'there's a fear of coming to america': b.c. to washington state travel down five months in a row
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motorists line up to enter the u.s. from canada at the peace arch border crossing between surrey and and blaine, wash., on july 2.
jason payne
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five months into the u.s.-canada trade war and b.c. drivers are still travelling into washington state far less often than they used to.
southbound crossings at the four main points of entry near metro vancouver were down 42.6 per cent in june compared with the same period last year, according to data collected by the b.c. transportation ministry and washington state’s department of transportation. it’s the fifth straight month in which southbound crossings were down.
“we definitely are worried on how this difference in mindset has shifted tourism,” said don enos, vice-president of the blaine chamber of commerce.
he said he wasn’t aware of local businesses laying off staff, but said they were “definitely worried.”
“they’re scaling based on traffic, so we haven’t had any major hiring,” enos said. “restaurants definitely could use more business. gas stations … have had the heaviest hit.”
just over 118,000 b.c. cars entered washington state at metro vancouver crossings in june — down from 206,000 over the same period last year. in the first half of this year there have been 413,000 fewer b.c. drivers crossing into washington state compared with the same period last year.
enos said local businesses have been shifting resources to focus on and re-engage with local customers.
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“we’ve opened our messaging into: ‘be neighbourly and support your neighbours’ from a blaine standpoint,” he said.
canada is the largest source of international visitors to the u.s., according to the u.s. travel association, which warned in february that a 10 per cent reduction in canadian travel to the states could mean us$2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses.
u.s. president donald trump first announced tariffs on canadian and mexican goods in february and then-prime minister justin trudeau urged canadians to spend domestically in response.
“now is the time to choose canada … it might mean changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites and tourist destinations our great country has to offer,” trudeau said at the time.
in early march, premier david eby doubled down, urging british columbians to avoid travel to the u.s.
“if you have a choice about where to travel, avoid travelling to the united states,” he said.
border crossings from b.c. fell 50 per cent the following month.
canadian and u.s. officials are working toward a new trade agreement with hopes of a july 21 deadline but enos thought worries about crossing the border were more likely to be turning away canadian tourists than talk of tariffs and trade wars.
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“there’s a fear of coming to america,” he said. “i think that’s the bigger hurdle that we have to come over right now.”
he pointed to the local waterpark, which just reopened after extensive renovations. it was intended to be a significant draw for b.c. tourists, something enos said people were skeptical about now.
“it’s a bummer, because it’s beautiful. they’ve done a great job with the renovations,” he said.
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