The Case for Staycationing in Canada This Summer

Like most Canadians, I’ve travelled to the United States a lot in my lifetime. As part of my job as a tourism researcher at Thompson Rivers University, I attend a large American conference for geographers every year. Once it’s done, I usually take a road trip with my colleagues to explore the area around the host city.

The most epic adventure came after the Tampa conference, when we drove partway through the South and ended in Denver at a Wyclef Jean concert—on 4/20, of all days. So far, I’ve visited 35 states, and I’d eventually love to hit all 50. But I decided that this year’s event in Detroit would be my last for the time being. Avoiding trips to the U.S. in favour of exploring our own country is the traveller’s version of buying Canadian—a way for all of us to fight back.

The decline of cross-border tourism began even before the trade war escalated in April. According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Canadians took nearly 900,000 fewer trips to the U.S. this March compared to last year, a drop of almost 20 per cent. The same month, Air Canada reported that transborder flight bookings were down 10 per cent year over year for the months of April to September. The U.S. Travel Association estimated that even a 10 per cent reduction in Canadian visitors could result in US$2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 lost jobs. We won’t be able to assess the full impact of the travel boycott until the end of the year, but given that Canada is the top source of international travellers to the States, it’s sure to make a big dent, especially in border cities like Detroit and Buffalo—both popular weekend road-trip destinations for GTA-dwellers.

Our homegrown tourism sector builds itself around the idea that, as a Canadian, you can still discover Canada. The silver lining of all this trade trouble is that now is a very good time to do just that. This country has always had major challenges with transportation infrastructure—our vast geography makes it tricky to get from place to place. But with the increase in interprovincial tourism over the last 30 years, it’s easier than ever. Thanks to increased investment in maintenance, our hiking and biking trails are in good shape. COVID travel restrictions also opened our eyes to cross-Canada jaunts for reasons beyond visiting family and friends. Twenty years ago, few people were taking tours to see the northern lights; now they’re a big hit, even in the spring and fall. And with the rise of new wellness tourism offerings, more travellers are keen to get away from their phones. With its many lakes, forests and spotty rural internet, Canada is uniquely well-positioned to help them disconnect.

This spring, tourism organizations across the country started courting would-be staycationers. In April, Tourism New Brunswick set up a replica of the province’s Grand-Anse lighthouse in a Montreal bus shelter. The Yukon government also declared its intent to ramp up marketing in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, provinces that currently only represent about five per cent of the territory’s Canadian visitors combined. While other low-cost carriers have been slashing routes, Flair Airlines recently announced new flights between Charlottetown and Toronto beginning in April. The Ontario Restaurant, Hotel & Motel Association even wrote an open letter to Premier Doug Ford, asking his government to bring back the staycation tax credit it temporarily introduced in 2022 to help tourism operators recover from the pandemic. The credit would return 20 per cent on $2,000 of accommodation expenses for families—a pretty decent incentive.

A patriotic tourism boom wouldn’t increase Canada’s GDP in the same way new money from foreign visitors does. What it will do is have a strong financial redistributive effect across the country. Instead of heading to Florida’s beaches, travellers from urban centres like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver will visit—and boost the economies of—our more rural areas. I’ve heard from a few colleagues in economic development in the Maritimes, a region that’s expecting a lot of income loss in its shipping, petroleum and seafood industries as a result of the tariffs; they’re hoping more interprovincial travel will counteract that to some degree.

For the most part, Canada’s tourism industry is made up of small, family-owned motels and attractions, often with fewer than 10 employees. So unlike when you’re shopping for groceries or clothes “made in Canada,” travel-related expenses mostly go straight back into Canadians’ pockets. Say you go skiing in Fernie, B.C., a town of 6,000. You’d pay for your lift ticket and a hotel, but you could also explore Fernie’s lesser-known and vibrant arts scene. If you stay for a week, you could see a play or visit an exhibit or two at the Arts Station and stop by Fernie Brewing Company. That kind of investment can have a massively positive financial impact on the people who live in a tiny town year-round.

Staycationing also offers Canadians the chance to support new kinds of travel. Before the pandemic, Indigenous tourism—businesses that are majority-owned, operated or controlled by Indigenous people—was one of Canadian tourism’s fastest-growing sub-sectors, contributing $1.9 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2019. But COVID hit those companies hard. The federal government already spent $20 million in recovery dollars, but “buy Canadian” tourism could contribute even more. For people who live on the West Coast—like me—there are plenty of options close by. There are Talaysay Tours’ Indigenous nature and culture walks in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Further afield, you could canoe around the Shuswap region with a tour company called Moccasin Trails. Aside from being fun, this kind of travel can also be an opportunity for reconciliation.

Even after the trade tension finally dissipates and we resume our trips south, one legacy of this period could be a reshaped country. With so many Canadians visiting new destinations within our own borders, many may well decide to move there. Tourism has always been a gateway for migration. Especially now, when there’s a housing affordability crisis, I think we’ll see Canadians taking trips off the beaten path, looking around and realizing that they’ve found their new (cheaper) home.

In this time of uncertainty, when Canadians have their elbows way up, it’s important that we also have positive things to focus on. Showing love to our country by exploring it is one good way to keep morale high. While I may not make it to all 50 states for a while, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel through all 10 provinces, as well as the Yukon. I now have a few new places on my bucket list: the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Regina, the only provincial capital I haven’t visited. See you soon, Saskatchewan.

Patrick Brouder is the chair of the tourism department and an associate professor in the faculty of adventure, culinary arts and tourism at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C.