Warren Currell is counting down the days, and the guilt is growing. He can鈥檛 stop thinking about it. The decision, which must be made sooner or later, is weighing on him. A lot.
It is nothing life-changing, but to Currell, it is important all the same. It is his decision on whether to travel to the U.S. in the middle of U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 trade war.
If he stays home, he鈥檒l miss the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Calif. which he鈥檚 attended nearly every year since 1997 and is essential to his work. But if he goes, he says, he’ll be wracked with guilt.
鈥淚t just seems like it鈥檚 un-Canadian, you know?鈥 said Currell, from Toronto. 鈥淢y $3,000 is so small 鈥 it鈥檚 just a minor amount of money to the U.S. economy 鈥 but it鈥檚 like, what else can you do to protest these tariffs?鈥
It is the dilemma many Canadians are facing this year, as pre-booked travel 鈥 and, in some cases, thousands of dollars in sunken costs 鈥 goes head-to-head with a patriotic commitment to Canadian sovereignty.
Canadians made more than 20 million visits to the U.S. in 2024, according to the U.S. Travel Association, more than to any other country. Along the way, they generated some $20.5 billion (U.S.) in spending and supported 140,000 jobs.
But in the first months of 2025, times have changed. Trump has twice slapped, then delayed, 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, and repeatedly threatened the country with annexation 鈥 a threat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently reiterated he takes seriously.
鈥淲hat he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy,鈥 Trudeau said, 鈥渂ecause that will make it easier to annex us.鈥
Warren Currell has attended the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco nearly every year since 1997, but is considering staying home this year.
Warren CurrellCanadians have already started to pivot away from the U.S.
Travel agency Flight Centre Travel Group Canada said leisure bookings to U.S. cities dropped 40 per cent in February compared to last year, and one in five of their customers have cancelled trips to the States聽over the past three months.
Meanwhile, U.S.-bound flights from Flair Airlines are down 24 per cent year-over-year for March, according to aviation data firm Cirium. Air Transat has seen a similar 12 per cent drop.
Amid all the political turmoil, many can鈥檛 stomach a trip south.
Francine Cochrane, co-owner of Playcation Travel, which specializes in theme park vacations, has seen a sizable shift away from U.S. travel. American vacations previously made up around 70 per cent of her business; now, it鈥檚 down to 30 per cent, she estimated, while all-inclusive vacations to Mexico and the Dominican Republic have seen a huge uptick.
She鈥檚 also had customers sticking with their plans 鈥 but saying they won鈥檛 post about it or tell anyone.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want the judgment from others,鈥 Cochrane said.
Stacey Sayer of Kirkland Lake, Ont. spent $2,500 for five plane tickets to Disney World in Orlando, Fla., but when Trump began threatening Canada鈥檚 sovereignty, she couldn鈥檛 bring herself to make the trip.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have had fun at all,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 would鈥檝e felt sick to my stomach the whole time I was there.鈥
So Sayer cancelled the trip, eating the $2,500 and instead booking a weeklong trip to Mexico. She doesn鈥檛 plan on returning to the U.S. anytime soon and has already nixed a potential trip to Nashville, Tenn. to see an AC/DC concert in May.
Amy Gleiser of Paris, Ont., had planned a 10-day trip with her husband Matthew and daughters Brielle and Jasmine to Myrtle Beach, S.C. They would have left in early March, but made the decision to cancel the trip when Trump first threatened tariffs at the end of January.
鈥淚t鈥檚 disgraceful,鈥 Gleiser said. 鈥淭he United States is not a place that we want to visit and we do sort of have this sense of, I don鈥檛 know, sort of being betrayed by our friends.鈥
Amy Gleiser and her family travelled to Myrtle Beach in 2022 and had booked another trip there for this month, until the trade war got in the way.
Amy GleiserAndrea Traynor, a GTA-based content creator who runs the blog, cancelled a bucket-list 50th birthday trip to Napa, Calif., for similar reasons 鈥 and has stopped working with U.S. travel sponsors and destinations, something that has created a 鈥渇inancial loss鈥 for her.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 see Ukrainian content creators heading to Russia and encouraging their readers and followers to do the same. Like, that would be weird,鈥 Traynor said. 鈥淎nd so while we aren鈥檛 in a military war 鈥 it sure feels like it could be heading in that direction.鈥
But Traynor also said she doesn鈥檛 feel people who already have vacations booked 鈥 and could be losing thousands of dollars if they cancel 鈥 should feel guilty about travelling.
Katie McKenna falls into that category. The 海角社区官网resident is headed to Nashville for a bachelorette party that was planned before the U.S. election, and she鈥檚 already spent $800 on plane tickets. She said she feels 鈥渁 little bit鈥 guilty, but because of the money committed and the big group involved, she鈥檚 stuck with it.
鈥淓ven if there鈥檚 a pang of guilt, in today鈥檚 economy I don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 going to judge anyone for not wanting to back out of a four-digit-level commitment,鈥 McKenna said.
For Currell, headed to San Francisco and the video game conference, the clock is ticking to make a decision.
鈥淭his is occupying too much of my brain,鈥 he said. 鈥淓very time I have some idle brain time, I鈥檓 thinking about this situation. It鈥檚 crazy, you know. It鈥檚 absolutely insane.鈥
With files from The Canadian Press
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