\n \u201cOver the years, I\u2019ve seen a lot of issues. And surprisingly, we were expecting the Trump administration to come in \u2014 more prosperity, everything will be going great,\u201d said Clavet, a dual Canadian and US citizen who said he voted for Trump in 2024.\n <\/p>\n
\n February 2025 was one of his busiest months at the seven motels and extended-stay properties he owns in the area that largely target French Canadians, he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n But when the tariffs on Canadian goods took effect in early March<\/a> last year, Clavet said, the cancellations started rolling in \u2014 including from repeat guests who, come April, often reserve for the following winter before they\u2019ve even started their drives back north to Canada.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cA lot of people started to cancel and they stopped reserving. A lot of them were, I would say, polite, and not necessarily saying their reason for cancelling, saying they got sick or making excuses instead,\u201d Clavet said.\n <\/p>\n \n But some of his past guests were more honest about their motivations.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cOne of them cancelled and we called him back and said, \u2018Sir, you\u2019re leaving $1,000 on the table, the $1000 deposit.\u2019 And he was very firm. He said, \u2018I\u2019m not going over there with that dictator of yours,\u2019\u201d said Clavet, who called last spring a \u201cdisaster\u201d due to all the cancelled bookings at his properties.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe impact of Trump\u2019s policies \u2014 or the perception of them \u2014 was enormous last March and April,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n This winter season, too, saw a storm of cancellations as well as loyal guests from years past failing to re-book, said Clavet, with some opting to vacation in places like the Dominican Republic and Mexico instead.\n <\/p>\n \n He put all his efforts into marketing, offering special prices and posting photos on his Richard\u2019s Motel Family of Lodgings <\/a>Facebook page of guests enjoying the weekly \u201cSoir\u00e9e Hot-Dog\u201d grill-outs or Bingo night gatherings under the palm trees in the Parc de l\u2019Amiti\u00e9, while it dumped snow up north.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI\u2019m working really hard to overcome the effect, but it\u2019s serious,\u201d said Clavet. He did manage to drum up some business and felt \u201csatisfied\u201d by his efforts.\n <\/p>\n \n He was hopeful for a late-season bump in bookings, too, after a Quebec YouTuber <\/a>went viral recently after visiting one of Clavet\u2019s properties with the goal of \u201crescuing\u201d a Canadian in Florida with the offer of a free flight home (spoiler: nobody wanted to leave).\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWith business, you never know. You might get hit by a hurricane or something else, life is full of cycles,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Canadians are far and away the largest international tourism market for the Greater Fort Lauderdale area, said Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale<\/a>, who has lived in the area since 1974.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI do not remember a winter without seeing tons of Canadian license plates. So it has been important to this destination for at least a half a century. We get about a million Canadians visiting this destination each year,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Airport arrivals from Canada from 2025 through March of this year at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport were down roughly 7%, she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Ritter said two destinations, in particular, in the Greater Fort Lauderdale area have been targeting French Canadian visitors for the last half-century.\n <\/p>\n \n A stretch of U.S. Highway 1 just south of Fort Lauderdale, home to Hollywood and Hallandale Beach, has become known as \u201cLittle Quebec\u201d because of the number of French-speaking Canadian snowbirds the area has drawn to modest hotels here over the course of decades.\n <\/p>\n \n And local hoteliers like Clavet are feeling the hit of a financially chillier winter.\n <\/p>\n \n To be sure, the Sunshine State\u2019s massive tourism industry is still humming along, according to figures from Visit Florida, with an estimated 143.3 million visitors in 2025 \u2014 up .2% from 2024. More than 90% of those were US domestic travelers, making Florida the No. 1 domestic travel destination.\n <\/p>\n \n But the 2.9 million Canadians who visited Florida last year represented a nearly 15% drop from 2024. The state says Canadians still made up 2% of the total visitors, in line with past visitation.\n <\/p>\n \n Just a couple blocks south of Richard\u2019s Motel along U.S. Highway 1, at the one-story Curtis Inn<\/a>, owner Jay Gandhi painted a bleak picture of how his historically busiest time of the year went this season.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe\u2019re suffering right now,\u201d he said, admitting to having lowered his rates into the double digits at one point with hopes of filling rooms.\n <\/p>\n \n Guests at the 28-room motel centered around a courtyard pool are mostly French Canadians during the winter months, and they usually book stays of two to six weeks, Gandhi said.\n <\/p>\n \n In early March, he had 20 empty rooms and no bookings for any Canadians at all for the month of April.\n <\/p>\n \n By late-March, Gandhi estimated this winter\u2019s Canadian business had been down for him by at least 50% compared to last year. And he was already worrying about next year\u2019s snowbird season, with the usual deposits not coming in.\n <\/p>\n \n While some of his missing business was filled with people booking pre- and post-cruise stays and other short-term travelers, Gandhi said he misses the Canadians, who tend to come for longer and treat his rooms and suites like their own homes.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen they\u2019d go out, they\u2019d turn off all the lights and even the water if there was a small leak. They\u2019d say to me, \u2018It\u2019s going to cost you money.\u2019 Those are the kinds of customers we love,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n The currency exchange, with the US dollar still strong against Canada\u2019s, also impacted visitors from Canada this year. And Canadians also report woes about the paperwork requirements when driving south across the US border for an extended stay.\n <\/p>\n \n But politics are what\u2019s kept Canadians like Alain Gingras away.\n <\/p>\n \n For 12 winters, the 62-year-old, whose career allows him to take some time off during the coldest months of the year, drove south from his home in Saint-Hubert, near Montreal, to warm up at mobile home resorts in places like nearby Deerfield Beach and Pompano.\n <\/p>\n \n Spending a few weeks or more thawing out in the Florida sun during Quebec\u2019s harshest season was a pleasure he eagerly anticipated, said Gingras, who spent his days golfing, relaxing and dipping in the pool.\n <\/p>\n \n Lately, however, Gingras has opted to fly to Mexico instead for his winter warm up. And while he says prices are creeping up south of the US border, he has no plans to return to Florida as long as President Trump is in office.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI always say half of me is American and the other half is Canadian, and when I go to Florida it\u2019s my second house. I have fun with the Americans, they\u2019re very good people,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n But he found it impossible not to feel affected by Trump\u2019s rhetoric.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHe touched the Canadians, it\u2019s impossible to like him. I don\u2019t give my money,\u201d said Gingras, who\u2019s already rented an apartment with a swimming pool in Playa del Carmen for next winter\u2019s escape.\n <\/p>\n \n But as Ritter noted, there are still plenty of Canadians traveling to Florida. And while the drop in visitation is significant, \u201cit is not as significant as the US is seeing nationwide,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n The balmy sunshine and ocean views surely help.\n <\/p>\n \n Along the roughly 2.5-mile-long Hollywood Beach Broadwalk<\/a>, the Canadian-owned EZeat Restaurant<\/a> serves \u201creal Canadian poutine\u201d (cheese curds in gravy over fries) and Montreal smoked meat sandwiches in addition to burgers, club sandwiches and other all-American fare.\n <\/p>\n \n Andy Buntic said the pedestrian promenade on the Atlantic Ocean in front of the restaurant he owns with several family members was less busy this winter than in seasons past. Initially, he said, he was worried about how his business might be impacted by \u201cpolitics and the economy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But business at EZeat, which opened in 2024, boomed this winter, Buntic said, thanks to support from domestic tourists from the US and locals as well as Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois tourists that seek out his place as one of the few Canadian businesses fronting the ocean.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere\u2019s less people on the boardwalk but there\u2019s more people who consume,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Many Canadian snowbirds who flew south have been sated in other ways in Florida, too. Despite a few cold fronts that blasted the state this winter, sun and warmth have been in ample supply.\n <\/p>\n \n Mimi Gilbert, 80, wanted to spend some time away from her home in Quebec this winter and said she wanted to go somewhere that felt safe and where she knew she could get by with speaking mostly French.\n <\/p>\n \n She rented one of Clavet\u2019s accommodations for several weeks \u201ctotally blind,\u201d she says, explaining she knew nothing about the location in Florida and had never visited before. She\u2019s enjoyed her time so much she\u2019s already planning to return for longer next winter.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI feel secure here. People come and look for me if I don\u2019t show up to drink my coffee. I\u2019m isolated where I live in Quebec, but here I\u2019ve found a community. We\u2019re like a big family that lives together for a short time \u2014 and the weather is beautiful,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Gabriel Tessier, also from Quebec, rented a studio suite for several weeks in January and February at Green Seas Motel in Hollywood. When he told friends back home that he was headed to Florida, some asked why he\u2019d want to come this year, he said, considering what they\u2019d all heard on the news.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI told them, \u2018No judgement, I want to find out for myself,\u2019\u201d said Tessier, adding that he\u2019s already convinced a few of them to join him next year.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey know I confirmed it\u2019s a great place, a good area, the accommodations, the friendship,\u201d said Tessier.\n <\/p>\n \n He\u2019s loving his daily life in Florida.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI even went to a nude beach here, would you believe it? At 71 years old,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe time remaining is smaller and smaller, there\u2019s no time to lose. I\u2019m having a ball.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Nonetheless, the Canadian visitors who didn\u2019t make the journey this year are sorely missed, said Ritter with Visit Lauderdale.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cCanadian travelers stay longer than domestic travelers and spend more money. And when you\u2019re a community where tourism is your number one industry, any dip is significant. Canadian visitors keep our residents employed through the money they spend,\u201d she said, calling them \u201ccritically important\u201d from a visitation perspective.\n <\/p>\n![\"Canadian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2260971132.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Canadians,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2260970701.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Some](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2260970700.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Guy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-1264846664.jpg\")
<\/p>\n