COLD SHOULDER

U.S. Ski Resorts Hit by Punishing Boycott Thanks to Trump

“They just couldn’t, in good conscience, come to the States,” one resort manager said of his Canadian customers.

U.S. winter resorts are feeling the chill as international travelers are ditching American destinations because of President Trump’s bullish approach to global diplomacy. Canadians have seen enough, in particular. A survey of Canadian travel agency owners and managers by Travel Weekly and market researcher Phocuswright found that a hefty 78 percent said their gross bookings to the U.S. were down year over year. President and general manager of Jay Peak Resort in Vermont, Steve Wright, was shocked when he saw at the start of summer that Canadian renewals for the 2025-26 season had fallen by 35 percent. He personally telephoned 100 season pass holders to ask why they hadn’t renewed. “Many had tears and were choking up over the fact that they just couldn’t, in good conscience, come to the States,” he told Congress last year. As of Jan. 22, winter bookings from Canada to U.S. resorts had fallen roughly 41 percent, compared with a decline of about 5 percent among American customers, according to industry tracker Inntopia. “Canadians are affronted by what feels like a betrayal by a longtime friend,” said Tom Foley, Inntopia’s director of business intelligence. Their data shows that Canadian bookings tend to drop within 48 hours of Trump making a controversial statement. “They’re upset—and they are digging in.”