NORTH HERO, Vt. (WCAX) – Lake Champlain Islands businesses say Canadian visitors are staying north of the border, leaving big boats docked in Canada and island vacation homes sitting empty. It’s another piece of the state’s visitor economy hobbled by President Trump’s tariffs and hostile rhetoric since taking office.
The docks are dragged into place, drink menus are made, and the chef is whipping up food favorites. Bravo Zulu and Shore Acres are back for another season.
Suzy and Tom Boogaard were first in line on opening day at the North Hero hot spot. The sprawling island destination is popular for locals like the Boogaards, and it used to be for Canadians, too.
Pamela Roberts, the general manager at Shore Acres, says Canadians are avoiding America, including the Lake Champlain Islands. “We have had guests be very specific about it and say not for the next four years,” Roberts said.
She said the Canadian stay-away will take a 30-to-33% bite out of sales. Tourism has been affected by remarks made by the president calling for Canada to be the 51st state. “It’s really sad because so many people have come for so many years here,” Roberts said.
To try to get them back, Shore Acres is offering a 40% discount on rooms to Canadian customers. “It’s been such a long-standing relationship that the two countries have had. It would be nice to see that positive again,” Roberts said.
The Champlain Islands have historically been popular for Canadian visitors and Canadian property owners. But Roberts says even those with land on the lake are not coming. “You see a lot of those homes are up for sale now. They don’t want to own property down here,” she said.
“I apologize to our Canadian neighbors for how we’ve behaved as a nation,” Tom Boogaard said.
Tom and Suzy hope those neighbors stop braking at the border and instead will come break bread again. “And these islands and this state are not a reflection of the political reality. We’re neighbors,” Tom said.
“We miss you terribly. Come on back,” added Suzy.
Montrealers tell WCAX why they’re avoiding Vermont
Cross-border tourism is down for the second straight year in Vermont, and Montrealers told WCAX that politics is the overwhelming reason they’re staying home.
Some pointed to rising costs and the exchange rate. “If you want to go to USA, it’s so expensive,” one Montreal resident said.
Others described safety concerns.
“Being part of the LGBTQ community as well, what’s happening in the U.S. doesn’t feel that safe right now,” one person said. “It was just kind of… everything was really messy over there.”
The common thread: many Canadians don’t like America’s politics.
“Donald Trump’s fault. We don’t want to go to the U.S. because of Donald Trump,” one person said. “I think everyone here really just wants Trump to go.”
A group of student actors said their whole school is actively boycotting visiting the United States.
“We went on a school trip in New York. So it was organized before the election and we went just because all was paid and we couldn’t be refunded,” one student said.
Asked if they would have gone had the plans been made after the election, the student said, “Absolutely not.”
They said their families share the same sentiment. “I went to the States like every year with my grandfather and my father. And last year, we were supposed to go to Boston. And because of the elections, we actually decided to go to Ottawa instead,” one student said.
Before the election, border crossings into Vermont peaked in August 2024 with over 381,000. In August of 2025, they dropped to 252,000.
When might the numbers go back up?
“Now, we wait when Trump leaves and we come back to the USA,” one person said. “Donald Trump’s fault. Get rid of him, we coming again.”
The general consensus: many will consider visiting again when the U.S. has a new president. “It’s not like the United States are going to disappear in like…I mean, in four years when Trump’s not going to be in office. Then we would go,” one person said.
Bernadette Jordan, consul general of Canada, said the centuries of history between the two countries trumps the past year of turmoil. “Canada is ready and willing to come to the table when the time is right to make sure that we talk about these challenges to make sure that we look at how we can best go forward to benefit both of our countries because we are so interdependent on each other,” she said.
The students know skipping a vacation won’t change the U.S. overnight, but believe their decision still matters. “We know that we won’t impact the economics of the U.S. with just going for like vacation. But it’s more for our morals,” one student said.
Data shows Canadians’ interest in visiting US drops sharply
Canadians are avoiding America, and their lack of interest in visiting is showing up in new data.
The group Travel Market Insights tracks travel intentions by asking Canadians how likely they are to visit the U.S. in the next 12 months.
In January 2026, only 13% of Canadians said likely or very likely. That’s way down from the last two years, when 21% of Canadians said they were likely or very likely to visit.
So far in 2026, credit card spending from Canadians is still trending down. The most recent numbers from Vermont’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development show spending in the month of March over the last three years. In March of 2026, Canadians spent just over $1.9 million in Vermont, down about $70,000 from this time last year and down more than $1.8 million from 2024.
Spending tends to go up in the summer. It hit a high in August 2024 at more than $6.43 million. But this past August, it was about half that at $3.17 million.
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