DeSantis expects Canadians will keep coming to Florida, despite political tensions
Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t worried that political tensions between Canada and the United States will hurt tourism in Florida.
“I am seeing a lot of Canadian license plates,” he said Wednesday, shrugging off reports that some Canadians are rethinking U.S. travel plans in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Canada is Florida’s top source of international tourists with 3.3 million making the trip in 2024, representing about 2% of Florida’s total visitors.
Earlier this month, Trump delayed imposing a 25% tariff on Canadian goods for 30 days, but relations between the countries are frayed.
Canadian hockey fans have booed the U.S. national anthem at sporting events, and a social media movement is urging Canadians to shun American products and avoid traveling there. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged Canadians to consider vacationing domestically and keep their tourism dollars at home.
But DeSantis said he thinks the Sunshine State’s warm winters will keep Canadians visiting. He noted he grew up in Dunedin, the spring training home of the Toronto Blue Jays, which is routinely filled with Canadian snowbirds.
“They always say people are going to stop going to Florida. … Every time they announce a boycott we end up setting a new tourism record,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee.
In 2023, the NAACP and gay rights groups urged travelers to avoid Florida over DeSantis’ conservative culture war agenda.
But the state’s tourism numbers rose. A record-high 143 million visitors traveled to Florida in 2024, a 1.6% increase over the previous year, according to Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing organization.
DeSantis took a shot at Trudeau, attributing an influx of Canadians during the pandemic to the prime minister’s restrictive COVID-19 policies.
DeSantis said he plans to meet with the Trump administration on Florida’s program to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, which has been in the works since 2019 but has yet to launch.
The proposal has faced pushback from the Canadian government, which has vowed to protect the nation’s drug supply.