An empty Disney World might be your dream for your next vacation, but for The Walt Disney Company, empty parks are a cause for concern.
Disney is in the process of adding new lands, rides, and more to its parks over the next few years, but there’s still a chance that a large group of travelers, Canadians, won’t be visiting the parks this year and beyond. Let’s look at why.
Recently, the Trump administration announced a ton of new tariffs, including tariffs on the country of Canada. This could keep Canadian tourists away from American destinations like Disney World. According to the U.S. Travel Association, even a 10% decrease in Canadian travel would equal 2 million fewer visits to the U.S. That would result in a loss of $2.1 billion, as well as add to 14,000 job losses.
In 2023 alone, over 1.2 million Canadians visited Orlando, many of them headed to Disney World. According to Click Orlando, the Tourism group Visit Orlando is now concerned about how tariffs will impact travel to the region. Visit Orlando CEO Cassandra Matej said, “Escalated trade war could push higher inflations, so we’re watching all these factors and how they may impact overall travel within the U.S. as well as Central Florida.”
The effects of Canadians choosing other destinations over the U.S. are already being felt in Florida airports. WPTV reports that airline analytics firm OAG shows that airline reservations from Canada to Florida are down 76% this April as compared to last year.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t too concerned and believes Canadians will still travel to the state. Governor DeSantis said, “I’m with my kids, you know, we were down at spring break, and we’re at Legoland, and all these people are coming up to me for pictures, which is fine. I normally do that. And I’d say, like, 80% of them were Canadians. And I’m like, ‘I thought you guys weren’t coming to Florida anymore.’ ‘Oh no, we love Florida.’ So, we’re going to continue to be a destination.”
Now that more tariffs have been put on other countries, this will also increase the costs of goods, which could mean that even Americans could be less inclined to travel. According to Forbes, Scott Hoyt, senior director of economic research at Moody’s Analytics, said, “Discretionary spending is in consumers’ crosshairs right now and is going to be weaker going forward.”
Hoyt added, “The tariffs are going to jack up prices. Consumer confidence is falling. Wealth is no longer rising like it was in the last couple of years.”
International travel to the U.S. is also expected to decrease. Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, said, the Trump administration’s anti-foreigner stances are a big turn-off for international tourists and “setting international travel back several years.
That also means less international travel to popular U.S. destinations like Disney World.
Check back with AllEars again soon for more.
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I’m from the UK and we were planning on a holiday to WDW next year but now we are going to wait 4 years for some reason…
Don’t forget to add to this the fact that DeSantis’ wants to eliminate property taxes and make tourists pay higher taxes to compensate. Why should I have to pay so people in Florida don’t have to? Tourists already make it so there is no income taxes in Florida. So, by all means, punish us for coming to Florida and spending our money at your restaurants, shops, and theme parks.
Many Canadians had reservations booked months ago, and were not able to be reimbursed. Next year will be the tell.
I’m surprised from didn’t care at Disney World. I’m impressed that he knows it’s not a foreign country