Detroit's tourism bureau has gone completely silent in Canada, pulling every dollar it once spent north of the border and pouring it into European and domestic markets instead. Visit Detroit is one of at least three Michigan and Metro Detroit organizations that have stopped advertising to Canadians, at least for now, as President Donald Trump's tariffs and rhetoric toward America's northern neighbor continue to sour the relationship.
A Seven-Figure Budget Redirected
Visit Detroit typically spent more than $1 million a year marketing to Canadians, roughly 10 percent of its overall budget, according to CBC News. That spending stopped starting in July 2025, with the bureau telling Axios Detroit it worried the ads would come across as tone-deaf and wouldn't be well received given the strained climate. The money didn't disappear — it got redirected toward Europeans and other international visitors, per the same report.
Visit Detroit president and CEO Claude Molinari said the bureau wants to respect Canadian sentiment and instead spend its marketing dollars on people who are predisposed, or at least not opposed, to visiting, according to Deadline Detroit, which cited a Detroit News report published Wednesday. The bureau, which covers southeast Michigan, is currently developing its 2027 marketing budget and has no set timeline for resuming Canadian campaigns, though Molinari has said those efforts will come back once the tariff dispute is resolved and relations improve.
The Numbers Behind the Pullback
Visit Detroit has reported a 30 percent drop in Canadians entering its jurisdiction over the past two years, even with a seven percent bump over the last two months, the bureau told CBC News. That decline tracks with a broader regional slide: Canadian visits to Michigan overall dropped 10 percent in 2025, according to Crain's Grand Rapids Business.
Nationally, Canadian residents made 25 percent fewer return border crossings to the U.S. in 2025 compared with the year before, and spent roughly $2.4 billion less on American travel, per PBS News. Canadian trips to the U.S. fell nearly 11 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2026, according to Axios Detroit, while overnight visits stayed down through the first half of the year compared with 2025, PBS News reported.
Other Michigan Groups Follow Suit
The Blue Water Area Convention and Visitors Bureau also shifted its marketing after watching Canadian visitors decline in 2025, redirecting tactics toward domestic travelers, specifically in the Midwest, per the bureau's statement to Spartan Newsroom. Molinari has said Visit Detroit is still marketing to all possible visitors, including domestic travelers, major U.S. cities and regional travelers within 300 miles of Detroit, that same report states.
Not every state tourism office is pulling back the same way. Pure Michigan said it will continue working with tourism partners across the state to extend a warm welcome to Canadian visitors, according to the Spartan Newsroom report. The contrast underscores that while city- and regional-level bureaus have paused Canadian outreach, the state's own tourism arm has not announced a similar freeze.
Trade Tensions Behind the Shift
The pullback comes against a backdrop of friction between Washington and Ottawa. Trump has imposed tariffs, attacked a close U.S. ally, and suggested Canada surrender its sovereignty and become the 51st state, moves tied to growing Canadian reluctance to cross the border for shopping and travel. Canadians have instead redirected their travel dollars elsewhere: visits to Europe rose nearly 14 percent and trips to Asia climbed almost 17 percent in 2025 compared with the prior year, according to The Guardian, which also reported Canadian spending on travel outside the U.S., excluding American destinations, grew by $3.6 billion to $22.8 billion in 2025.
Other states hit by the slump have taken a different tack than Michigan's pause. Florida saw a seven percent decline in Canadian visitors in 2025, while California's drop was estimated at 20 percent, per PBS News. New York responded with a “NY Loves Canada” promotion offering discounts at hotels, restaurants and attractions, and Brand USA planned to bring its Travel Week trade-event series to Canada for the first time this October, the same report notes. Meanwhile, the Toledo Zoo in Ohio pressed ahead with a Canadian member appreciation day despite the tensions, according to CBC News — a sign some tourism operators are betting warmth will outlast the trade dispute.
For now, Visit Detroit's approach is to wait. Molinari's comments, as relayed through the Detroit News report cited by Deadline Detroit, leave the return of Canadian campaigns contingent on developments in Washington and Ottawa rather than any fixed date, with the bureau's 2027 budget still being shaped around that uncertainty.
