Collier County, too, with one hotelier recently reporting that an international organization with operations in Canada and Mexico had delayed a planned event, Tusa said.
In the first quarter, the volume of leads coming in for meetings and events declined by about 25% in the county, compared to the same time a year ago, he said.
“We’ve not seen cancellations, only some postponements,” Tusa said, likely caused by economic uncertainty.
While the summer is looking a “bit soft, especially for weddings and smaller events, he said there are “no major red flags at this time.”
The county’s tourism bureau is closely monitoring the rapidly changing trends and keeping in touch with its partners locally and abroad, to “ensure we are positioned to respond as needed,” Tusa said.
“You know, it’s not fantastic,” he said. “But it’s not doom and gloom, as well.”
Collier County is investing more in tourism marketing
A $500,000 investment in a campaign targeted at vacationers that stretched into multiple markets in March, is expected to help drum up more business, said Kristen Murphy, a vice president for partner development and client services, with Paradise Advertising.
Her company handled the campaign, made possible by the county’s decision to spend more on tourism marketing this year.
“So, the total return on ad spend is right now around $17 per dollar spent,” Murphy said, and that value is only anticipated to grow, with more people expected to book trips based on the ads.
“They may have been exposed in March and book in April,” she said.
After hearing the updates, Collier County commissioner Chris Hall, who serves as the Tourist Development Council’s chairman, said he appreciated the optimism.
He remarked that it appeared the situation with Canadian visitors was not like the “sensationalism” reported by the news.
To that, Tusa said declines in Canadian visitation to other parts of the U.S. were “probably more significant.”
“I think that we’re lucky in where we are, and that people still want to come here,” he said, despite what’s going on in the “geopolitical world.”
A broader look at the Canadian market
In March, the Canadian government launched a multi-state billboard campaign in the U.S. in protest of the Trump tariffs, including in Florida.
In February, Statistics Canada reported a 23% drop in returning road trips from the U.S., compared to the same month a year ago. It was the second month in a row that saw a year-over-year decline.
The statistical agency also reported a 13.1% decline in Canadian residents flying back from trips to the U.S. in February.
Those numbers only worsened in March, with a nearly 32% drop in car trips and a 13.5% decline in air travel over the year.
It’s not yet clear how that could have impacted visitation to Collier County, with its statistics running more than a month behind.
When asked a few weeks ago about the potential impact of the strained U.S.-Canada relations on his operations, Clark Hill, the general manager of Hilton Naples, said visitors from Canada “typically represent only about 2%” of his property’s “occupied room nights,” meaning the number of rooms filled by guests in a single night.
“We have not seen a decline in demand for Canada, so far,” he shared in an email.
Canadian tourists, residents feel unwelcome
Trump’s tariffs and other unfriendly policies toward Canada have sparked a few Canadians to send letters to the editor to the Naples Daily News, questioning his actions.
In a letter sent to the newspaper in late March, Melanie Hill, who described herself as a Canadian snowbird in Bonita Springs, said she was just finishing up a month’s stay in sunny Southwest Florida, but she wasn’t sure if she’d be back any time soon.
She lamented that she just didn’t feel welcome anymore after years of vacationing in Florida and the U.S., with “great memories of many wonderful travel experiences” in the past.
“We have many American friends and family who are baffled by recent events in their country,” she said. “They too are hoping for the moral compass of their leader to reset. We would love to return but are not comfortable doing so until this change happens.”
Canada has long been an important source for tourism in Collier County.
From October to February, the county saw 69,800 visitors from Canada. Despite the recent dip, visitation from the country was still up by 15.4%, year to date, from 2024.
Last year, the county had about 119,000 Canadian visitors, representing 4.3% of all visitors.
