Could the U.S.-Canada trade war help Toronto tourism? Some attractions are betting on it
Chris Glover, Muriel Draaisma | CBC News | Posted: March 8, 2025 1:39 AM | Last Updated: March 8
Tourist attraction operators hope for busy March Break as some Canadians cancel travel plans to U.S.
Operators of tourist attractions are hoping for a busy March Break in Toronto now that some Canadians are changing their travel plans due to U.S. tariff threats and the weak loonie.
Various attractions in the city, such as Ripley's Aquarium and the CN Tower, are stepping up offerings or promotions in a bid to attract residents opting to travel within Canada instead of crossing the border.
Some are also wondering if the threat of on-again, off-again tariffs will impact the number of U.S. visitors to Toronto.
Peter Doyle, general manager of Ripley's Aquarium of Canada is one of them.
"America is a big part of our market. It always has been. So will they be coming? The strength of their dollar versus ours may be a reason to visit, but also, are they going to come or stay in the U.S. and visit there and spend money there? It's such an unknown.
"COVID was strange. This is stranger."
Doyle said the attraction has seen an influx of Quebec visitors this week, which is Quebec's March Break, and the numbers of visitors from that province is higher this year than last year.
From Feb. 15 to March 7, the aquarium offered a 25 per cent discount for Ontario residents. The numbers surpassed expectations, with more than 12,000 tickets sold, it said.
During the upcoming March break rush, it's running a "No Tariff Tuesday" discount, offering 25 per cent off to all walk-in visitors.
Could trade war have positive spin-off for local tourism?
Peter George, chief operating officer of the CN Tower, said on Friday the attraction may benefit from people opting to travel within Canada instead of crossing the border.
The tower already has two million visitors a year, he said. The question is if people choosing to cancel travel plans will mean even more this year.
"I think it's going to be good for our tourism industry as we move through this," George said. "We've always been really pro-Canada. We've always focused a lot of our work on Canada. We're just hyper-focused now."
The CN Tower, which he says tells the story of Canada, has images of maple leaves in red light on its ray dome, which is the bubble around its top, every night. George says it's being lit in red and white every hour and is promoting Canadian beer, wine and spirits on its menu in its restaurants.
The attraction also plans to hang "rather large" Canadian flags to give photo opportunities to visitors, George said. Its retail store as well will feature more Canadian products as well.
"It's really important for us to continue to support Canada. We always have. We're just doing more of it than we ever have before."
George added that U.S. visitors are always welcome at the CN Tower. He said he believes many Americans will continue to visit the attraction.
'Massive sea change' in tourism in past 5 years
Andrew Weir, president of Destination Toronto, an organization that promotes the city, said he thinks tourism operators are taking a "measured" approach to the current disruption in the tourism industry.
Weir noted that there was a "massive sea change" in tourism in the past five years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, he said visitors from China were a big part of the Toronto market, but now, there is hope that visitors from Mexico will pick up the slack.
Currently, there is much talk about potential, but the industry is monitoring the data closely to discern trends, he added.
"It's hard to forecast beyond next week, frankly, when the situation changes as much as it does," Weir said.
"Everybody is waiting to see what the trend is. You can see more bookings or more cancellations over a period of a couple days but that's not necessarily indicative of a larger trend."
Weir said Toronto saw 9 million visitors last year and 6.3 million of them were Canadian, with the majority from Ontario. The U.S., meanwhile, accounted for 1.6 million of the nine million visitors.
"We have a long term strategy to diversify our tourism markets. We need to get those tourists and visitors and meeting delegates back from the U.S. and the international markets as well as just from Canada."
Weir added that Canadians, especially people from highly populated areas of southern Ontario, know Toronto and they are always looking at what is new to see and do in the city.
"When they are looking at alternatives, if maybe they were planning a trip to the U.S. or somewhere else, and thinking, this is the time to keep it domestic, to keep it within Canada, Toronto is naturally going to be one of the options."