This month I got a call from CBC Radio to talk about Canadian tourism on the national show, The Current. Nothing particularly unusual there, I’ve spoken about Canadian tourism a dozen times on CBC Radio before, although this time I would be patching in from a remote forest in Puerto Rico. There’s always a compelling reason to have me on: it might be early summer and everyone is planning their vacations, or perhaps I have a new book out and want to promote it. This time, it’s because Canadians are being encouraged to explore their own backyard at the expense of our southern neighbours.
The reason for this is entirely political. A new US administration wants to tariff Canadian products and flex its economic muscles to negotiate more favourable trade deals, to hell with the Canadian economy (and Canadians in general). It’s Big Guy Bulling Little Guy 101, but this is not the space to get into politics or my thoughts about that guy. It is however a place to talk about tourism. According to a recent report, if Canadians stop visiting the US, it could have as much as a $6 billion hit on the US economy. That’s not peanuts, although given the size of the US economy, it’s not going to make much of a dent – or provide much negotiating leverage – either. This is assuming you can get every Canadian to stop travelling to the US, which you can’t. What it does do is hurt tourism on both sides of the border. With patriotic vitriol and retaliatory tariffs, Americans won’t visit their beautiful northern neighbour, and Canadians won’t feel compelled to go south. This will hit tour operators, hotels, transportation companies, restaurants, and a lot of other ancillary businesses too.
For an industry that famously brings people together, tourism is now being positioned as an economic weapon, and one of the few Canada has when it comes to a much larger, richer and aggressive neighbour. It’s just one example of the chaos and disorder that guy is sowing in this strange new world, where nobody can believe anything they see or hear, and all the hard work to become socially responsible, ethical and empathetic appears to have been tossed out a window. It will, of course, all blow over, because it always does. In the meantime, more Canadians will choose to travel in Canada, which is never a bad thing, especially for Canada’s foremost bucket list travel expert! I do have several upcoming US trips planned, and have no intention of cancelling, despite feeling some pressure from colleagues in the industry. It’s been my experience that tourism people are open-minded, generous, informed, and believe in the benefits of welcoming people, in as opposed to shutting them out. It’s not US tourism’s fault, and I’m not going to punish them. That said, apples for apples, if you have a choice between taking a Canadian or US vacation right now, until that guy quits threatening and mocking the sovereignty of its friendly normal neighbour, the choice for everyone north of the border should be obvious. And with their exceptionally strong dollar, the choice for everyone south of the border should be obvious too.
Upon my return from an assignment in Puerto Rico, it was nice to be greeted with this physical award recognizing the quality and effort of this blog, www.canadianbucketlist.com. A Lowell Thomas Gold Media Award is one of the most prestigious awards in my wild and crazy profession. As Aesop said: “Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”
