by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 3:30 PM ET, Tue March 11, 2025
At a virtual town hall attended by approximately 200 people, ACTA Director, Advocacy & Industry Relations, Avery Campbell and President Wendy Paradis presented sobering economic data and statistics regarding where Canada’s economy may be headed.
Based on a snapshot of ever-changing information from the U.S. and Canadian governments, the outlook for jobs and the nation’s GDP looks bleak. While stressing that things will likely change, looking at data available on Feb. 21, 2025, Campbell presented the grim news, “The impact of these these tariffs in the trade war will create a long term and systemic decoupling of our of the Canadian economy with the US economy, which has been a relationship that has benefited both of our GDP significantly, and this decoupling, if the tariffs are sustained, is expected to have no bounce back. That is, there would be a long term loss in our gross domestic product output.”
Travel Under Tariffs
It goes to reason that as families face unemployment or less discretionary income, travel will be affected.
While the forecasted slump would be felt by the travel industry in general, right now the downturn is concentrated on cross-border trips. Travel advisors who specialize in Disney and Universal are already feeling the pinch. Advisors who focus on cruises are anticipating a downturn, as the bulk of cruises favoured by Canadians start or end in an American port.
As it stands, there is evidence that rather than cutting travel completely, Canadians are shifting where they are travelling to as they avoid the U.S, for instance opting to go to the Caribbean or Mexico rather than the Southern states.
Executive Orders Affecting Travel
In addition to the tariffs, Campbell highlighted three executive orders affecting travel that ACTA is monitoring closely:
On March 21, 2025 a list of countries from which travellers will be banned is expected. This is similar to the travel ban that was created during the first Trump administration which he called “the Muslim Ban” barring visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and (for a time) Iraq, all predominantly Muslim countries. This could affect Canadian residents and citizens who hold a passport from a banned country.
On April 20, 2025 a report is expected on whether the U.S. should enact the Insurrection Act, which allows policing powers for the military, similar to Canada’s Emergency Measures Act. “If this were to come into effect,” Campbell explained, “we would expect significant declines in interest for travellers entering the United States.”
On May 20, 2025, Trump will receive a report on potential further action regarding his gender executive order, recognizing only male and female, according to what a person was assigned at birth. Presently, Campbell stated, “At this time, and in conference with the Government of Canada, it is our understanding that Canadians with an ex marker or a gender marker that differs from their gender at birth are still recognized for entry into the United States.” However this could change following what is decided on May 20.
Supporting Your Travel Business
Economically, federal and provincial supports being announced focus on the industries most directly affected by tariffs: manufacturing, agriculture and exporting. Campbell did point out that there may be supports for struggling travel professionals under broad programs, for example the EI Work Share Program and the Canada Small Business Financing Program, which may be available both to travel agencies and independent travel advisors, which provides government and bank backed loans and lines of credit.
ACTA is continuing its work advocating for travel agencies and advisors. Representatives meet regularly with government officials from the Department of Finance, with Global Affairs Canada, and have held meetings with the Canadian Embassy in Washington, to present the views and concerns of ACTA members and to stay on top of any developments affecting the industry.
ASTA is working collaboratively with its American and global counterparts as well as key stakeholders. “We will continue to engage and inform our members, promote the value of a Travel Advisor to governments and to suppliers, to ensure that we are front and center in their decision making processes,” says Campbell.
In addition to that, ACTA is working with suppliers to reduce costs for agencies and advisors with specific asks to help ease an anticipated reduction in revenue.
The presentation concluded with a request for members to be in touch with ACTA to provide data on what is happening in individual businesses, “Any information that you can share that would help shed light for us to understand what's happening to our members will help us advocate for financial supports or other supports that may help you.”
You can stay up to date with news as it relates to Canadian-U.S. relations on ACTA’s new microsite at www.acta.ca/canada-us-relations.php. A copy of the slides from this presentation are available there, as well as information on contacting American government officials to voice your opinion.
Read more: ACTA Urges Industry Action on Tariffs
Topics From This Article to Explore
