Canadian travel to Las Vegas continues to crater amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada, and the tourism slump in Sin City has become a major midterm election issue.
Nevada Democrats are trying to capitalize on the decline, blaming Trump’s trade war and threats toward Canada — the state’s largest source of international tourists.
“The Trump Slump is real, and Las Vegas tourism is tanking,” the party said in one of its campaign messages ahead of the November vote in this crucial swing state.
“Nevadans are struggling under Trump’s tourism crisis,” is another line the party has deployed as it puts the fractured relationship with Canada front and centre in this election.
Pedestrians cross an overpass along the Las Vegas Strip, with the Trump International Hotel visible in the background. Nevada Democrats are trying to capitalize on the economic fallout from Trump’s trade war with Canada, which they blame for hurting tourism. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The party and its ally, the powerful Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents about 60,000 casino and hospitality workers in the state, are trying to tie the decline in Canadian tourism to local Trump allies such as incumbent Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who is in a suddenly close race despite his earlier popularity.
“Donald Trump is directly responsible for this — it’s all his fault and it’s totally unnecessary,” Diana Valles, the president of the union, said in an interview with CBC News.
“God knows why he’s doing it, Canadians are our biggest customer. But, at the end the day, Trump’s not paying any price. It’s the workers and the families that are here,” she said, while vowing to ramp up attacks on the GOP as the midterms loom to at least inflict an electoral price.
Visitor numbers, airport arrivals and hotel occupancy rates all fell again in August. Barely half of all rooms in downtown Las Vegas were occupied that month, and casino executives are pointing to the Canadian boycott as one reason for weak demand.
Canadian visits to Las Vegas dropped by 17.4 per cent last year — easily one of the sharpest declines on record. In fact, Canadians staying away contributed to the largest in drop in visitors outside the COVID-19 pandemic since the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority began keeping records in 1970.
Data from Harry Reid International Airport compiled by CBC News shows Canadian airlines are bringing even fewer passengers to Las Vegas than in 2025, suggesting this year could be even worse.
“If you look at a place like Canada, we are off considerably,” MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle said on the gambling giant’s recent earnings call. “Las Vegas is still down on international travel.”
In an Oval Office meeting with Trump in September, Hornbuckle said a travel industry plan to draw 100 million international visitors to the U.S. each year depends on the president’s actions.
“Travel is difficult,” he said. “We need your help, we need your direct involvement, and we know we can make this better.”
Trump’s one-word response: “Right.”
People walk along Fremont Street Experience past an animatronic Donald Trump fortune-telling machine modelled after the classic Zoltar arcade figure in June 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
Caesars Resorts CEO Tom Reeg characterized it this way when discussing the company’s recent quarterly loss: “There’s a unique flavour to what’s gone on with Canada.”
What’s unique is travel from Canada has fallen far more than from any other country tracked by local authorities. Visits from Mexico, which is also caught up in a tariff dispute with the U.S., are actually up slightly year over year.
Martyn Daly of Winnipeg made annual trips to Vegas for years but has avoided the city since Trump began lashing out at Canada, threatening its sovereignty and imposing tariffs.
“We’re just so upset with Trump’s total lack of respect, the way he’s been treating Canada — he’s just totally lost it,” Daly said in an interview.
“We don’t agree with the 51st state stuff,” he said. “Not going to Vegas is just our small way of saying, ‘We’re not going to take it.'”
Daly is happy to see that Trump’s treatment of Canada has become an election issue in Nevada.
“I just think the more pressure he’s under, the better,” he said of the president.
Daly is facing some pressure of his own: he’s been bombarded with casino offers for complimentary nights at various hotels, deals he says are noticeably better than before the Canada-U.S. dispute began. Some casinos have even been accepting the Canadian dollar at par.
As Canadians such as Daly stay away, some casino workers say the official numbers don’t fully capture the impact on a city that has long relied on visitors from its northern neighbour.
Spencer Ridenour, a bartender at Chandelier inside the Cosmopolitan casino on the Strip, said his workplace is “losing customers left and right.”
A Vegas Golden Knights hockey game did not sell out Thursday, the first time that’s ever happened in the franchise’s nine-year history. The team’s opponent? The Toronto Maple Leafs.
“We used to have Canadians coming for hockey games, they used to come out before and after a game. I have not ID’ed a Canadian in months — this is serious stuff, it’s not good for our economy,” he said.
Patrons exit the Cosmopolitan hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas in August 2026. Visitor numbers to the city have fallen 7.5 per cent — the largest decline outside the COVID-19 pandemic since the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority began keeping records in 1970. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
Nevada’s unemployment rate is among the highest in the U.S., and workers in its tourism-dominated economy are reporting more frequent shift cuts and fewer hours.
“Our members are paying the price of this craziness that is going on in the White House,” Valles said.
Republicans in the state have highlighted Trump’s “no tax on tips” policy, enacted last year, which has benefitted hospitality workers in Las Vegas in particular.
But if the tips dry up, the policy means less.
“We are in a silent recession here in Las Vegas, and it is because of Donald Trump’s trade war,” Ridenour said.
A spokesperson for the state’s Republican governor did not respond to a request for comment.
People walk along Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas in August 2026. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)
Canada has also become an election issue in closely fought congressional races.
Democratic Rep. Susie Lee, who faces a tight race in her suburban Las Vegas district, is leaning into an anti-trade war message. In her 30-second campaign ad, Lee twice mentions the trade war and says her Republican opponent, Marty O’Donnell, supports Trump’s “expensive” tariffs on Canadian and other goods.
O’Donnell has defended Trump’s trade policy as “a form of diplomacy to level the playing field on trade or to protect our national security.”
David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said it’s unusual for Canada to factor into any U.S. election, let alone become a significant talking point in a key battleground state.
“The Democrats are certainly playing this up quite a bit. And these races probably wouldn’t be as close if it weren’t for the tariffs and the lack of Canadians coming across the border,” Damore said.
People walk through the casino floor at Resorts World Las Vegas. Political observers say locals are well aware of the drop in Canadian visitors — and that it could influence the midterm election results. (Bridget Bennett/AFP/Getty Images)
He said locals are well aware of the absence of Canadian visitors, making the issue easy for Democrats to campaign on.
“So, between the tariffs, the high gas prices, the decline in visitation, it’s really combustible for the Republicans out here right now,” he said.
But even if the Democrats take control in Nevada or D.C., he’s not expecting much to change.
“There’s nothing they can do about a president who goes out of his way to insult our neighbour and one of our biggest allies.”