WINDSOR, Ontario (WXYZ) — Tourism from Canada to Detroit has been steadily on the decline, according to Visit Detroit. The development and tourism organization said the region has seen a 30 percent drop over the last two years.
7 News Detroit spoke with the CEO of Visit Detroit and visited Windsor.
In Windsor, Kyle Reid manages a bar called Lefty’s on the O. He tells 7 News Detroit he's staying put on the Canadian side of the bridge as the tariff war wages on.
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He said, “It’s not fun having these conversations. I’d love to see a concert. I’d love to go see a football game. I’d love to just go out to eat. Mexican Village. Ya know? But no desire whatsoever," he said.
Two doors down, at Treehouse, manager Archie Sharma said there still seems to be a steady flow of young Americans visiting the bars in Canada.
"First of all, one dollar goes way longer than it goes over there... and at the same time, 19+ (to legally purchase alcohol in Canada). They don't wanna drink there (illegally). They can't go to clubs and everything. So, they'll come over here and drink here," he explained.
7 News Detroit also spoke with Gordon Orr, the CEO of Tourism Windsor Essex.
“American friends come over, and they do apologize a lot to us for what’s happening," he said.
He said, “It causes great uncertainty for anybody on the Canadian side, and I know that a lot of Canadians have sort of joined forces; they’ve galvanized around the Canadian flag and our Canadian pride, and they’ve stopped going over to the U.S. to visit our American friends.”
Orr said one continued draw for Americans to Canada is that the U.S dollar goes further at 35 to 40 cents on the dollar.
He said, “So, we are still seeing a lot of Americans come here. But we know that a lot of Canadians are not going to Michigan, Ohio, and other states in the country, and yet, Canada is your number one visitor segment for visitation.”
Claude Molinari, CEO of Visit Detroit, told 7 News Detroit, “We welcome them right now. We would love for more Canadian travelers to come to our hotels, our attractions, our sporting events. We miss them. We’re feeling it, and we’re not ashamed to admit it.”
Molinari said Canadian tourism to southeast Michigan is down 30 percent and that it's a 2-year downtrend.
Now, he said the tourism marketing dollars that would have been spent in Canada have shifted to the U.S. and Europe, since there are a lot of international direct flights from European cities to the U.S., including Detroit.
He said what these new retaliatory tariffs mean for the U.S. is a bit early to tell.
Molinari said, “We’re in kind of a standing by, wait and see mode right now. I believe Canadian in general feel it’s unpatriotic to spend money in the United States and to visit the country right now. So, our message to our Canadian partners is that we believe peace is inevitable. At certain points, we’ll find common ground on the federal level.”
