Lock the White House Watch Newsletter for free
Your Guide to What Trump’s Second Season Means Washington, Business and World
Mexico is enjoying the benefits of a boycott of US travel by Canadians angry at President Donald Trump’s policies, and visitors are skyrocketing as airlines add new flight routes to the country.
According to the Mexico Tourism Director, the number of Canadian residents visiting Mexico rose 15.6% in March compared to the same month in 2024.
Air travel in Canada fell 13.5% over the same period, but according to Statistics Canada, road trips across the border were about a third.
Josephina Rodriguez Zamora, Mexico’s tourism director, told the Financial Times she showed Canadians would “choose a more friendly policy” by visiting her country rather than the US.
“I think they’re choosing a more friendly policy,” she added.
Canada has been an important tourism market for Mexico for many years, but Rodriguez Zamora said it has been strengthened in recent months to “become like brotherhood.”
The threat of Trump’s annexation and sudden new trade collection have led to a patriotic boycott of American goods and travel in Canada. Reports of strict treatment of tourists entering the US are also weighing the number of visitors in other regions, including Mexico.
According to the US Department of Commerce, the number of Mexicans flying to the US in March this year fell by almost a quarter of 2024, the first year-on-year decline since May 2024.
Vancouver travel advisor Mackenzie McMillan said he hopes for a sustained “boom” for Canadians traveling to Mexico as boycotts in Canada “intensify.”
He said that during Trump’s term, clients are committed to swapping beach holidays for trips to Cancun and Cabo in California and Florida, and trading city breaks in New York.
Teotihuacan’s Moon Pyramid. Tourism contributed 8.6% to Mexico’s GDP in 2023 ©SOPA Images/Lightrocket/Getty Images
Some airlines have cut the number of flights from Canada to the US in favor of their south neighbours. Air Canada and Montreal-based Air Transat announced this week a new non-stop flight to Guadalajara, and said it would also increase the frequency of winter services to other Mexican destinations, including Los Cabos and Puerto Varalta.
This travel-flow redirection could be beneficial for Mexico’s economy amid a sharp slowdown, as tourism accounted for 8.6% of GDP in 2023. The IMF predicts Mexico will be in a recession this year.
Tourism growth also slowed last year, but it surpassed wider economic growth.
“The best way to explain that is to be a state of resilience in uncertain environments,” said Francisco Madrid, director of the Center for Advanced Research in Sustainable Tourism at Anajuac University in Cancun.
The number of nights Canadian users booked by Canadian users on the short-term platform Airbnb increased by 27% between March 2024 and March 2025. Meanwhile, reservations in the US fell by 12%.
Hotel booking platform Trivago said the decline in accommodation in the US over the three months leading up to March was offset by interest in domestic travel and a 20% jump in Mexico’s search.
Online travel agency Booking.com said searches for accommodation in Mexico City increased 49% in April compared to the same period last year. Interest in beach destinations, Cancun, Seirita and Playa del Carmen jumped almost to fifth.
Mexican hotel operator Grupo Hotellero Santa Fe is forecasting a strong occupancy rate for 2025 as Canadians and Europeans “see more Mexico than the US” due to Trump’s aggressive tariff policy.
Recommended
Hyatt, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, reported stronger resort demand “in non-US America,” including “an increase in Canadian travellers to Mexico and the Caribbean,” CEO Mark Hoplamazian told a revenue call last week.
Meanwhile, US vacation hotspots have struggled to seduce visitors from the country’s largest international tourism market. California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a marketing campaign in April to invite his “north neighbors” to visit the state “2,000 miles from Washington.”
Additional reports from Rafe Uddin in San Francisco and Ilya Gridneff in Toronto
